From: Peter Constable (petercon@microsoft.com)
Date: Wed Mar 11 2009 - 23:05:31 CST
From: unicode-bounce@unicode.org [mailto:unicode-bounce@unicode.org] On Behalf Of Michael Everson
>> Erm... I think you are in agreement on that point, which is where
>> this thread started: the name in the proposal is RABBIT, not ZODIAC
>> RABBIT.
>
> I did not and do not propose to name it ZODIAC RABBIT.
I didn't say that *you* proposed that; but it was a proposal that Markus responded to here, which is where this thread began.
>> No problem with the name. The problem with the annotation is that it
>> suggests a primary intended usage that is somewhat narrow.
>
> Nothing of the kind! Where did you get "primary intended usage" from
> an annotation. That is one of many possible usages.
You may understand it that way, but I very much suspect that most readers of the standard would not. Rather, I think they would get the impression that the annotation implies a primary intended usage.
>> A far less biased annotation would be "used as Japanese emoji",
>> which leaves people free to infer use to denote a zodiacal sign or
>> whatever other possible semantics might be used in that context.
>
> Good gods, Peter. Why are you making this worse? "Far less biased"? I
> don't object to the RABBIT being used in Japanese emoji. Nor do I
> object to an annotation stating such. What "bias" is there in
> recognizing that the 12 zodiac animals are in this set? (Actually more
> than 12 are there.)
The bias I refer to is the one that I think readers of the standard would perceive (whether the authors intended it or not) from a single annotation "used in Chinese astrology".
>>> Why not annotate the FIRE ENGINE as
>>> * fire station
>>> then?
>>
>> What's the benefit to restricting it in that way?
>
> Restriction? To me that just means "can also be used to indicate fire
> station as well as (obviously) fire engine".
Again, I think we need to be careful with how such terse annotations will be perceived and interpreted. In particular, I very much suspect many readers would interpret such an annotation as implying a primary intended usage or semantic.
Peter
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