Re: [Ietf-languages] Fwd: Recommendation not to register variant subtags of the form 0nnn

[John Cowan <[e-mail]>]

What I am suggesting is simplicity itself:

Even though 4-digit variant subtags are legal, do not register any that
begin with 0.


Instead ask the requester to use some other subtag.  Exactly what other
subtag can be settled case-by-case when the time comes.



On Thu, Jul 30, 2020 at 12:54 PM Peter Constable <[e-mail]> wrote:

> This:
> > Our existing UN M49-based region subtags that begin with “0” are already
> subject to this.
>
>
>
> If it hasn’t been a problem over the past 10+ years for existing and
> in-use numeric region subtags, it’s not clear why we would need to change
> anything for hypothetical variant subtags.
>
>
>
>
>
> Peter
>
>
>
> *From:* Ietf-languages <[e-mail]> *On Behalf Of *Doug
> Ewell
> *Sent:* Wednesday, July 29, 2020 1:57 PM
> *To:* 'John Cowan' <[e-mail]>; 'IETF Languages Discussion' <
> [e-mail]>
> *Subject:* Re: [Ietf-languages] Fwd: Recommendation not to register
> variant subtags of the form 0nnn
>
>
>
> I understand the intent, although there are plenty of opportunities
> already for confusion.
>
>
>
> I have a colleague who often refers to the bogus tag ”en-EN” by analogy
> with “fr-FR” and “es-ES” and “it-IT”. (The organization doesn’t fully get
> that region subtags aren’t always necessary or desirable.)
>
>
>
> Our existing UN M49-based region subtags that begin with “0” are already
> subject to this. One of them, “en-029”, even has some currency. I don’t
> know if there has been any confusion around the leading zero. I know from a
> quick web scan that there is plenty of confusion from people who think a
> region subtag can only be an ISO 3166-1 code element, or who are still
> stuck in RFC 1766 and think a language subtag can only be two letters.
>
>
>
> I appreciate the nemawashi and suggest that we try to not enact any firm
> decisions, but keep this idea in mind whenever an all-numeric variant
> subtag is being floated.
>
>
>
> --
>
> Doug Ewell | Thornton, CO, US | ewellic.org
>
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>