Wording in password reset phrase in English

[Dirk Meyer]

Master
mysql
php5
Ubuntu

After importing a LEAP file, the new user is asked to change the password. The wording is as follows:

 "Passwords are case-sensitive and must be different to your username."

I am thinking the 'to your username' should be 'then your username' but I could be wrong.

[Kristina Hoeppner (kris-hoeppner)]

"Different to" or "different than"? That's a question for a native speaker. What better person to ask than Aaron? :-)

[Aaron Wells (u-aaronw)]

I'm a native speaker, and I have a BA in English. ;)

All three are acceptable. This Oxford Dictionaries usage blog entry says that "different than" is more common in US English and "different to" is more common in British English, while "different from" is the most common of all, in both US and British English. http://oxforddictionaries.com/words/different-from-than-or-to

As a speaker of US English, "different than" sounds the most correct to me in this context ("different from" suggests to me that the password must differ from the username in one of their characteristics, while what we mean is that it must differ in identity, i.e. not be exactly the same).

So, I'd suggest that in the en_us language pack we should certainly change it to "different from", and leave it as "different to" in the en_gb language pack.

I always forget which writing style the default language pack aims for, though, given that we have separate en_us and en_gb ones. Is it meant to be New Zealand English?

[Aaron Wells (u-aaronw)]

A quick poll of my NZ co-workers suggests that "different from" might be better in the default language pack. It's also the wording that is least likely to offend grammar pedants -- apparently "different to" and "different than" are considered "bad grammar" by some.

[Kristina Hoeppner (kris-hoeppner)]

patch at https://reviews.mahara.org/2576

No ID change necessary as translators don't need to see this change. This is purely for English.

[Mahara Bot (dev-mahara)]

Reviewed: https://reviews.mahara.org/2576
Committed: http://gitorious.org/mahara/mahara/commit/7d5a6c1ebc4cce4522fda497f8e7ce18dc65ef41
Submitter: Robert Lyon (<email address hidden>)
Branch: master

commit 7d5a6c1ebc4cce4522fda497f8e7ce18dc65ef41
Author: Kristina D.C. Hoeppner <email address hidden>
Date: Mon Oct 7 08:15:15 2013 +1300

Improve the grammar for password reset (Bug #1230044)

Lang strings did not require new IDs as the change
only affects English.

Change-Id: I50080336fd80aa0055e9e62366c70b55e37aa8b2
Signed-off-by: Kristina D.C. Hoeppner <email address hidden>