On Sun, Jul 22, 2012 at 9:32 PM, Philip Barnes <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sat, 2012-07-21 at 11:43 -0400, David ``Smith'' wrote: >> Just contributing another data point on vocabulary… >> >> I am a native English speaker from Ohio, USA. I have been aware of >> the term "potable" for many years, probably since asking what it meant >> after seeing a water source labeled "non-potable". I have seen that >> warning on taps in public parks, and on many trucks and railcars. > I am a native English speaker from the UK, I have never seen the term > potable used in the UK. Labels on taps use the term 'drinking water', or > 'not drinking water'. Any council using the word 'potable' is likely to > be slammed by the Campaign For Plain English. > I only understand potable because I have studied French, and have a good > memory. We really should stick to 'Drinking Water', as does real world > signage.
Just to add another point too. I consider myself a native English speaker from the Philippines and the word "potable" has been in my vocabulary since elementary school. And many people I know are also aware of this word. I'm guessing that it is because there's a lack of potable water in a developing country like mine. It's actually only from this email thread that I've learned that the word comes from the French. Personally I prefer "potable" since it's a precise term but "drinking_water" is acceptable too especially since it's already being used in OSM. _______________________________________________ Tagging mailing list [email protected] http://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/tagging
