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The comment for the U+20B1 code point (the Peso sign, as used in Philippines) states the following: "the Mexican Peso is indicated with the dollar sign" - this is true for all Latin-American "peso" currencies, current and historical. I'd like to suggest three changes:

- Modify the comment for the U+20B1 code point to state something like "Extant and discontinued Latin-American Peso currencies (Mexican, Chilean, Colombian, etc.) use the dollar sign.".

- To avoid confusion between the Latin-American Peso currencies and the Filipino currency, define the alias "Filipino Peso Sign", pointing to U+20B1.

- Make a note in the comments for U+0024 that this symbol is used for many peso currencies in Latin America.

If your facts are correct on that, these would be useful ideas
to clarify what is a bit of a muddle.

Could you make a formal submission using the contact form?
http://www.unicode.org/reporting.html

That way they become part of the official feedback and can be acted upon by the UTC.

Thanks!

I'm gathering all the needed information. Since I live in Chile, I've already got the Chilean law that specifies the current peso: http://www.leychile.cl/Navegar?idNorma=6492&idVersion=2000-05-25. It says the following:

Rough translation: «(...) Chile's currency is the "peso" (...). It's symbol is the letter S with one or two vertical bars over it and will be located before the numerical expression.» (note how this undermines my other proposal...)

I'm looking now for as official as possible references for other countries' pesos as well.




I'll do it, as soon as I have enough references to back up my claims. :-)

Thanks.

asmus, before I make the formal submission, can you please read this draft and tell me what you think of it? Thanks in advance.

Type of message: Error Report (Standard, Data Files, etc)

Subject: Clarifications suggested for the DOLLAR SIGN and PESO SIGN code points.

Unicode defines the code point U+0024 (DOLLAR SIGN) and U+20B1 (PESO SIGN), but both the names and comments in the standard could use some clearing up.

The U+20B1 code point is the currency symbol for the Filipino Peso. It was added in Unicode 3.2, with two comments: "Philippines" and "the Mexican Peso is indicated with the dollar sign", that haven't been altered in later Unicode versions.

Meanwhile, the U+0024 code point is the currency symbol for the dollar, named as such (DOLLAR SIGN); it lists both "milreis" [sic - it's "milréis"] and "escudo" as synonyms.

The limited information on both entries might confuse someone who lacks the cultural context of any person in the American Continent and lead him or her to a mistake.

The dollar sign ('$') actually predates the adoption of the US Dollar (see reference [1]), originating in Spanish currency, and is widely used as the symbol for currencies called "peso" in many Spanish-speaking Latin-American countries, not just Mexico (see reference [2] for a partial list); the Filipino Peso is a notorious exception due to the -undoubtedly intentional- usage of a different sign ('₱').


To avoid potential problems, I'd like to suggest three minor changes to the Unicode standard:

1) To avoid confusion between the Latin-American Peso currencies and the Filipino currency, define the alias "Filipino Peso Sign", pointing to U+20B1.

2) Modify the comment for the U+20B1 code point to state something like "Extant and discontinued Latin-American Peso currencies (Mexican, Chilean, Colombian, Dominican, etc.) use the dollar sign.".

3) Make a note in the comments for U+0024 that this symbol is used for many peso currencies in Latin America and elsewhere, pointing to U+20B1 as the only exception to this general rule.

Thank you.


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[1] http://www.moneyfactory.gov/faqlibrary.html
«What is the origin of the $ sign?

The origin of the "$" sign has been variously accounted for, however, the most widely accepted explanation is that the symbol is the result of evolution, independently in different places, of the Mexican or Spanish "P's" for pesos, or piastres, or pieces of eight. The theory, derived from a study of old manuscripts, is that the "S" gradually came to be written over the "P," developing a close equivalent of the "$" mark. It was widely used before the adoption of the United States dollar in 1785.»


[2] Currencies called "peso" are or were used in several Latin-American countries, and they all use '$' or a string that includes said symbol. A few examples:

- Chile: see the decreto ley 1123 de 1975 at http://www.leychile.cl/Navegar?idNorma= ... 2000-05-25 . It defines explicitly the Chilean peso symbol as a letter 'S' with one or two vertical bars.

- Argentina: see http://www.bcra.gov.ar/ - the Central Bank's home page uses the '$' symbol right away. An older currency, the "peso argentino", used "$a" (see law 22.707 - http://www1.hcdn.gov.ar/dependencias/di ... ENERAL.pdf ).

- Colombia: see http://www.banrep.gov.co/billetes_moned ... t_pro.html - prices for their Central Bank's products list the currency using $ (although "COP$" is frequently used in formal contexts as well).

- Mexico: see http://www.banxico.org.mx/divulgacion/b ... illet.html - the recent "nuevo peso" used "N$" for a while, until the 'N' was dropped.

- Dominican Republic: see http://www.bancentral.gov.do/billetes_m ... nedas.html - in formal contexts, "RD$" is used to distinguish it better from other currencies.

Will do. I think you've got it.
You can save yourself and everyone some effort by simply linking the background information that you put here into the forum already.

I would further suggest you tighten the wording of your suggestion slightly see the edits I applied in the quote.



That should do it.

I've just sent the message. Thank you!