Re: Word-a-Day: instant message

[Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org>]

Luca, you sent this off-list.  I don't see anything personal
or whatever in here, so I assume it was an accident.  I'm
replying on-list.  Entire message quoted; no snips.

On Tue, 2008-04-08 at 10:08 +0200, Luca Ferretti wrote:
> Il giorno lun, 07/04/2008 alle 16.56 -0500, Shaun McCance ha scritto:
> > To complement Saturday's "email":
> > 
> > ===========================================================
> > instant message
> > A real-time message sent to a user on an instant messaging
> > network. 
> 
> Any reference to difference between "instant message" and
> "conversation"?
> 
> I mean, in applications, the menu entry I've choose in order to contact
> my best friend, should be "send a new instant message" or "open/start a
> new conversation"? 

Good question.  I think when the context of instant
messaging has been established, words like "message"
and "conversation" can be used alone.  Gaim 2.0 uses
"New Instant Message" in the Buddies menu, but "IM"
in the context menu of a buddy.  Gossip and Empathy
both use "New Message".

I don't have any problems with "conversation" per se,
but I think "New Message" is the best phrase in this
case.  Are there other cases we should consider?

> > They encourage the abbreviation and allow it to be used as
> > a verb.  Maybe I'm just being old here.
> 
> From a translator point of view the abbreviation is a pain. In Italian
> translation of Pigdin we have used the extended form...
> 
> I think we should discourage the "IM" abbreviation and suggest to use
> only "message" if you really have no space in the UI (well, if so, you
> should change your UI).

When I wrote that paragraph, the thing I had in mind
was column headers.

Name             Email Address       IM Address
Shaun McCance    shaunm gnome org    shaunm gnome org
Luca Ferretti    elle uca libero it

That, of course, begs the question of whether we should
recommend a generic word for "instant messaging address".
If the particular network is established, you can use
the term common on that network (screen name, Jabber ID,
etc.)  But should there be a generic term?

Anyway, I don't think we should be using the abbreviation
"IM" much, if at all.  I wrote in the exception to be nice,
but if it's a hassle for translators, well, that's just
another reason not to use it.

> > And maybe "instant messenger" is a perfectly good term.
> > It's just that whenever I hear it, I think of AIM.
> 
> Again, "messenger" is a pain for translators :-)

All right.  It is unfortunate that the shortest phrase
we have for an instant messaging application is, well,
"instant messaging application".  It is a mouthful.

--
Shaun