I recently sent a suggestion to a quiz editor, who responded very politely to my query. He suggested I was being picky about my correction, which was basically about black not being a colour of mourning universally.
This morning, in the shower, I realised that I was being picky. I have had feedback from a number of quizzes I have compiled recently explaining that some of the questions were ambiguous for non-English speakers. I have understood and gone along with the necessary changes.
However this morning (in the shower) I realised that acting childish in making picky corrections was a symptom.
Is quizzyland going to go completely P.C?
By that I mean we are now making sure that our quizzes are understood by English as a Second Language speakers by not using colloquialisms and slang that may confuse or not be clear. (For example not using '#' to represent 'number').
My epiphany this morning was to wonder if there are any 'Foreign' (not in English) quizzes on line.
Please don't misunderstand me and if I offend anyone I am sorry, but if the intent is to make everyone happy you are on losing proposition.
I often find quizzes where the questions confuse me, but in those cases I either back away from the quiz slowly, or guess the answers.
Trying to make quizzes understandable to all is going to be difficult, where is the cut off point?
Not using the English alphabet as choice options because some people have a different alphabet?
I don't consider myself a grammar snob (even though I am English and have to listen to American-English all day) but are there definite guide lines or is it down to the individual?
If nothing else, maybe this will generate some feedback.

I don't think it's a question of pc Awkins, but instead, it's what Leau said above.

Another thing your question brings to mind is that using symbols is going to backfire on us eventually as when people use them in multiple choice without trouble except for not necessarily being understood, then they'll try to use them in FITBS which isn't good because of codes. An ampersand and other symbols are going to play up on us. We have to correct these in player names as well.
We get false incorrects and that's a pain for everyone.
Actually if you use a telephone menu on your US cell phone (aka mobile) you'd better know what a 'pound' sign is, right? However, when I teach English to non native speakers arriving in America, I have to spell out those things so that they're not looking for a British pound sterling. I think some call it a hash mark, don't they?


Chatspeak things, well, that's a given. And, once again, I'm pretty sure that as you don't see these things appearing as we nip them in the bud, it's harder to imagine the way people sometimes send us quizzes without punctuation at all, or in chatspeak. We probably get ten quizzes a day here with 'do u know ur xyz group?'

About the black for mourning (hey, at least that's the same in Br and North American English), it would depend on the context.

When I edit, I try to be sensitive to the person who has done a quiz, but who perhaps hadn't thought that if the wording is changed, the audience is going to grow in numbers. If you make a few changes, you can get a lot more players.

Even on a quiz on politicians from a specific country, you need to take out the references to 'Our president' etc that make it specific to one country. If you make a quiz on slang expressions, you need to make it accessible to people from outside that country because you'll get more play on it.

Yes, there will be a few judgement calls, but the editing staff has people from all over the world, including a few non native speakers of English.
If we have a doubt, we'll ask others if they understand the same thing in their country.

As we have a really big audience at FT, there will be some times where it's a tough call. I'm seeing some corrections at the moment that are from the global challenge because people are enjoying it, but haven't played other types of quizzes by the same author. They are looking at the question in isolation which is what we try to encourage people to do. It's not easy either, I know it's slowed my quiz production down.

So, just think if you had the title, and the category, would this question make sense? That's my guideline when I judge whether information is country specific or not.

