John Chambers wrote: > > Phil Taylor writes: > | John Chambers wrote: > | >An interesting example: Sears is still one of the biggest seller of > | >tools in the US, and they still sells tools labelled "Standard" and > | >"Metric". You folks in the rest of the world may find yourself > | >bewildered by this, but yes, they actually get away with it. > | > | Well, they can't exactly call the system of measurement based on the > | inch, pound and gallon "Imperial" can they? Or maybe they can... > > Well, they could, and you do still see this in the US. But "English" > is the more common term used by people who understand that such > measures are no longer the standard anywhere. > > The legal situation in the US is more complex than you might imagine. > There was a rather funny NRP article in the late 80's about the > non-celebration of the 100th anniversary of the US "going metric". > They explained what they meant by this, of course, and in the process > explained a lot about the peculiar understanding of the term > "standard" in this country. It seems that, since the late 1880s, the > legal US definition of the inch is 2.54 cm. That's exact, because it > actually is the definition of "inch". Similarly, "pound" is defined > as so many grams, and so on with other measurements. > >
I don't think that is quite right. My recollection is that 39.37 inches was one meter until some time in the 1970s. I was one of many scientists at the US National Bureau of Standards who was appalled, to say the least, when the US government decided to abandon their highly publicized campaign to convert to metric. Much had already been done, at no small expense, and had to be abandoned for an expensive reconversion back to 'English' units [e.g., all the new gasoline/petrol pumps that delivered in liters had to be abandoned, and old (US) gallon pumps reinstalled]. Bruce Olson -- Roots of Folk: Old British Isles popular and folk songs, tunes, and broadside ballads at Bruce Olson's website <A href="http://www.erols.com/olsonw";> Click </a> To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
