Martin Vlietstra. Thank you for responding with such great insight. I absolutely appreciate your perspective on this important issue. I have a British American Language Dictionary - http://www.amazon.com/British-American-Language-Dictionary-Norman/dp/0844291161 - ISBN 978-0844291161 - at home that I occasionally consult when I hear a Brit say something that may strike an American as making no sense. The dictionary usually clears it up. I had never really thought of British English and US English as being two different languages before, but now that you mention it, I can see how that has become the reality on the ground. By the way, I like to pronounce schedule the British way just to get a reaction out of my wife, who always shouts back Schedule! with the American pronunciation. I remember learning the word queue when I read that book 1984 way back in grade school; 1984 by George Orwell was required reading at my school when I was a kid. Americans wait in line. Brits queue up.
----- Message from Martin Vlietstra <vliets...@btinternet.com> --------- Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2014 09:26:22 +0100 From: Martin Vlietstra <vliets...@btinternet.com> Reply-To: vliets...@btinternet.com Subject: [USMA:54019] Re: How meter is spelled in non-English languages To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu>
Harold, British English and US English are two different languages that are mutually comprehensible and that have a 99.9% overlap. I write in British English, but I am aware of the differences between the two. One of the benefits of using the spelling “metre” in the UK for
the
unit of length and “meter” for a measuring instrument is that it
allows
us to differentiate between the two – for example the words
“micrometre”
and “micrometer” are clearly distinguishable in UK English. In US English the emphasis is on consistency of spelling at the expense of consistency of meaning. It is a matter of choice. Who am I, as a Brit, to tell the Americans how to speak their language and likewise I request that you respect our use of our language. Martin FROM: owner-u...@colostate.edu [mailto:owner-u...@colostate.edu] ON BEHALF OF Harold_Potsdamer SENT: 23 June 2014 02:53 TO: U.S. Metric Association SUBJECT: [USMA:54016] Re: How meter is spelled in non-English languages Can you provide an examples or evidence where the metric units have multiple spellings within the same language? It is totally irrelevant how different languages spell the metric units. The fact is they spell it one way and only one way within the same language. The spelling metre and litre has been chosen for English and that is what we need to stick to. Otherwise it looks like metric is a divided and inconsistent system. The metric system is unified and the spelling of the units within the same language must be consistent. English may have evolved two different spellings for many words, but that does not apply to SI units. In the same token that British spellings are found in American usage when it is beneficial to do so, standardised metric unit spellings need to be the exception. FROM: cont...@metricpioneer.com SENT: Sunday, 2014-06-22 19:02 TO: U.S. Metric Association[1] SUBJECT: [USMA:54014] How meter is spelled in non-English languages I did a little research on how meter is spelled in various non-English languages. According to https://translate.google.com the primary SI unit is spelled meter in thirteen non-English languages. Those 13 languages are Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, German, Hausa, Islandic, Indonesian, Latin, Malay, Norwegian, Slovak, Slovenian and Swedish. Hungarian has an accent mark in the first syllable méter (which is pretty close to meter, so 14 if you count Hungarian). The primary SI unit is spelled metre in only two non-English languages. Those two languages are Catalan and Turkish. French has an accent mark in the first syllable: mètre (which is pretty close to metre, so 3 if you count French). Other languages have many different variations (for example, metro in Spanish). Some languages use non-Latin-based scripts. (English is written in a Latin-based script.) English, as we already know, has evolved two different spellings for many words, not just for the word meter / metre. ----- Message from Brian White <br...@bjwhite.net> --------- Date: Sat, 21 Jun 2014 06:39:24 -0700 From: Brian White <br...@bjwhite.net> Reply-To: br...@bjwhite.net Subject: [USMA:54013] Re: tries to pull a truck in heels - YouTube To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu>Meter and metre are fine. Both are better than feet or yards. ------------------------- FROM: Harold_Potsdamer[2] SENT: 6/21/2014 4:37 TO: U.S. Metric Association[1] SUBJECT: [USMA:54012] Re: tries to pull a truck in heels - YouTube A lot of people make spelling errors, it doesn’t mean it is right. Why didn’t they just use the symbol “m”? FROM: cont...@metricpioneer.com SENT: Friday, 2014-06-20 23:53 TO: U.S. Metric Association[1] SUBJECT: [USMA:54010] Re: tries to pull a truck in heels - YouTube Harold. Clearly, the signs say 1 METER - 2 METERS - 3 METERS et cetera, rendered with the American spelling, not the British spelling. ----- Message from Harold_Potsdamer <harold_potsda...@cox.net> --------- Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 20:44:48 -0400 From: Harold_Potsdamer <harold_potsda...@cox.net> Reply-To: harold_potsda...@cox.net Subject: [USMA:53999] tries to pull a truck in heels - YouTube To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMSStSeQyUI&feature=player_detailpage#t=50
The distances are measured in metres.----- End message from Harold_Potsdamer <harold_potsda...@cox.net> ----- David Pearl www.MetricPioneer.com[3] 503-428-4917----- End message from Brian White <br...@bjwhite.net> ----- David Pearl www.MetricPioneer.com[3] 503-428-4917
----- End message from Martin Vlietstra <vliets...@btinternet.com> ----- Links: ------ [1] mailto:usma@colostate.edu [2] mailto:harold_potsda...@cox.net [3] http://www.MetricPioneer.com David Pearl www.MetricPioneer.com 503-428-4917
