From: "Chris Jacobs" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > From: "Ernest Cline" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > What about using the existing character > > U+20A1 COLON SIGN for the cedi? > > Ebay has a picture of a one cedi: > > http://cgi.ebay.nl/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3905253963&category=12821#ebayphotohosting > > The cedi symbol is clearly smaller than the (roman) digit 1 after it.
And note that the symbol dyisplayed on this official banknote uses a slanted stroke, unlike the common vertical stroke used in many fonts for the cent symbol, but there are exceptions and the direction of this stroke is considered as a variant of the same symbol with the same contextual semantics, according to the text source that uses it. I also note that a big C with a double slanted stroke is sometimes used for the Cruzeiro symbol (here also the direction of these strokes can vary, and they can sometimes be drawn with vertical strokes, or sometimes with a single stroke (rather than a double stroke). Who's right? Unless there's a legal text that defines the symbol, and the symbol has been used consistently for official banknotes and coins and official publications with careful typography (notably for books like dictionnaries); ignore the case of newspapers or economical reports which may be composed with much less typographic consideration, as their timelife is often quite short. As long as the usage of a symbol variant will not create ambiguity for commerce, there's probably no problem except for purists. Who cares about which code represents a symbol that will finally be most often handwritten on price indicators in shops? Is there a legal symbol to use on checks to keep their validity? As many conuntries only accept transactions in one single currency for legal accounting, this is is not a a problem. For those countries that use several currencies, it would be a problem if the symbols were not distinct enough (this case occured for years in France to differentiate the Germinal Franc, renamed "Ancien Franc", and the Nouveu Franc which became legal while also maintaining for a very long period the validity of banknotes which used the same denomination "Franc". For the commerce, the simplest solution was to add a leading qualifying symbol and not to use the symbol alone (so NF was used to designate the "Nouveau Franc", and this usage was abolished when banknotes and coins emitted with the Old Franc were officially removed from legal usage in commercial transactions). The same is still true today more than 1 year after the final transition from Franc to Euros (banknotes and coins in Francs are still valid for 10 years at Banque de France agencies where they can be exchanged against their equivalent in Euros), but this is not a problem because there's absolutely no possible confusion between a "F" for Franc and Euro symbol (I think that the symbol for the Euro was justified by the need to make a clear distinction between the national currency and the new european currency, notably for the transition phase. The Euro symbol will still have a very strong definition until all countries finish their transition to the Euro, but already in countries that have finished this transition phase, the symbol is known and recognized with lots of glyphic variations... including the simple "E" letter instead of the "EUR" code normally recommanded if the symbol is not present. The fear of possible confusion has vanished when you simply note that the equivalent term to designate the cent of the Euro is now used without ambiguity with the same local name as the one that was used to designate the hundredth of the old currency, and this useful subunit has still no defined symbol; the cent symbol is extremely rarely used, including for local or national phone rates that are now under 1 cent per minute (phone rates advertizing in France commonly use the spelled term "centime" without qualification, or use the "ct." abbreviation which is easier to read and remember than a designation in Euros with null decimals like "0,01 â/min." prefe rably written "1 ct./min.").
