Consensus Call on Latin Sharp S and Greek Final Sigma

[Michael Everson]

On 30 Nov 2009, at 12:14, Alexander Mayrhofer wrote:

> Micheal Everson wrote:
>> German grammar is one thing. The use of the character in personal  
>> names is another.
>
> Oh, wonderful. I'm already looking forward to cases where Mr.  
> Fassbinder sues Mr. Faßbinder for the "ß"-domain, and in turn Mr.  
> Faßbinder sues us because in a good percentage of his emails end up  
> in Mr. Fassbinders mailbox, thanks to the flourishing variants of  
> application mappings.
>
> What a lovely way to keep registry operators busy.

I didn't invent this stuff.

When you apply for a passport or Personalausweis in Germany, and you  
have a name with a sharp s in it, on the form which asks you to fill  
in the little boxes, they tell you to put a sharp s in one of the  
boxes (not two esses in one box, or two esses in two different boxes).  
Apparently Deutsche Post has a similar advice on one of their forms.  
(Andreas Stötzner has details.)

Writing systems are the inventions of human beings. They are not tidy.

(Never mind Möller and Moeller and Mœller. I guess this is nothing new.)

Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com/