Sincerely,
Bruyere, Funtrivia editor

I understand about not using slang in a quiz, perhaps I am merely confusing the issue.
There are certain ways words are used, and English speakers, almost universally, understand them. However, ESL players will obviously be at a slight disadvantage in these situations.
My main point remains unanswered and I guess only Terry can really know for sure.
If FT is going to cater to ESL players, will there be non-English quizzes appearing online.
Now I know there are some quizzes that give a phrase in, for instance, French and they have to be translated. I enjoy them and my pathetic attempts, drawing on my Junior High school French from many years ago, make me laugh if nothing else. But will we eventually have to stop using contractions, eg. 'won't, can't, you'll' as they may confuse ESL players?
I've said it before, and I know it's been said about me, that I can be picky and a Smart A** (or Smart A*** for my English readers) but it seems like a natural progression to cater a little at the start then make wholesale changes as time goes on.
Maybe it's the Olde British Empire mentality where we expect 'Everyone' to speak English with an OxBridge accent, but I feel there are some things that "should" be taken for granted.
Am I really that wrong?
p.s. Please don't hold back for fear of offending me. As my dear old granny used to say "Sticks and stones are the best thing to throw in glass houses if you want to gather no moss".
She was getting senile but I think you get the idea...

Quizzes at FT have to be written in English, unless they're about a language. In that case the questions could be written in a foreign language, but the interesting information would still have to be in English, simply because FT is an English site when it comes to the language used.

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But will we eventually have to stop using contractions, eg. 'won't, can't, you'll' as they may confuse ESL players?

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I think it's safe to say that that will never happen. Firstly because we're not asking anyone to "butcher" the English language, but merely not to use regional abbreviations or signs. And secondly, I strongly doubt that ESL speakers would have problems with the contractions you mention, because they get extra attention in most English classes. If someone's English is good enough to make them want to play quizzes here at FT, then they definitely won't have to wonder about the meaning of "can't" and "I'd". (Just for the record, I'm not a native speaker of English.)

The criterion is simply that quizzes should be in English, having regard (as appropriate) to both American English and British English. There is certainly no requirement that quizzes should be written in such a way as to be comprehensible to speakers of English as a second (or foreign) language.

Having said that, I find it impossible to comment in abstract terms on the point about the 'non-universality' of black as a/the colour of mourning. It would depend on the quiz. I can think of a number of quiz topics where it might be relevant - for example, in a quiz on the significance of colours or in a quiz concerned with cultural differences, for example, but I imagine that's not what you had in mind.

FT Editor

The 'universal' colour of mourning does depend on the question. Although 'universal' may not be the best adjective, if the question specifically concerned the USA or Europe, then 'black' would be a reasonable answer. If, on the other hand, the question was worldwide 'black' would be incorrect. In some cultures, China for example, white is the colour of mourning. In others red, purple and even gold are or have been used as colours of mourning.
Aren't, don't, hadn't, you'll, who's, etc, are I feel correct uses of the English language and punctuation.
Anyway, I'm happy so long as we don't go down the politically correct road, so prevalent in the UK, where you must refer to coffee with/without milk instead of black/white.

I've mentioned in various places that Australians (for example) are in an interesting position re the 'British' vs 'American' English debate, as we seem to get a bit of both. The one area of FT which has presented me with some problems, however, is when rhymes are used (specifically in Brain Teasers). I can only recall having difficulties with quizzes by American authors, but that doesn't mean there haven't been others, it just means my memory is dodgy! I realised early on in playing rhyme-type quizzes that I had to try to apply different accents to some words in order for them to make sense - and in fact I enjoy the challenge this presents. However, there are still some words given as answers or as part of questions which I just can't make rhyme no matter how I try to allow for pronunciation differences. Then sometimes I find one of these, to me, 'non-rhymes' as the example in the introduction, and, unless I'm feeling particularly masochistic, I just won't play them. Which is a shame, as I'm sure I've missed out on some wonderful quizzes because of this...

... As for the # symbol, I'm not sure in which context you mean, but it shouldn't be used in a sentence. I've had people who have written things such as "What # of people went to the wedding?" Symbols shouldn't be used in place of words in sentences.

