Off-topic: provincialism redux

[Patricia M Godfrey pmgodfrey@xxxxxxxx]

Carl wrote: "At least one subscriber's mail server bounced the entire
message because the
header included accented characters. Others X'ed out the high-order
characters, as above. C'est la guerre."
Nom d'un nom d'un nom! For forty years I've been hearing, from
people--editors, I blush to say, some of them--"Oh, accents? those funny
little marks foreigners use? What do we need to know about them?" Now
their use is considered subversive? Or perhaps obscene? And this is
supposed to be the age of globalization? Quo usque tandem...
Patricia