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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Kent,</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">I'm not able to match your beautifully
color-code reply chain, but here goes.<br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 3/25/2023 10:29 AM, Kent Karlsson
via Unicode wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:D87FAFE6-BD11-4891-993A-2A9783B84B4B@bahnhof.se">
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
style="color: rgb(68, 114, 196);" class="" lang="EN-GB">>>Further,
if some symbol/letter for some reason only ever occurred in
superscript<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
style="color: rgb(68, 114, 196);" class="" lang="EN-GB">>>position
in math expressions, such examples would still be supporting
evidence for<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
style="color: rgb(68, 114, 196);" class="" lang="EN-GB">>>that
symbol/letter. The closest practical example I can think of is
the degree sign, which<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
style="color: rgb(68, 114, 196);" class="" lang="EN-GB">>>in
origin is a superscript 0.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB"> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
style="color: rgb(132, 60, 12);" class="" lang="EN-GB">>The
degree sign is either the exception that proves the rule, or
something else: a symbol<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
style="color: rgb(132, 60, 12);" class="" lang="EN-GB">>that
occurs frequently in contexts that are not full mathematical
expressions, as it is typical<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
style="color: rgb(132, 60, 12);" class="" lang="EN-GB"> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB">True, but I was arguing against Peter
Constable's postulation that something that (for whatever<o:p
class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB">reason) occurs only in a superscript
position in a math expression <i class="">could not</i> have
its encoding <o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB">supported by an example where it
occurred in a superscript position in a math expression.<o:p
class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB">THAT postulation is false. (And the
closest example I could think of was the degree sign; there<o:p
class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB">MAY be examples of yet unencoded
characters that only occur in superscript position in math<o:p
class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB">expressions.)</span></div>
</blockquote>
<p>This is an argument best explored when there's an actual test
case.</p>
<p>In essence, modifier letters in phonetics fall into this
category, because ordinarily you don't expect to style phonetic
notation other than globally (e.g. font choice). They therefore
can be argued to have an identity that is different from simply
superscripting the same letter form. The latter looks the same,
but we assert (via encoding) that they are not the same thing.
That fits the conception of phonetic notation that every character
individually stands for something specific.<br>
<br>
Whereas in a mathematical expression, the identity of a letter
doesn't change, whether it's superscripted or not. It's clearly
just a different use of the same letter, which is underlined by
the fact that superscripting can be nested.</p>
<p>So, we would have to have a test case, not yet encoded, where
there's a different identity for the superscripted shape than if
the same shape were to be rendered normally.<br>
<br>
The degree sign is a bad example, in a way, as it's clearly not a
superscript 'o' or '0' (letter/digit) but is correctly implemented
as a pure circle. That puts it in the category of symbols for
which the size, spacing and placement of the "ink" matters more
than the resemblance of that "ink" to other symbols. It is also
not considered a "superscript circle" (no compat decomp).<br>
<br>
It is a good example in a different way, since it's clearly a
character for which the "ink" is always in a position and size as
would be appropriate for a superscript. I'm sure that if we
encounter some other character for which it would be inappropriate
to give a compat decomp that we would consider whether it should
be encoded.<br>
<br>
At that juncture, we would look at the context in which it is to
be used.<br>
</p>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:D87FAFE6-BD11-4891-993A-2A9783B84B4B@bahnhof.se">
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB"><span style="color: rgb(132, 60, 12);"
class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
style="color: rgb(132, 60, 12);" class="" lang="EN-GB"> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
style="color: rgb(132, 60, 12);" class="" lang="EN-GB">>for
unit symbols. When used with temperature, it's interesting to
note that not all temperature<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
style="color: rgb(132, 60, 12);" class="" lang="EN-GB">>scales
use it consistently. You don't see it with Fahrenheit very
often, for example, reflecting<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
style="color: rgb(132, 60, 12);" class="" lang="EN-GB">>differences
in traditional keyboard layouts.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB"> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB">Ok, let’s digress a bit… I do see that
too, in news articles (in web apps) from USA and British news<o:p
class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB">companies and see also “C” when degrees
Celsius is meant. But writing farad (F) or coulomb (C)<o:p
class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB">when referring to temperature is just
horrible, and only embarrassing for the journalist who wrote<o:p
class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB">that. (Another related horror is “kph”,
and there you cannot even blame keyboard layouts.)</span></div>
</blockquote>
<p>I think it goes a bit too far to assume that any and all unit
abbreviations have to be in the SI notation always. I'm sure there
are places where there are regulations that define the use of
specific abbreviations and in any contexts where they apply to SI,
you would be free to read "k" as kilo and "kph" as kilo-ph (and
then reject that as undefined). The same is not true for ordinary
everyday usage in places where SI units aren't customary. <br>
</p>
<p>Likewise, the "ph" suffix to mean "per hour" is well established
in places, while "/h" is not. That said, given that usage, I'd
personally prefer kmph over kph.</p>
For example, in the weather forecast, 80F never refers to capacity,
is understood by the audience, and therefore there's no objection to
that usage on ground of confusion with SI units. However, usage is
not consistent, you see it both with and without the degree sign,
and without naming names, websites by academic institutions are just
as likely to leave it off as popular websites are likely to add it.<br>
<br>
As you can see, actual usage is all over the place and as Unicode is
not prescriptive, we simply deal with what's out there.<br>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:D87FAFE6-BD11-4891-993A-2A9783B84B4B@bahnhof.se">
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB"><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB"> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
style="color: rgb(132, 60, 12);" class="" lang="EN-GB">>Note
that many unit symbols have one-off encodings that Unicode had
to support via compatibility<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
style="color: rgb(132, 60, 12);" class="" lang="EN-GB">>characters
or even canonical duplicates (think micro and Ohm vs. their
Greek letter counterparts).<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
style="color: rgb(132, 60, 12);" class="" lang="EN-GB">>Without
the need to support a transition from pre-existing character
sets, these duplicates would<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
style="color: rgb(132, 60, 12);" class="" lang="EN-GB">>not
exist. But they do<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB"> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB">Yes. (But not relevant to this
discussion.)<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB"> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
style="color: rgb(132, 60, 12);" class="" lang="EN-GB">>and
so does the degree sign.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB"> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB">The degree sign is not a compatibility
character. It “divorced” from superscript 0 looong before<o:p
class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB">computers…<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB"> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
style="color: rgb(132, 60, 12);" class="" lang="EN-GB">>Neither
of them, however, form precedents for non-compatibility
characters.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB"> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm; line-height: 15.546667098999023px;
font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span
class="" lang="EN-GB">Not sure what that sentence means, since
the premise is skewed.</span></div>
</blockquote>
<p>The argument is that because there may be some characters that
are used in ways that justify direct encoding (whether for
compatibility or whatever), this does not serve as a blanket
justification to extend that treatment to others.</p>
<p>A./<br>
</p>
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