Area codes [was Re: Updated! LANGUAGE TAG REGISTRATION FORM : es-americas]

John Clews Scripts2@sesame.demon.co.uk
Fri, 06 Sep 2002 08:26:30 GMT


I still think Michael Everson is correct. I also think that he
raises an important point below:

In message <p05111b00b99d452e2f74@[193.120.118.35]> Michael Everson writes:

> I don't think it makes any sense to suggest that the varieties of 
> Spanish spoken in North and South America comprise any kind of 
> linguistic unity, and despite repeated requests for any actual 
> evidence, no such proof has been forthcoming. Acordingly, and as this 
> code is intended for some kind of locale tagging, it seems to me that 
> if a geographic code were available then the code could be cobbled 
> together without asking *me* to approve of it.

It strikes me that people looking at this list should request some
sort of standard code for "Areas" covering more than one country.

Digression on terms:

Note that for consistency I use the term
Area    - for groups of countries (as in the term Area Studies)
Country - for country (obviously) and
Region  - for subdivisions (as in Regional policy in country XYZ).

Sometimes the words "Areas" and "Regions" are used the opposite way
round, but I suggest that the use above fits more general usage.

Returning to a need for Area codes:

If ISO/TC46 is not interested in covering that (which it clearly
isn't) work should be initiated in some other forum.

Michael's correct: if an area entity needs to be coded, then get the
entities coded somewhere.

Don't make language tags and subtags do a different job as well.
It's like apples and oranges are different: they share some
characteristics, like both are fruit, both are round, but if you try
and put apples in a recipe which needs oranges, nobody will be very
happy.

Best regards

John Clews

--
John Clews,
Keytempo Limited (Information Management),
8 Avenue Rd, Harrogate, HG2 7PG
Email: Scripts@sesame.demon.co.uk
tel: +44 1423 888 432;

Committee Member of ISO/IEC/JTC1/SC22/WG20: Internationalization;
Committee Member of ISO/TC37/SC2/WG1: Language Codes