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English phrases everywhere
Monday, June 04, 2007 by Dave Winer.
Most Italians don't speak English, not many Americans speak Italian, and most of us are okay. Get into a cab, wave hands, smile, use your fingers for numbers, make big hand gestures, smile some more. You can get by. ![Permalink to this paragraph](http://www.scripting.com/images/2001/09/20/sharpPermaLink3.gif)
But everywhere you look, on billboards, ads on bus stops, store signs, radio programming, there are little snippets of English everywhere. When I see this, I say the words out loud to the cabbie, with a smile, and say English! And I get back a puzzled look. I'm not sure they see that it is English. ![Permalink to this paragraph](http://www.scripting.com/images/2001/09/20/sharpPermaLink3.gif)
Remember that next time someone says you have to use a symbol in a program UI, instead of words or an acronym, because people around the world won't understand little phrases in English. It doesn't seem to be true. ![Permalink to this paragraph](http://www.scripting.com/images/2001/09/20/sharpPermaLink3.gif)
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