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The spelling of "Center"

• 03-17-2008 10:11 PM

  • Richard
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  The spelling of "Center"

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  Why has Microsort chosen a name with an odd spelling which is peculiar to the USA?  In Europe, and elsewhere I think, the word is spelt "Centre".  Spelling the product name wrong (according to non-Americans) just makes MS appear insular, alien and a bit ignorant, imho.

• 03-17-2008 10:38 PM In reply to

  • PromptSpace
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  The spelling of "Center"

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  Well you're obviously forgetting where Microsoft was founded.  If a englishman started Microsoft, I wouldn't be complaining that it was called adCentre... 

  Filed under: adcenter, adcentre

• 03-17-2008 10:52 PM In reply to

  • artofnet
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  The spelling of "Center"

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  I think it's not a big issue. Personally I like spelling center than centre :)

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• 03-18-2008 12:13 AM In reply to

  • ehch
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  The spelling of "Center"

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  Ignorant? Insular? Alien?

   Oh come on.
  

• 03-18-2008 4:50 AM In reply to

  • Richard
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  The spelling of "Center"

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  Yes, 'ignorant' - comes across as either not being able to spell or doesn't know/care that the rest of the world spells it differently;
  'Insular' - gives the appearance of having forgotten there's a world outside the USA (a common gaffe among American companies);
  'Alien' - they make themselves seem foreign - reminding their customers that MS is distant from us and hence of a different culture.  Not good for business.

  No, not everybody is sensitive to this type of thing, but many are.  We know Microsoft is foreign - best not rub our noses in it.  We've already got Vista only available in American 'English'. 

  Seems a bit of a branding blunder.

• 03-18-2008 4:57 AM In reply to

  • custwin
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  The spelling of "Center"

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  As someone 'English' the 'center' doesn't bother me.  Yes, I know that us Brits can sometimes have a chip on our shoulder that the US seems to rule the world but this is a small issue imho. 

  My view would be that as long as MS always take into consideration other countries needs within the technical workings of the system itself then that's what matters the most.  For example, if a localisation feature was enabled and it was restricted to the US, then that wouldn't seem fair to those of us in the UK or elsewhere.

  That's my tuppence (sorry, English phrase) worth ;-)

  Andy

   

• 03-18-2008 5:30 AM In reply to

  • Advertising Agency
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  The spelling of "Center"

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  It's not particularly ignorant of Microsoft.  It's typical of American culture. Most americans think of USA as 90% of the world and don't realise that it's about 5%.

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• 03-18-2008 8:40 AM In reply to

  • Mel Carson - MSFT
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  The spelling of "Center"

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  "Center" "Centre" - Let's call the whole thing off!?

  Seriously though it's great to have some international participants on the new site. I myself am based in our London office and we do do our best to globalise our content so it's relevant to all advertisers wherever they come from. I think we do a pretty good job and will continue to work on it.

  Cheers

  Mel

  Mel - adCenter Community Team

• 03-21-2008 11:43 AM In reply to

  • Elle
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  The spelling of "Center"

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  In reading your post I did some research on the spelling of the word center/re. To be honest prior to your post I had never really given much thought to the spelling of the word as it appears in “MS adCenter”.

  In doing so I found this article that not only explains the reason for the two spellings, it also states which one is more commonly used amongst all countries.

  I can only speak for myself being "French Canadian" I have always spelled it "center".

  You may find the article below as interesting as I did, and in reading it you may change your view/opion on how the spelling of this word makes MS appear to other countries.

  According to this article and many others I have read "center" is the more commonly used spelling. 

  Thank you,

  Elle

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_spelling_differences

  
  

   

• 03-26-2008 2:12 PM In reply to

  • dr_mcgarry
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  The spelling of "Center"

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  Could the "Center" in adCenter be a Verb?

• 03-27-2008 11:53 AM In reply to

  • Charles Thrasher
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  The spelling of "Center"

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  This apears to be a sticky wicket and not just for Microsoft. (A bad pun but I couldn't resist.) If they spell it adCentre, they appear ungramatical, if not pretentious, to their US audience, which remains, I suspect, their largest market. If they spell it adCenter, they appear culturally arrogant. Frankly, this ball isn't in their court. They didn't invent the cultural variations in spelling but they do have to live with the collateral damage. (And yes, I'm mixing metaphors.) They could have avoided any word with disparate spellings but then adMiddle or adPointOfEqualDistanceFromAllOtherPoints doesn't have quite the same panache.

  Charles Thrasher,
  Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions

  Filed under: adcenter, adcentre, Microsoft