Re: U+0191, U+0192 [F with hook] (was: Re: A basic question on encoding Latin characters)

From: John Cowan (cowan@locke.ccil.org)
Date: Thu Sep 30 1999 - 12:09:21 EDT


Karl Pentzlin scripsit:

> 5. Disunify. Add FLORIN SIGN to the currency symbol block. Add a FOLDER
> SYMBOL to the Miscellaneous Symbols block (or wherever appropriate) [or
> choose an already existing symbol] and remap Mac characters to it instead of
> U+0192, as long as the use of that character there is predominantly the
> "folder" abbreviation.
>
> If a remapping is due anyway, in my opinion a misuse of a character of a
> group with specific purpose (currency symbol, in this case) for a completely
> different purpose should not be introduced in advance, without any
> compelling reason.

You might as well argue that it is a "misuse" of SOLIDUS, which should
only separate shillings from pence or "and" from "or", to use it in
Unix pathnames, and that a separate UNIX PATHNAME SEPARATOR character
should be introduced, with appropriate mappings.

Polysemous characters are a fact of life. What is obnoxious about the
FLORIN vs. HOOK F case is that one is a symbol and another is a letter.
This means that the current HOOK F must be treated as either depending
on the context, which is annoying.

-- 
John Cowan                                   cowan@ccil.org
       I am a member of a civilization. --David Brin



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