For Android devices is it called...

[Rikku Watro]

When you enable a feature, such as Wifi, on Android devices, is it better to call it "enable Wifi" or what? Or if you disable it on Android is it "disable Wifi"? What would be the best ways to say enable Wifi/disable Wifi, etc. on Android? Is it also "switch Wifi on" or something else?

 

[Golfdriver97]

Unless you are talking about proper syntax for coding, it doesn't matter how you say it.

 

[belodion]

You may also find yourself wondering whether to say 'Switch wifi on' or 'Switch on wifi'. I believe that the latter is preferred by language experts, but most of us are uninterested in such degrees of correctness.

I'm reminded of the grammarian who, on his deathbed, said "I am dying; I am about to die: both are correct".

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Rukbat]

People in the field say "enable" or "disable". People who are just users, and don't care about speaking properly, use all sorts of words, some of which confuse even native English-speakers who do use the right words. (If you're not a native English speaker, you're probably not aware that many Americans can't speak their native language properly. We have a dialect I call "slop" - just say what you think and hope the person you're talking to understands what you meant - even if the word has nothing to do with the thought. Inability to speak properly indicates an inability to think properly. If we spent more time teaching children how to think, instead of what to think, it might be better.)

Belodion, you remind me of the Churchillian comment about "that is the sort of nonsense up with which I shall not put". Absolutely correct, according to the book.

 

[belodion]

^^^Yes, that is a pleasing quotation, or as people would say nowadays, quote. But I think my favourite remains that of the condemned man in the electric chair, who, as he was strapped into it, said 'Are you sure this thing is safe?'

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Rukbat]

My favorite Churchilism was his exchange with Bessie Braddock (some say Lady Astor, but that's doubtful):

Braddock: "Winston, you are drunk, and what's more you are disgustingly drunk. "
Churchill: "Bessie, my dear, you are ugly, and what's more, you are disgustingly ugly. But tomorrow I shall be sober and you will still be disgustingly ugly."

Also his exchange with Thatcher. Thatcher remarked, "If you were my husband, I would put poison in your coffee." Churchill replied, "Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it."

Master par excellence of the immediate put-down.

 

[Javier P]

As a non English speaker I can understand the OP question. Sometimes I freeze a little bit when writing something like that. It could seem unimportant when English is your language, but you spent some time thinking about that when you make the effort to write properly in a language you don't master.

In this particular question this is my rule. Use enable/disable when talking about big things like apps. You'll disable and app or a feature that you don't need. You switch on/off when talking about some kind of toggles (WiFi, mobile data, aeroplane mode ...).

But in general you have to think about the whole sentence and not so much about a single word. Keep it clean and every one is going to understand. And as Rukbat said, you're more worried about correctness than most English speakers are. (I really like that "slop" thing).

By the way. Never use "switch on WiFi", "switch WiFi on" is the way to go.*

 

[Javier P]

Editing disaster. Delete.

 

[Rikku Watro]

What editing disaster?

 

[Rikku Watro]

Ok, it's switch Wifi on

 

[Rikku Watro]

But is it better to say "enable Wifi" or "switch Wifi on"? Or is there an even better way?

 

[Javier P]

What editing disaster?

Nothing important. Just tried to edit an error in my first post and pressed quote instead of edit and I created a messy new post.

 

[Javier P]

But is it better to say "enable Wifi" or "switch Wifi on"? Or is there an even better way?

You can use both on depending on the sentence. I prefer" switch on" specially when on and off are included. For example. "I use Power Toggles to switch WiFi on and off". But don't worry, both are correct.

And remember, if you don't have a good data plan make sure that WiFi is enabled before watching any video.

 

[belodion]

The English language, which is my native language, is full of so many irregularities that I almost feel ashamed of it. Even native English speakers are often far from certain about correct usage.
I'm astonished at how many non-native English speakers manage to master the language as well as they do, as is so often seen in these forums.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Javier P]

I'm not even close to master English but there's a good thing about this language. It's very easy to be understood (when writing at least, speaking is a different struggle). I'm going to make lots a mistakes and grammatical errors but the message will pass along.

It's different with other languages (Spanish, Portuguese, German ...). Just a couple of errors could change completely the meaning. In general English is an straight to the point language and that helps to make things easier for non English speakers.

 

[Rukbat]

I'm not even close to master English but there's a good thing about this language. It's very easy to be understood (when writing at least, speaking is a different struggle). I'm going to make lots a mistakes and grammatical errors but the message will pass along.

Errors, no. Your writing isn't colloquial, so it sounds a bit stilted, but I've seen FAR worse from people who were born here, to parents who were born here. In fact, most of the really terrible English I've seen on the internet comes from native English speakers. To those whom it's a second or third language, they think about how to say (or write) it in English. MANY native English speakers don't pay attention - to the point that they use a word meaning something entirely different than they meant to say.

But remember - English is Angle, Saxon, Welch, Latin, Greek and a few other languages, all combined into a speech used as a common language by a lot of people. But it's not really a language. The rules - for grammar, for spelling, for sentence construction - vary as you parse a sentence. And some of the "rules" make speaking (and listening to it) painful. A preposition is something with which one should never end a sentence - leading Winston Churchill to quip "This is something up with which I shall not put." The rules say it's the proper way to say it. Churchill might also have had something to say about the rules, but knowing his penchant for not caring whom he offended, I'd guess that it was probably never printed.

It's different with other languages (Spanish, Portuguese, German ...). Just a couple of errors could change completely the meaning. In general English is an straight to the point language and that helps to make things easier for non English speakers.

I can get along well enough in German so I don't starve in Germany, but writing? I won't even try - I know it would take a native German speaker a lot more work to decode what I write than if I use Google Translate (which, if it's as bad going English-to-German as it is going German-to-English, isn't a very good translation) Spanish? I know a few words, most of them because they're used in English. Portuguese?. Aside from the fact that it's similar to Spanish (as far as I know it evolved from Castillian), I don't know a word.

Rikku, my personal rule on the internet is that if I can understand what you mean, your English is good enough for use on the internet. I'm here to help people with their cellphones, not to criticize their use of English. At least people try. I have to use Google, since English is the only language I can speak or write fluently. It only bothers me when someone born in the United States, of American parents (so English was spoken in the home), writes so poorly that it embarrasses me to know that a countryman of mine cares so little about the impression he's making. So say turn wifi off, say disable wifi, say it any way that people will understand - and if someone doesn't like the way you say it, he can answer someone else's question. When you're in an English class, worry about the "proper" way to say it. (And be sure you know whether it's supposed to be British proper or American proper. For instance, we refer to a company in the singular, Englishmen refer to a company in the plural. "Google have a nice campus" in England. "Google has a nice campus" in the US. Each is "correct".)