L2/08-128

Date/Time:    Sat Mar 22 18:19:12 CST 2008
Contact:      iancu@quickref.info
Name:         Laurentiu Iancu
Subject:      Names and allocation of some Japanese TV symbols from N3397

The following comments on http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n3397.pdf
are meant to draw the UTC's attention on some of the proposed symbols,
which in my opinion would deserve re-examination.  All comments are minor
and need not be acknowledged.

1) The glyph of U+26D7 BLACK LANE MERGE might look clearer if it had a
vertical dashed line;

2) U+26D9 DRIVE SLOW does not have a numeral 1 in its name, although it
seems to form a pair with the alias of U+26DA "drive slow 2".  On the other
hand, U+26DB CLOSED ENTRY 1 has a numeral in its name and also seems paired
with the alias of U+26DC "closed entry 2".  I think both name-alias pairs
should follow either one or the other pattern.

3) U+26F7 PERSON WITH A BALL and U+26FD WHITE FLAG WITH AN HORIZONTAL
MIDDLE BLACK STRIPE both have indefinite articles in their names, which
in my opinion should be discarded.  For comparison, the only relevant
character names with indefinite articles I could find in the UCD are:
    - U+2327 X IN A RECTANGLE BOX
    - U+2A15 INTEGRAL AROUND A POINT OPERATOR

4) An annotation might be useful for U+1F12A TORTOISE SHELL BRACKETED
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER S, since it is provided in isolation and not part
of a group of similar characters.

5) Perhaps a cross-reference from U+1F12B CIRCLED ITALIC LATIN CAPITAL
LETTER C back to U+00A9 COPYRIGHT SIGN and from U+1F12C CIRCLED ITALIC
LATIN CAPITAL LETTER R to U+00AE REGISTERED SIGN might emphasize the
distinction between the proposed and existing symbols.

6) The repeated phrase LATIN CAPITAL LETTER in several enclosed characters
such as U+1F12D CIRCLED LATIN CAPITAL LETTER C LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D or
U+1F14E SQUARED LATIN CAPITAL LETTER P LATIN CAPITAL LETTER P LATIN CAPITAL
LETTER V might seem redundant compared to using the plural such as U+1F14E
SQUARED LATIN CAPITAL LETTERS P P V.  There are nine such instances.

7) In the aliases of U+1F18E...U+1F195 "speed limit 10kmh"..." 80kmh",
perhaps "kmph" might be more accurate?

8) The circled ideographs U+1F200...U+1F203 seem to belong to the same
category as those in the U+3200...U+32FF block "Enclosed CJK Letters and
Months", which has space to accommodate them.  In support of this remark,
please note the unification between ARIB 9083 CONFIDENTIAL and U+3299
CIRCLED IDEOGRAPH SECRET given in the proposal.  In my opinion, U+1F205
SQUARE HIRAGANA HOKA also belongs in that block, and potentially even
U+1F204 SQUARED KATAKANA DE.

9) ARIB 9376 is being unified with U+233A APL FUNCTIONAL SYMBOL QUAD DIAMOND.
In contrast, ARIB 9001 is being encoded as U+26CB CROSSING LANES independently
from U+292C FALLING DIAGONAL CROSSING RISING DIAGONAL.  Although the purpose
of ARIB 9376 is not mentioned, it seems somewhat odd to me to unify it with
a programming symbol.

Regards,
L.I.