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Google Like It’s 1866
…or even earlier, and Canada’s still under British rule somehow.
I use Google Calendar, and when I’m logged in I see a menu of other Google goodies at the top left of the window, thus:
Google Maps is not in the Calendar menu, and so I have to go to the “more” link to find it. Imagine my surprise when that “more” link flings me into the arms of Google UK’s version of the goodies page, whence the maps, of course, start with the British Isles.
Thinking I’d logged on wrongly somehow, I backed out of Google Calendar and logged in again. Nope, the error is hard-wired. The only way I can show it to you is to bore you with a bit of the source code behind my Calendar page. I’ve highlighted the throwback portion of the code:
A glitch, clearly.
It was really nice to note that tech-wizards like Google could commit such simple errors. I am not a html expert but then surely this is a hitch which does carry implicants of an entire country taken to be linked with another.
Nice that you pointed this out, Simon.
The same thing happens when you use French (en-ca) as your default browser setting. Google Maps assumes you are right in the middle of France. I guess the Maps department isn’t as geographically aware as the rest.
Thanks to Ryan I figured out what the problem is. I had chosen “UK English” as my language, because the spelling is closer to that of Canadians. Google took that to mean I was English (or Welsh or Scots, I suppose). When I switched back to “US English” I wound up with a more standard menu. Sigh. I suppose it is simply too massively difficult for Google to acknowledge us as a separate country with a somewhat separate language. I really do hate having to elect to be American in order to make things work at all right.