GNU bug report logs - #6007
locale sort ordering confusion

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Message #20 received at 6007 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: "Alan Curry" <pacman-cu <at> kosh.dhis.org>
To: 6007 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#6007: en_US sorting is completely stupid.
Date: Thu, 22 Apr 2010 18:08:54 -0500 (GMT+5)

Bob Proulx writes:
> 
> You don't like it and I don't like it but the-powers-that-be have

Who's the "power" here anyway? Who do we have to impeach? Seriously. The
"en_US" locale is an unmitigated disaster. It's officially called "not a bug"
every time it comes up, which seems to be once a week on this list alone, so
what volume of complaints is required to tip the balance to "all right it's a
damn bug let's fix it"?

From the name "en_US" one might guess that it represents the behavior
expected by English-speaking users in or from the US. But those users have
lived with computers for a generation or two. What they expect is
ASCIIbetical. The only people who actually expect phone-book-style sorting
are old geezers who remember what a phone book was. Most of them have never
used a computer and never will, so why do we (and by "we" I mean whoever
makes the locale rules) bend the default to accommodate them?

-- 
Alan Curry

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