Subject: Re: [lojban] RE:character names

From: John Cowan <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2000 11:52:47 -0400

[email-masked] wrote:

> It is important to note that these names are not for the characters per se
> but for them in some particular function.

Many characters have standardized names that describe only one of their
functions. # is called NUMBER SIGN by ISO and Unicode, but also serves as
a pound (weight) sign in the U.S. It also has the form-based names "hash"
and "octothorpe". The "-" character is officially known as HYPHEN-MINUS,
reflecting two of its commonest functions.

> [I]t can lead to minor confusions when the
> same character is used in different functions: slash for division and
> subaddressing, say,

But it is still the same character. Furthermore, its standard name is
SOLIDUS, from when its primary purpose was to separate shillings from pence.

> It might also
> be sueful to have use-independent names for the characters, for discussion of
> their various uses.

The Unicode/ISO 10646 index numbers serve that purpose, and we have the
cmavo "se'e" to mark a character code.

-- 

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