l10n: Look in the default text domain if a translation isn't found in the specified text domain

[yoavf]

Occasionally, themes or plugins have strings that already exist in core, but the l10n call uses the plugin text domain.

Example

_e( 'edit', 'my-plugin' );

If that string doesn't exist in the plugin translation files, core's translation (if it exists) won't be used.
Why not have the l10n functions look in the default text domain too if no translation is found?

You can already do that with filters (in a plugin). For example:

function gettext_domain_override( $translation, $original, $domain = 'default' ) {
	if ( $domain != 'default' && $translation == $original ) {
		$translation = translate( $original, 'default' );
	}
	return $translation;
}
add_filter( 'gettext', 'gettext_domain_override', 10, 3 );

[chriscct7]

While theoretically a plugin should use the context based translation function, it's possible that WordPress's translation and the plugins might be for non-compatible actions/items, even if they are the same string. Therefore, closing as wontfix.