Different encodings in different DBs in same cluster

Hi All, 

I was going through the docs for Postgres 8 for info on setting the
character set (to UTF8). In the docs here:

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.0/interactive/multibyte.html#MULTIBYTE-CHARSET-SUPPORTED

I see:
  Since these locale settings are frozen by initdb, the apparent  flexibility to use different encodings in different
databasesof a  cluster is more theoretical than real. It is likely that these  mechanisms will be revisited in future
versionsof PostgreSQL.   One way to use multiple encodings safely is to set the locale  to C or POSIX during initdb,
thusdisabling any real locale  awareness. 
 

Does anyone know what "more theoretical than real" mean in this context?
If I set the locale to C, is it going to work correctly with UTF8
encoded data?

Thanks,

-j

-- 
Jamie Lawrence                                        jal@jal.org
It's strange to hear people like Gordon Liddy talking about morality. 
He hasn't been out of jail all that long.  - Ben Bradlee