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From: Aidan Kehoe <kehoea@parhasard.net>
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english,sci.lang
Subject: Re: Eleven in France
Date: Sun, 05 May 2024 10:16:20 +0100
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 Ar an cúigiú lá de mí Bealtaine, scríobh Athel Cornish-Bowden: 

 > Today there was a headline that read "XI EN FRANCE". What on earth does that
 > mean, I thought? A football team, maybe? Then I realized that it was a
 > reference to Eleven Jinpin, the leader of China. It would have been so much
 > easier to understand at a glance if they had written "Xi en France". The French
 > have yet to learn that mixed-case is much easier to read than all-capitals
 > (especially on road signs, which have had mixed case in the UK for at least 40
 > years). Road signs are better in neighbouring Spain, Belgium, Switzerland and
 > Germany, a bit half-hearted in Italy and Luxemburg, and like France in Andorra
 > and Monaco.
 > 
 > The point of this post is to ask why people don't write things in as
 > understandable a way as possible.

You know this, but in this case the unsatisfying answer is that it’s likely the
house style to put titles in capitals, deviation is not tolerated. Has this
publication been dragged forwards into the late 20th century enough to use
accents with its capitals?

(Cross-posted to sci.lang given not hugely relevant to alt.usage.english.)

 > Navi won't agree, as he tries to pack as much
 > meaning as possible in as few words as possible, but I hope others will.
 > 
 > -- 
 > ATHEL -- FRENCH AND BRITISH, LIVING IN MARSEILLES FOR XXXVII YEARS; MAINLY IN
 > ENGLAND UNTIL MCMLXXXVII.
 > 

-- 
‘As I sat looking up at the Guinness ad, I could never figure out /
How your man stayed up on the surfboard after fourteen pints of stout’
(C. Moore)