Interesting read. Actually, a person mixing British and American spelling is most probably NOT a native speaker (writer). I'd say we should consider European countries where English is being taught in school at a decent level like the Netherlands or Sweden...
Actually, a
cypherpunk mixing British and American spelling is most probably NOT doing it by accident.
Take me, for example. I have been mixing British and American spelling in this account, which I originally created as an anonymous throwaway. I was doing it before this discussion was raised—check my post history. If I so wished, I
could show you something I have previously written elsewhere, under a different pseudonym, frankly stating that I switch my spelling at will.
Sometimes, I do it as the sort of subtle, self-referential meta-joke that few will catch; e.g., from before your post:
Of course, that means Satoshi is British! Because it’s not as if an honorable old cypherpunk could ever intentionally sow disinfo to divert future rumours.
That was fully intentional, I assure you. I must amuse myself somehow.
I have been doing this for decades. It is a well-developed habit. I consciously switch between spelling variations, applying one or the other consistently for a particular pseudonym—or I consciously mix them, when I so desire. And this goes far beyond mere spelling. I am conscious of regional differences in vocabulary (“trunk” vs. “boot”), idioms, and, as applicable, punctuation. Occasionally, I slip in the type of catachresis that would be expected of a non-native English speaker—say, using “auto” for “automobile” in a context where a native English speaker would not; a German may make that mistake. When I so choose, I can also mimic the writing style and markup formatting of well-known persons; perhaps I may do that to troll the types of small souls who would be excited by a quixotic hunt for my “main account” (which one?).
I could be British, American, Continental European, Asian—or most anything else.
Satoshi was an old-school cypherpunk. He used a pseudonym, he used Tor, and he otherwise spent considerable effort to conceal his identity. He exhibited a keen awareness of privacy issues. He was highly intelligent.
Do you suppose that he couldn’t do what I do?
In analysing such matters, most people make the fallacy presuming average abilities. It is unsurprising, for the obvious reason.
The average person lacks the language skills to perform such a feat consistently—let alone to do it easily, as a matter of habit.
Do you suppose that Satoshi was of average intelligence?
Persons of rare,
extraordinary intelligence exist in many societies. They are statistical outliers. They cannot be analyzed by comparison to their neighbours.
If you start with the premise that Satoshi was a genius, then it follows in reason that he could be British, American, Continental European, Asian—or most anything else.
Poll
