this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2025
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Falsehoods programmers believe about languages (www.lexiconista.com)
submitted 22 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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I can’t believe nobody has done this list yet. I mean, there is one about names, one about time and many others on other topics, but not one about languages yet (except one honorable mention that comes close). So, here’s my attempt to list all the misconceptions and prejudices I’ve come across in the course of my long and illustrious career in software localisation and language technology. Enjoy – and send me your own ones!

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

In Denmark we have the digraph "aa" that is the same as "å". Since "å" is the last letter in the Danish alphabet, "aa" must be sorted likewise. Hence the ordering Aalborg -> Allerup -> Middelfart is incorrect and the correct ordering is Allerup -> Middelfart -> Aalborg.

The exception is if two a's are pronounced as separate vowels e.g. due to compounding words: "ekstra" + "arbejde" gives "ekstraarbejde" but here it is not pronounced as "å" so ekstraarbejde -> ekstrabetaling is correct ordering as well

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danish_and_Norwegian_alphabet

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

Middelfart? :-D

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

It's not too smelly, but it's not completely benign either.