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Editor's note: Keep up with the USA-Bosnia and Herzegovina game here.
If you have been watching Bosnia and Herzegovina at the World Cup this summer, you've probably noticed the scoreboard does not say "BOS," as we would expect. It says "BIH."
The code comes from the country's name in its own language. In Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian, the nation is Bosna i Hercegovina. That little "i" in the middle means "and."
There is a system behind these abbreviations. Every country has an official set of codes kept by the International Organization for Standardization, which most people know as ISO. It's like the global filing system, so a bank in Tokyo and an airline in Toronto and FIFA all point to the same country in the same way. Bosnia's three-letter code in that system is BIH, and that's the version FIFA stamps on scoreboards and TV graphics.
The codes don't always match what an English speaker would pick. Switzerland shows up as SUI, from its old Latin name.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why Bosnia and Herzegovina is shown as 'BIH' at the World Cup, explained
Continue reading...
If you have been watching Bosnia and Herzegovina at the World Cup this summer, you've probably noticed the scoreboard does not say "BOS," as we would expect. It says "BIH."
The code comes from the country's name in its own language. In Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian, the nation is Bosna i Hercegovina. That little "i" in the middle means "and."
There is a system behind these abbreviations. Every country has an official set of codes kept by the International Organization for Standardization, which most people know as ISO. It's like the global filing system, so a bank in Tokyo and an airline in Toronto and FIFA all point to the same country in the same way. Bosnia's three-letter code in that system is BIH, and that's the version FIFA stamps on scoreboards and TV graphics.
The codes don't always match what an English speaker would pick. Switzerland shows up as SUI, from its old Latin name.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why Bosnia and Herzegovina is shown as 'BIH' at the World Cup, explained
Continue reading...
