Default English Language

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Level 1

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Default English Language

So possibly a very simple question, but it's something I've been unable to get my head around.

I'm from the UK, and have managed to set the preferred langauge to 'British English' under system preferences. There I also noticed US English, Canadian, Australian and so on, but also a form of English described only as 'English'.

My question is, what kind of English is this? All the other English forms have some description (British, US, etc) and seem to cover all the main forms, so what's this one?

Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Mar 1, 2012 3:18 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 1, 2012 3:36 AM in response to mcb987

These specific language options are not one I see on my mac (purchased in the USA) although I do remember a prompt asking me if I wanted to delete some languages (which I did) so it is possible they were there at one point. Or, perhaps this is something separate for macs purchased outside the US. When a mac is purchased in the US, the default preferred language is "English" (not US English) as stated in this apple article, under Learn how to>Change your OS X language.

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Answer 2

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

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Mar 1, 2012 5:04 AM in response to mcb987

mcb987 wrote:

My question is, what kind of English is this?

US English.

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Answer 3

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,164 points

Mar 1, 2012 5:05 AM in response to shldr2thewheel

shldr2thewheel wrote:

These specific language options are not one I see on my mac

Use the Edit button at system prefs/language & text/language

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Answer 4

mcb987 Author

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Mar 1, 2012 5:11 AM in response to mcb987

Ok, I took what you guys said, play around with the languages a little, and it seems it is US English (corrected spellings like 'organise' to 'organize'). I found it strange though that despite this 'English' being US English, I also have the option for 'US English' in the edit lists (on my Mac at least).

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Answer 5

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,164 points

Mar 1, 2012 5:18 AM in response to mcb987

The main purpose of that list is to determine os and app localization (spelling has an independent setting in the Text tab). I'm not sure, but I think putting English at the top will let a British English localization be used if there is no US English one, while putting US English at the top would make the OS skip to the next language on the list if US English were not available.

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Answer 6

mcb987 Author

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Mar 1, 2012 6:17 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Now that makes sense! It certainly appears to conform with what I'm seeing, I just hadn't thought of it that way. Thank you for clearing that up!

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