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15 MAY 2010
| SAABAN SHAABAN FAVORITE FAVOURITE ENGLISH ENGLISH PROGRAM PROGRAMME
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The decision was taken FIVE years ago. Suddenly the head of the "Department of General Assembly Affairs and Conference Management" took decisive action
to enforce it. In a note dated 5 May, staff were notified that within SIX days, i.e., on 11 May, English will be strictly used instead of that other English.
Here is the decision:
Posted: Wednesday, 5 May 2010, New York. Author: Department for General Assembly and Conference Management
Effective Tuesday, 11 May 2010, the default language and dictionary for all Microsoft Office software, such as Word and Excel, will change from
English (United States) to English (United Kingdom).
Words spelled in the U.S. English style will therefore be automatically highlighted on your screen while you type.
Some common spelling differences between U.S. English and U.K. English are, respectively: color versus colour, favorite versus
favourite, analyze versus analyse, center versus centre, and program versus programme.
This change is in line with the Editorial directive of 16 March 2005 (ST/CS/SER.A/40/Rev.2), which states that the authority for spelling and
hyphenation in the United Nations is the eleventh edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary.
The spell check in Lotus Notes will change with the next version, which is gradually being rolled out across the Secretariat.
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