The Music category editors have recently decided to try to get our authors to say "Number One" rather than "#1" when referring to chart positions, etc, in quizzes. We had discovered that the use of "#" to mean "Number" is mostly a North American phenomenum, and we have been trying for some time to have authors spell out numbers less than ten, rather than using the numeral.
The purpose of quizzes, is, after all, to communicate knowledge, and so they therefore might as well be as clear and universal as possible. I doubt if any Music editor would reject a quiz purely for this problem though. We would instead make the changes ourselves, and just send the author a note about it. If I remember correctly, awkins, this is what happened in your case.
A lot of the requirements that have arisen for quizzes have come into place because we find that without them, correction notes ensue. We didn't use to require that authors specify the release date and country of origin of albums when asking questions about cover art, for instance, until we got lots of angry notes from players who had a totally different cover sitting in front of them. This is just the kind of thing that is to be expected when dealing in an international context, and not really much of a big deal.

edited to add: agony, Funtrivia editor

Agony speaks with the voice of experience because many of the things about which we are mindful come from things we see in correction notes. We might not have thought of these things, but then, someone brings it to the quizmakers' attention. Some of these are "tomato tomahto" type things.

My comment about the # sign was that I lived for many years away from the States then came back, and many phone menus were using the words pound for # which was used when I was growing up on paper banners for meat or fruit on a grocery store and then, star for the asterisk sign or *.
So the 'enter' function on a phone menu would be 'Please press pound.' and if you weren't aware that this meant #, you would not have a clue.
I would have called it a number sign perhaps, but hadn't thought about it being a pound sign as well in America.
It's a royal pain when you're putting in an account number and then have to remember if they said 'followed by the pound sign' or not.

Some of you will notice that when we edit, if we know your nationality, we'll adjust our corrections to you if you've left off a 'full-stop' or 'period'. I know that if I write 'full-stop' to someone in the USA, they won't know what on earth I'm talking about, especially if they've left these off! It's just part of the personalized service we like to provide at FT.

Good heavens, we're not doing away with contractions though oughtn't, daren't, should've, are a little iffy, it might depend on the context. If you were writing with an accent for some valid reason, we'd never reject a quiz for that alone.

As to the ESL thing, I think the most important thing is that FTs quizzes be accessible to a large English-speaking audience no matter where they come from and that most any quiz, you'd be able to take a stab at it, no matter where you come from even if you knew nothing of the subject matter.
I could take a cricket quiz therefore, and understand the sentence but not understand specific cricket terms except for Jiminy.

This brings us to the World language question. I've converted my own French quizzes over to an intro in English on most every question. So there will be a little bit of English asking you what this means in English, then a French statement. I know that many people still object to these types of quizzes as they feel they're unfair, but, the study of French is pretty much widespread and the English translations are pretty standard for anyone who's had a year or two of French. The older versions of these and other languages did not have English intros, but, they've been grandfathered in. I might add that these quizzes do very well and it's rare to get a complaint about them except from those folks who really find them unfair. We now are pretty particular about what we accept in World.

I think that I assume that it's like when I get a math problem or a chemistry problem on a quiz and have no prior knowledge of that subject. If the question is worded correctly, I can at least guess at random quickly and pass it by. ( I even got a 15 in science the other day on the Global and wasn't half proud.)

Bruyere, funtrivia ed.

Just to labour Bruyere's point(s), I don't take her French quizzes because I never went beyond less-than school-girl level and I know I don't have a hope! That doesn't mean the quizzes are unfair, just that they're not my thing. Same goes for sports statistics, movies I've never seen, books I've never read, bands I've never heard of. But again, when questions from quizzes outside my sphere of knowledge (sphere might be an exaggeration, more like full-stop or period of knowledge!) all I ask is that I understand what the question is actually asking me.

I'm grinding my way through writing a quiz on Australian political history at the moment, and I'd wager that even most Australians are rolling their eyes at the prospect, let alone people from other countries! So, my job is to try and write the questions in an interesting and accesible enough way that people from anywhere will want to play it and have a chance of getting the answers right, no matter what their previous knowledge of the subject.

And just in case we haven't told you Bru, we were all very proud of you getting a 15 on the Sci/Tech!