July 23, 2003 In this global pea-soup which the internet facilitates, from time to time, as cultures and languages and societies mix, there is a disconnect - where one language or culture is not perceived by another culture as it would wish to be.

If you were a US energy company called Powergen and you had a subsidiary that operated in Italy, what would you call that company's website? Probably not www.powergenitalia.com. But they did.

Of course, you don't need necessarily need to translate to another language to get things pear-shaped, as the folks down at www.antiquesexchange.com can probably vouch!