Really OT: internationalized email addresses (Was: french orthography (Was: BCP47 Appeals process)

[Mark Crispin]

>> There is a class of identifiers in which universal literacy is of far
>> greater value than localization.
> Well, there is no such thing as "universal literacy" unless we decide
> that a given script is mandatory to learn for everyone on earth.

The basic Latin script, unadorned with diacriticals, de facto serves
that function.

There are very few nations ("or regions", to use that silly bit of
political correctness) in which the population is taught to be literate
in their local script without also being taught to be literate in the
basic Latin script.

I say "very few" in the assumption that such places actually exist;
I do not know of any.  I admit to not making a comprehensive survey,
but I have yet to meet anyone who does not know the Latin script.

This does not equate at all to "literacy in the English language."  A
far greater number of people know how to write their name using
the Latin script than are able to read an English-language newspaper.

Similarly, a far greater number of people are able to read text in
their own language in the Latin script than are able to read text in
the English language.

-- Mark --

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