Interpretation of Request-URI Definition

I'm having some trouble interpreting the definition of Request-URI in
section 5.1.2 of RFC 2616.  It seems to me that the definition allows
nonsensical request URIs like ftp://myserver.com/.  Is it fair to say
that, in practice, the definition of Request-URI is as follows
(definition of http_URL is taken directly from section 3.2.2 of RFC
2616)?

	Request-URI = "*" | http_URL | abs_path [ "?" query ]

Also, is the definition of http_URL in section 3.2.2 to be taken as the
definition of the HTTP URI scheme?

Regards,
David Deschenes
System Developer
EXTOL International