On self-Americanisation and faux-monoculture in the tech and design world. You don’t have to adopt American ways to be valid.
It is really fucking depressing seeing other native speakers basically have to seem American. I blame this country’s ridiculous solipsism.
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
I LIKE seeing diversity. I like seeing things done differently. I don’t want everyone to look and sound like me.
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
This has to be actively resisted, IMO. Both here and abroad. I know I’ve talked about this for a while, but I think it’s important.
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
In the age of Trump the last thing anybody needs to do is to continue to appeal to American solipsism.
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
It pisses me off when people feel they have to bend over backwards so much for us that they forget who they are.
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
That’s dangerous, both for us and everyone else.
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
‘America First!’ thinking is toxic. We’ve seen the results. It shouldn’t be catered to reflexively.
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
You don’t have to drop a bunch of U’s in words like ‘colour’ or use US flags for English, or constantly contort yourself to sound American.
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
Ask yourself why you’re doing this. Is it marketing? Understood, but you’re still accommodating a shitty mentality.
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
Like every American will shrivel up if they come across anything foreign, even if it’s from a culture with a shared language.
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
Honestly I find that mindset profoundly insulting. Do you seriously think we’re too ignorant to understand people from other countries?!
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
I understand clarifying confusing terms, but there are ways to do that without twisting and turning to change your dialect.
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
But acting like we’re all Trump clones who hate everything foreign is a horrible thing to do. It enables those of us who do think that way.
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
I may be more sensitive to this because I’m a third culture kid. I’ve lived in two other countries. I talk to people from everywhere.
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
Half my family immigrated to the US. My writing style is a dialectal mishmash.
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
…that dynamic is different. I COME from the country that is reflexively catered for.
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
And I don’t think that people are too ignorant to understand me.
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
But if I see a British, Canadian, Aussie, etc company go out of their way to seem American in non-US-specific spaces…
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
…my reaction is ‘they think we’re too ignorant to see anything foreign’ and I’m less likely to buy their products.
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
Because they’ve insulted my intelligence. Well, not mine personally, but you know what I mean.
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
(Relatedly, American publishers need to stop doing this shit too. It starts here and people elsewhere think they need to do it for us too.)
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
I’m more willing to support companies that…don’t pretend their own countries don’t exist. For example, @Procreate, based in Australia…
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
…has UI localisations for different types of English & has since Apple made it possible for devs to differentiate between language variants.
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017
Same goes for people in non-English-speaking countries that include apps in their own language and sometimes write in their own language.
— Festive Finn ❄️🎄 (@phineasfrogg) 18 October 2017