Check the Regional Settings and re-apply English. That should do it
Thanks. I would have thought so. Everything else is English, including the user-interactions in the other Windows accessory apps.
Let me define my universe. I am also a Tech. When I "field out" a question, it's because I have exhausted all (or most, because I am also human, and could have forgotten something...even something as simple and obvious as checking the regional settings...but usually not) of the usual trouble-shooting procedures.
Just for fun, on the Languages tap of the Regional and Language Support control panel app (cpl), I checked the box to "Install files for East Asian languages" and the vertical bars on the Print Preview option buttons (in Paint and Wordpad, as described in my original post) are now characters. Still not English, though.
And though the "Do you want to save..." prompt when I exit a changed document is still also non-English, the response buttons say "Yes", "No", and "Cancel" in English.
As it's only manifesting in these two Accessory apps (and not any others, as far as I can tell), I'm beginning to think I should try un/re-installing them from the add/remove Windows Components cpl. As soon as I find where the "Wordpad" entry is.
It's just not serious enough to go as far as a Windows punt.
P