Reports have surfaced on Twitter that when setting the language for a Windows 11 system to UK English, a slightly humourous translation error pops up when you go to compress a file. The context menu will state that you can "compress to postcode file" instead of "compress to zip file" as would be seen in US English.
OH MY GOD I"d heard about Windows 11 calling a zip file a "postcode file" in UK English because of really lazy translating but it"s ACTUALLY HERE ON MY PC like not even in beta this is actually happening right now in publicly available Windows pic.twitter.com/SeWPUxQIDu
— Jym (@JymFox) June 5, 2023
This appears to be a translation error, as a ZIP code in the US is the same as a Postcode in the UK. These are a string of numbers and sometimes letters that define a geographical area the majority of the time, this is then used with an address to speed up the sorting of mail across the country.
It remains to be seen how long it will take for this error to be fixed, however. Microsoft introduced a raft of updates to compressed file handling earlier this month, and this bug may have been introduced at the same time, which is just now starting to be discovered and shared. At the moment, no reports have surfaced of this being translated differently into languages other than English.
WHAT HAHAHAHA pic.twitter.com/0DXPpsbv4q
— Cleridwen (@Cleridwen) June 6, 2023
This isn"t the first or the last, bug that Microsoft will ship with Windows 11, but it"s one that is relatively harmless and can bring a laugh or confusion to anyone who happens to see it. Let us know in the comments if you have seen any other instances of Windows 11 displaying a UK English word incorrectly.