As a (now retired) geophysicist, I sometimes think in metric, sometimes in traditional units, sometimes in "machinists' metric" (inches and .001 inches), and sometimes in "surveyors' metric" (feet, tenths of feet, hundredths of feet...). Sometimes I think it makes my head hurt.
On the other hand, I am firmly in favor of returning thorn to the English alphabet. Guy -----Original Message----- From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of Tristan von Neumann Sent: Monday, January 29, 2018 10:34 AM To: lutelist Net Subject: [LUTE] Re: four and twenty Because of the constant clinging to weird units, we already lost an expensive Mars probe :) Am 29.01.2018 um 12:55 schrieb Christopher Stetson: > And, to continue Monica's thoughts, the change Rainer is speaking of > took place long before there were any standards for teachers at all. > it also depends on time and place. In the United States, we have > certainly had standards for teachers for several decades, including > grammar, though I have never heard of any authority in any English > speaking country that could mandate this kind of usage. However, > almost all of the English speaking population of the United States > still think in pints, yards, inches, gallons, and pounds. The only > exception would be the scientific community, and I'm sure they're > "bilingual". We made an attempt to officially go metric in the early > 1970's, but the only survivor is soft drinks. I buy gallons of milk > and gasoline, but liters of Coke. > Best to all, and keep playing, > Chris. > > On Mon, Jan 29, 2018 at 6:27 AM, [1]mjlh...@cs.dartmouth.edu > <[2]mjlh...@cs.dartmouth.edu> wrote: > > There is never likely to be any official reform of the English > language. And teachers don't have a common opinion on what to > teach > children. The policy is to leave children to find everything out for > themselves. > As ever > Monica > > ----Original Message---- > From: [3]rads.bera_g...@t-online.de > Date: 29/01/2018 9:37 > To: "Lute net"<[4]lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> > Subj: [LUTE] four and twenty > A clarification: > I always thought that there must have been (sort of) an official > reform. > At least teachers must have a common opinion what to teach children. > Apparently there was none in England. > In Germany from time to time "mathematicians" propose to change the > German system since the current system makes learning Math hard for the > children. > Of course, this has nothing to do with mathematics :) > I guess such a reform (in Germany) would be very confusing for several > decades. > Switching from shillings and pennies to 100 pence per pound must have > been hard. > Do many people still think in yards, miles, pints, ...? > Cheers, > Rainer > PS > A new standard kilogram will probably come soon. > PPS > Coming back to lute matters: most people describe string tensions in > terms of Kg which is plain nonsense since Kg is the unit of matter. > What should be used is Kilopond which is equal to the magnitude of the > force exerted by one kilogram of mass in a 9.80665 m/s2 gravitational > field. > However, officially kilopond should not be used any more (since c1980). > I still prefer to talk about a tension of 3 Kilopond instead of 29.4 > Newton :) > To get on or off this list see list information at > > [5]https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http:%2F%2Fwww. > cs.dartmouth.edu%2F~wbc%2Flute-admin%2Findex.html&data=02%7C01%7C%7Ce7 > 1e24e403e94f0379a908d56746f395%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1% > 7C0%7C636528476782602642&sdata=cSB%2FQoAet5W%2B2lXP9aLBKCj39zqD1yqXOV8 > EWEw6bAA%3D&reserved=0 > > -- > > References > > 1. mailto:mjlh...@cs.dartmouth.edu > 2. mailto:mjlh...@cs.dartmouth.edu > 3. mailto:rads.bera_g...@t-online.de > 4. mailto:lute@cs.dartmouth.edu > 5. > https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http:%2F%2Fwww.cs. > dartmouth.edu%2F~wbc%2Flute-admin%2Findex.html&data=02%7C01%7C%7Ce71e2 > 4e403e94f0379a908d56746f395%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636528476782602642&sdata=cSB%2FQoAet5W%2B2lXP9aLBKCj39zqD1yqXOV8EWEw6bAA%3D&reserved=0 > >
