Peter H:
> The problem is that so many non-Europ. countries don't have proper
> car registration initials - so we have to agree on an international
> standard - that's why I support the current system...!
I don't know about East Timor, but I list vehicle distinguishing signs
for the other 192 countries in my Country Codes file - some of them not
officially UN-approved, admittedly. But to me there's a big problem with
using variable-length codes (anything from one to four letters in this
case) - there's no definite, reproducible break where one country code
stops and the next begins. I'm hard pressed to produce a specific
example, but there's clearly *potential* confusion when four letters can
be split 2:2 or 1:3 or 3:1.
Anton Z:
>> DZ
> I found Algeria, but how come? Is this a transcription from Arabic?
The Arabic name is Al-Jaza'ir (though I think this is most correctly
applied to Algiers, with the country getting a very polysyllabic name
incorporating the words "al Jaza'iriyah"). But in French transliteration
Al Jaza'ir would be rendered "Al Djaza'ir", to prompt French speakers to
make a hard "j" sound. (Similarly, the French write "Tchad" for Chad.)
So my guess is that the DZ comes from "DjaZa'ir".
Grant