What a Locale is.... (Re: [Fwd]: Response to Mark's message])

[Jon Hanna]

> I am interested in seeing if separating script from the existing tag
> makes any sense in resolving the positioning problem. Recall that I
> suggested a "." modifier: "zh.hant-CN" or possibly "zh-CN.hant".
> Existing parsers probably can't deal with the new syntax, but perhaps
> this can be finessed?

I will, I think, have more to say on this tomorrow. For now my first
impression is that "zh-CN.hant" would satisfy my concerns in that:

a. All current RFC 3066 codes would work *as they currently do now*.

b. Anything in current use that needs to only work with current RFC 3066
codes (i.e. where script differences being encoded could cause problems)
would identify this as not being a code it could successfully use (because
it isn't a valid code by the current rules).

c. It can be viewed either as an atomic unit (satisfying the
script-in-language lobby?) and also as a separate language and script.
If future experience later adds weight to my stated views so far then there
would be a hook on which we could build the sort of language + script ( +
maybe some other stuff) format I'm in favour of. On the other hand if I am
proven wrong then this should still function okay for the kind of locale
issues that prompted this discussion.