atw: Re: use of the ? symbol
- From: "Reginald Hardman" <cleardoc@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "austechwriter list" <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2004 17:31:52 +0200
Salut Michael,
You are absolutely right, the currency symbol should never be used in
the context you give below. Curiously, the 1981 version of ISO 1000 does
allow "80 M$, even 10e6 USD" and other variants derived from standard SI
unit notation, all of which I would not use for fear of inflicting
severe dyspepsia.
As a follow-up, I looked at some web sites of EU countries whose
currency symbols prior to 2001 were placed before the numbers.
An Irish website (for hotel bookings) gave prices as, for example=20
"euros =80 150.00", having an each way bet on whether the reader can
display the euro symbol. So much for my advice Erica, which seems to
have been franco-centric. It appears that in countries where the old
currency symbol came before the numbers, so does the euro symbol. A
country's government can choose not to accept the ISO as a primary
standard, after all. For an international readership, and where the
material originated in a country where the symbol is put after the
numbers, I would still put it after the numbers (but never in the
context in Michael's remarks). How confusing could it be, anyway? As
always, take into account the 3 factors affecting how you express
anything. They are, in order of priority, audience, audience, audience.
BTW in a world where I am constantly emailed prices for pirated
software, medicine for organ modification and everything else, I found
it quite difficult to quickly find a website in languages I read, with
written prices, curious.
Reg
> Reg speaks (sorry, writes) sooth. (G'day, Reg!) But I do think the
> distinction between the "local" symbols ($, =A3, =A5, etc) and the SI sym=
bols
> (USD, UKP, JPY) is worth observing. Most readers would be quite
> bewildered
> to encounter something like "80 million $", but "80 million USD"
> shouldn't
> give anyone much dyspepsia.
>=20
> Michael Lewis
>=20
> --------------------------------------
> Brandle Pty Limited, Sydney, Australia
> http://www.brandle.com.au
> --------------------------------------
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=0D
=0D
--=0D
R=E9ginald Hardman=0D
R=E9dacteur Technique=0D
Paris, France =0D
=0D
Reginald Hardman=0D
Technical writer=0D
Paris, France
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