There are only two types of script I've ever seen use anything like this, the first:
"* Join/#chan: codemastr (country: United States) type of scripts.
The second:
!country .it
$ord, which you brought up, does not have merely two purposes, it can be used in a wide range of applications. Things that come to mind right now, any game scripts. "$nick is in $ord(%place) place!." Kick scripts, "You are the $ord(%kickcount) person I kicked." Virtually any counter that is displayed can make use of $ord. This is not true of $country, it exists only to serve a very specific purpose. I can't see any purposes other than the two I mentioned.
Now, if the new plan is "if even one person needs it, add it" well then don't be suprised when other common scripts are asked to be made built-in. Things I can see right now that I'm sure someone could equally make an argument for:
/thank [-sm [+ohv]] [msg]
Sends a "thank you" message on the given action, e.g.:
/thank -m +o Hey $nick thanks for the +o!
/thank -s Hey $nick thanks for $file!
/thank -m +v Hey $nick thanks for the +v!
etc.
$urldecode(text)/$urlencode(text), e.g.:
//echo -a $urldecode(
http://www.something.com/%20test)
//sockwrite httpsock Location: $urlencode(the file***.ext)
etc.
$htmldecode(text)/$htmlencode(text), e.g.:
//echo -a $htmldecode(&)
//echo -a $htmlencode(&)
Those are just some examples. Would each of those be useful to some people? Of course. The thing is, their usefulness is confined to a very small set of scripts. What it comes down to is, should 99% of scripts be made slower in order to make 1% of the scripts easier to make? I don't think so. Like I said, $country has two applications that I can think of. There are literally thousands of scripts available, I think we mIRC should focus on providing features that will be useful to the masses, not to one guy.
