Symbol Categorization

So I've been doing some very close reading of the Po and So categories, and
there are a few things that aren't making sense to me. I was wondering why
is:

   - per cent, per mille, per ten thousand classified as Other Punctuation
     (Po) not as Other Symbol (So)?
       http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/0025/
       http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2030/
       http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2031/
       http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/066a/
       http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/0609/
       http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/060a/
       http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/fe6a/
       http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/ff05/

   - number sign, ampersand, and commercial at classified as Other Punctuation
    (Po), not Other Symbol (So)?
       http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/0023/
       http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/0026/
       http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/0040/
       http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/fe5f/
       http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/fe60/
       http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/fe6b/
       http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/ff03/
       http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/ff06/
       http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/ff20/

   These characters each symbolize a concept, and are not used as punctuation
   (except maybe in URLs, but that shouldn't count). So why are they punctuation
   and not symbols?

   - music sharp classified as Mathematical Symbol (Sm) not Other Symbol (So),
     while music flat is So, not Sm?
       http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/266f/

   - certain white triangles are classified as Mathematical Symbol (Sm)
     while their corresponding black triangles are classified as Other
     Symbol (So)?
       http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/25b7/
       http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/25b8/
       http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/25c1/
       http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/25c2/

   These just seem really inconsistent...

~fantasai
Received on Tue Jul 26 2011 - 15:58:29 CDT