Add Likely Subtags first step

cowan at ccil.org cowan at ccil.org
Mon Jan 26 19:31:10 CET 2015


Doug Ewell scripsit:

> The meaning of a registered subtag is defined by its registration form,
> and to a lesser extent, by its Description field. If this new subtag is
> defined to mean Oxford English Dictionary spelling, as the RFC 3066 tag
> was, then that is what it means, regardless of the letters that make up
> the subtag value.

Absolutely.  My concern here is that if we did want to provide variant
subtags for British cities, it would be natural to use the name of
the city where possible, and that if 'oxford' were preempted, it wouldn't
be available along with 'london', 'birming', 'leeds', etc. etc.

> 'oxendict' looks too much like a dictionary of oxen, or the diction of
> oxen. I realize "oxen" is how the town of Oxford got its name, but
> language tagging isn't supposed to be a lesson in etymology.

Well, yes.  But now it's you who are arguing from the form of the subtag
to its meaning.  In any case, 'oxdict' would not suggest oxen to me.

-- 
John Cowan          http://www.ccil.org/~cowan        cowan at ccil.org
To say that Bilbo's breath was taken away is no description at all.  There
are
no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the language that
they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful. --The
Hobbit




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