[Sigia-l] Core set of classification terms

[Gerry McGovern]

Jon Hanna wrote:

> > A new standard for wireless is called "Bluetooth" after a Danish Viking
> > king. He was called Bluetooth because he had a black tooth. If you don't
> > believe me, I can ad that the Vikings called the Africans
> > "Bluemen"! So they
> > actually did not distinguish between blue and black. Why not? Perhaps
> > because blue was a very rare color before artificial colors were
> > invented by
> > the French and the Germans, so you did not have much need for this
> > distinction.
>
>I was going to reply to Gerry's post saying that the problem isn't so much
>with classification not scaling as with classification not translating. This
>gives me a perfect example though.
>
>In Irish "blue" is also used for people with black skin. Only it isn't
>really, "gorm" is used and that isn't an exact translation of "blue".
>(Incidentally in Irish people would be called "red", "fair" or "black" on
>the basis of their hair colour, hence "dubh" which is a closer translation
>of "black" signifies a white person with black hair).

The above is an interesting point. There can definitely be problems with 
classifications translating. However, I feel that the Internet is a strong 
driver in the internationalization of language (the Englishization, to be 
more precise.)

Words have often crossed over from language to language. (English borrowed 
a huge range of French words.) Indeed, the Irish for a person of black skin 
is "fear gorm." However, there's an interesting twist in the tale here. 
I've heard it said that the musical term "The Blues" has Irish origin. In 
Nineteenth century America, the Irish and Africans often lived in close 
proximity. When Irish people heard Africans singing, they would use a 
phrase such as: "The Blues are singing again." From this, the term The 
Blues is supposed to have originated. In music, there is an international 
understanding now of the classifications: blues, soul, jazz.

What I'm noticing is the emergence of a core set of web-based 
classifications, regardless of the language. Classifications like: Home, 
About, Contact, Feedback. Even if this is not always the case, it is 
certainly true that within English-language websites, these terms are 
beginning to dominate.

This emergence of a core set of classification terms can be, I believe, 
very useful. It supports the ability of the person to quickly find their 
way around a website because they see terms they are familiar with. It also 
makes the job of classification design that bit simpler and faster.

The Web often reminds me of airports. It's an international space; people 
are always moving from one website to another. Now, when you're designing a 
new airport, I doubt the design team sits around asking questions like: 
What are we going to call the Exit sign? What will we call Departures? What 
will we call Arrivals?

I'd be interested in finding out if other people have noticed the emergence 
of a core set of classification terms, and what they are? Have any studies 
been carried out here?

Gerry McGovern




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