I’m always fascinated by the way that technologies evolve differently when kept apart. A simple example is the power plug and socket. Here in the UK we’re lumbered with huge, over spec 13A square pin fused things. Very safe, and you can’t pull them out the wall by tugging on the cable, no matter how hard you try. Prior to that we have 5A and 15A round pin plugs and sockets in a similar shape. These live on in lighting circuits, and in South Africa. Most of main-land Europe use round two pin plugs, but add an earth pin and you’ll find that a Spanish device will not plug in to an Italian socket.

There are loads of other examples, but what made me write about this was how here in Europe we talk about mobile, but in the use everything is wireless and phones are specifically cell phones. That term is also used in other countries.

How come the internet, that great leveler of international divides, hasn’t made these variants vanish?

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