There has been a fuss here in the UK over a new TV advert from McDonalds, where they quite incorrectly claim that a "bob" is a pound. Now, I have never understood why foreigners had a problem with our previous monetary system -
Of course, we then succumbed to International pressure and the fact that people find counting to ten easier (no wonder the youth of today need calculators to do any maths), and introduced decimal (boring) currency.
Which all leads me to Internationalisation - and please note that I spell it the International way. If you think it is spelt with a "Z", you are probably American, and hence for us International folk, wrong!!! The number of presentations I have been to where the presenter proudly put up a slide saying "Internationalization" and wondered why the International part of the audience immediately stopped listening / threw rotten tomatoes is way more than ten (or even twelve).
The serious point of this artice is that if you are going to do business in another country, then get an expert to check your spelling / grammar / advertising / messages because otherwise you will simply cause offence. Similarly if you are supplying computer services to different departments / areas of the business, wouldn't it be sensible to have some understanding of those areas in the IT department, or if you can't stretch that far then access to some people you can call on for advice / input / testing / review etc. ? BSM is about understanding and communication flowing both ways between IT and the business, and not being dictated to (either way) by people who don't understand the local patois.
- A farthing was a 1/4d
- A ha'penny was 1/2d
- A penny was a penny = 1d
- A thrupenny bit was three pence = 3d
- A tanner was sixpence = 6d
- A bob was a shilling, which = 12d
- Two bob was called a florin
- Half a crown was 2/6 = 2 shillings and six pence
- A crown was 5 shillings
- A ten bob note was ten shillings = half a pound
- A quid was, and still is a pound
- A fiver was/is five pounds
- A tenner was/is ten pounds
- A pony is £25
- A monkey is £500
Of course, we then succumbed to International pressure and the fact that people find counting to ten easier (no wonder the youth of today need calculators to do any maths), and introduced decimal (boring) currency.
Which all leads me to Internationalisation - and please note that I spell it the International way. If you think it is spelt with a "Z", you are probably American, and hence for us International folk, wrong!!! The number of presentations I have been to where the presenter proudly put up a slide saying "Internationalization" and wondered why the International part of the audience immediately stopped listening / threw rotten tomatoes is way more than ten (or even twelve).
The serious point of this artice is that if you are going to do business in another country, then get an expert to check your spelling / grammar / advertising / messages because otherwise you will simply cause offence. Similarly if you are supplying computer services to different departments / areas of the business, wouldn't it be sensible to have some understanding of those areas in the IT department, or if you can't stretch that far then access to some people you can call on for advice / input / testing / review etc. ? BSM is about understanding and communication flowing both ways between IT and the business, and not being dictated to (either way) by people who don't understand the local patois.
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