langauge vs. locale

[David Starner]

On 9/28/06, John Cowan <cowan at ccil.org> wrote:
> Michael Everson scripsit:
>
> > >en-GB
> >
> > Now there's a thorn in everyone's side.
>
> The real issue, if there is one, is not why GB is "GB" (the only unique
> words in the name are "Great Britain") but why US is "US" (the
> unique word in its name is "America", which should have been used
> as the basis for the code by ISO 3166 rules).

Because US is already used for the United States of America, and is
widely known for that, to the point that using anything would be
confusing? America, referring to a landmass that happens to include
the country, isn't terribly unique in and of itself.