Bug and discussion about ubuntu menu

[Greg K Nicholson]

On Sat, 2008-03-15 at 11:19 +0100, Milan Bouchet-Valat wrote:
> Ouattara Oumar Aziz (alias wattazoum) wrote:
> > You'd call it "My
> > Diary" because you are creating it for yourself.

The user doesn't label the Preferences menu for themself—the label is
applied by the computer.

“My” is only ever used to mean “your” on toys for three-year-olds*, much
like how when talking to a small child one refers to things using the
name *they* should use to refer to them (for example calling yourself
“Mummy” or “Daddy” instead of “me”). Small children aren't clever enough
to understand pronouns.

(* Windows XP—I know.)

Speaking for the user—using “my” as if they'd written it—is disingenuous
and/or talks down to the user, so it should be avoided.

If we could pull in the the user's actual name in a way that's
compatible with a wide variety of cultures, I'd suggest using something
like “Preferences for Greg”.

If that's not possible, just “Preferences” will do—the word “preference”
tends to imply *personal* preference anyway.
-- 
Greg K Nicholson