First investigation led me the the default language.php file; where I found this in line 1534:
Code:
'SITENAME_HAS_TOTAL_REGISTERED_MEMBERS' => '[SITENAME] has %%TOTAL%% registered member|[SITENAME] has %%TOTAL%% registered members',
This actualy confirms you statement, Nick. It WAS designed that way.
I wonder how someone can design this, deliberately putting the variable TOTAL in the same line as [SITENAME], but apparently you were right.
Next thing for me is to find the place where SITENAME_HAS_TOTAL_REGISTERED_MEMBERS is refered. I haven't been lucky so far...