[Air-l] Languages on the Internet - air-l Digest, Vol 20, Issue 28

[Nancy Baym]

Michel writes:

>Prof. Crystal mentioned by Alex Kuskis
>  > "Every significant cultural innovation of modern times - from the invention
>>  of the radio, to the Internet, to air traffic control - began in an
>>  English-speaking country or was immediately facilitated by an
>>  English-speaking country. It really is amazing."
>it is sort of ... hum, symptomatic of the kind of cultural chauvinism
>human kind would be well inspired to keep away from.
>Note the absence of a mention of television and a few other things.


I have been reading (finally) Carolyn Marvin's When Old Technologies 
Were New and she has a lovely section on how the British discounted 
Marconi over and over (insisting on calling him "Senor Marconi") 
until it couldn't be denied that he was responsible for the invention 
of the radio and then suddenly they started emphasizing that he had a 
British mother and wasn't really all that Italian afterall...