>> James H. Cloos Jr. wrote: >> >>> I'm sure things like m€, k€, M€ and even G€ will come into use, >>> though I expect more will use them in front of the digits.
Perhaps, but that would be incorrect, methinks: Using SI preffixes implies that one is adopting the said unit (the euro, in this case) as if it were a SI unit itself -- and thus all other formal rules of the SI would apply. This includes the rule about (number)+(nbsp)+(unit symbol). On 2003.08.06, 11:12, Philippe Verdy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > the placement of the currency unit symbol or multiple is language > dependant, and the same local practices are used with the euro, as the > one used for pre-euro currencies. You mean that Dutch should write one euro as "1,- €", while Portuguese as "1€00", and perhaps British as "€ 1.00"?... It may be the case, but I'd found that a bad idea and worth fighting against. Some habits are indeed language dependant, but some others are just tradition (some of it imposed as logic and correct decades ago, like compulsive caseless singular for SI units in speech), and should not necessarily apply. After all the euro is a common currency and its figures should be written in a common way. > In fact, the position of the currency unit and decimal separator or > placement of the negative sign depends mostly of the current locale > (language/region) and not on the indicated currency, so this > convention is applied locally for *all* currency units. Nope, this is not true: While for any Portuguese the logical and usual way to express "one escudo" is (was) "1$00", it would be not only ridiculous but even not understandable to write one pound as "1£00" or even less one dollar as "1$00". I'm sure this applies to other "locales" as well. > Using the cent sign is mostly US specific and the symbol is not > recognized as such in most European countries, so the cent sign is > bound directly to the dollar. Perhaps, but any one outside Portugal would say the same about "$", while (as recently reported on this list), this symbol has been used for the escudo from 1911 to 2001 and its semantics in current portuguese society is "money" and not any specific currency. The "$" symbol is used also in Cape Verde and possibly will be used in East Timor for local currency, adding to its trivial usage in Australia and New Zealand (at least). If the "dollar sign" can be used for currencies other than the USD, even for some which name is not even "dollar", then I suppose there is a theoreitical possiblity that it may be used as a symbol of euro cent (though I personally prefer "c€"). > For example, here in France where the cent of a euro is named > "centime" (plural "centimes") rather than "cent" In Portugal, "cêntimo" (officialy and in practice). It seems that the changelessness of this name was less severely enforced than the euro's. -- ____. António MARTINS-Tuválkin, | ()| <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> |####| R. Laureano de Oliveira, 64 r/c esq. | PT-1885-050 MOSCAVIDE (LRS) Não me invejo de quem tem | +351 934 821 700 carros, parelhas e montes | http://www.tuvalkin.web.pt/bandeira/ só me invejo de quem bebe | http://pagina.de/bandeiras/ a água em todas as fontes |
