got a nifty surprise earlier when after whatever happens... I was stuck unable to launch gnome-terminal.... Well that's no good, a quick google search later i came across the answer... simply
As root edit the file /etc/locale.gen
Enable the needed locales - including en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 as fallback.
Rebuild the locale database using the locale-gen script
source : https://forum.manjaro.org/t/root-tip-troubleshooting-locale-errors/21008