[tz] Australian Timezone Abreviations - Next step

[Paul_Koning at Dell.com]

On Oct 11, 2012, at 5:40 AM, David Grosz wrote:

> ... The current abbreviations used for major Australian timezones by TZ are the same abbreviations as timezones used in USA.  Shouldn't each timezone use a unique abbreviation?

Unique worldwide?  There's no reason to believe that will ever happen.

Timezones are a cultural/political phenomenon, which makes them regional or national things.  So their properties -- like names and abbreviations -- are likely to be defined with that mindset.  That's why the US timezone abbreviations are unique within the USA, but conflict with those of other countries.  The scope (USA) is implied, and at the time those abbreviations were defined there was no real question that this was a logical thing to do.  It is not so obvious anymore, but at this point it's way too late.

Then there are places where the same zone has many names and many abbreviations -- European timezones are an example.  

So if you are looking for globally unique abbreviations, that's seriously optimistic.  If you also want them to be not just unique but one-to-one, that's even less likely.

	paul