Arch Linux

sportscliche

Member

From: Albuquerque, NM

Registered: 2010-11-30

Posts: 43

Wet feet on homepage

The Arch homepage archive shows that the following sentence from the greeting paragraph dates from 2007:

"Please check out our forums and mailing lists to get your feet wet."

I got to thinking that it's probably not ideal to use a colloquial expression in the introductory text.  I suspect that most non-native-English-speaking, first-time visitors will land on the English homepage.  A good percentage of them are going to attempt a direct translation and then shrug their shoulders (if I may use another idiom to illustrate).  Having lived and worked in a non-English speaking country for an extended time, I know how difficult it can be to understand such expressions.

There are many ways the above thought can be conveyed with direct, simple words while maintaining a friendly, welcoming tone.  This is not a big deal (yet another idiom!), but I felt it was worth mentioning.

Allan

Pacman

From: Brisbane, AU

Registered: 2007-06-09

Posts: 11,485

Website

Re: Wet feet on homepage

You can request a change of wording for that page in the bug tracker.

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ANOKNUSA

Member

Registered: 2010-10-22

Posts: 2,141

Re: Wet feet on homepage

As an ESOL tutor, I know that our inextricable reliance on idioms in the English language can be a barrier to non-native speakers, so I wouldn't see a problem with changing it.  I just don't believe, however, that many people (if any) have really gone astray because of it.  If "direct translation" is actually something a visitor to archlinux.org tries, then "forums" and "mailing lists" are all they need to be concerned with.  If they know what those are, the idiom is inconsequential; if they don't, then it doesn't matter anyway.

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karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: Wet feet on homepage

Link to the bug report.

jasonwryan

Anarchist

From: .nz

Registered: 2009-05-09

Posts: 30,424

Website

Re: Wet feet on homepage

If people have difficulty with that phrase, how are they going to get on with, for example, this?

Bailing out, you are on your own.  Good luck.

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karol

Archivist

Registered: 2009-05-06

Posts: 25,440

Re: Wet feet on homepage

A somewhat similar thread: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1048357