Ken> The even worse problem is that in Taiwan even today, people are
Ken> deliberately modifying characters to create name characters. (The
Ken> ideographic equivalent of people spelling Lisa as Leesa, Leza, Leeza,
Ken> Lise, etc.)
Ken> So in the end, we will have no choice but to have a very large list
Ken> of characters to satisfy the scholars, plus a composition method of
Ken> Han ideographic character parts to deal with the edge cases, plus a
Ken> residue of nonce name characters which cannot even be dealt with by
Ken> the composition method.
Witness the recent (past 20-30 years) trend in American culture for "unusual"
personal names for children. They increasingly defy what we have come to
think of as spelling conventions in an already overcomplicated spelling
system. Yet, we deal with it. Sometimes asking, "How do you pronounce your
name?" Sometimes waiting till the person is introduced by name.
All the while, the poor lexicographers frantically trying to get it documented
and verified, just in time for things to change again. Well, I guess it gives
them something to do :-)
Exhausted musings brought to you by, and no offense intended by,
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
mleisher@crl.nmsu.edu
Mark Leisher "A designer knows he has achieved perfection
Computing Research Lab not when there is nothing left to add, but
New Mexico State University when there is nothing left to take away."
Box 30001, Dept. 3CRL -- Antoine de Saint-Exup'ery
Las Cruces, NM 88003
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