March 17, 2008
1:44 p.m.
I see at... http://www.usembassy.gov ...that the last likely holdout is prepared to refer to Vietnam's most populous city as "Ho Chi Minh City." We'd normally use "Ho Chi Minh City" (English version) rather than "Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh" (native version) as the (basis for the) zone name. We'd normally try to limit the name to at most 14 characters. Ho_Chi_Minh_City weighs in at 16. Ho_Chi_Minh, at eleven characters, would be within the normal limit. (Using just the name of the person after whom the city is named is something to which I'm accustomed, living as I do just a mile from Washington.) --ado