Dear Cecil,
The explanation given by Figi is rather academic; something that one
could expect from a wiki-mouse.
Vitalstatistics of any person .... Vitalstatix or Valanka .... sounds
better in the Foot-Pound-Seconds system of the Brits.
One devilish thought, what would you rather say: "My friend is a six
footer with six inches of dynamite' or "My friend is 1 M 82 cm and has
15 cm of dynamite." ? It is another matter that present rulers in
India have neither 12 inches nor 30 cm of anything. Its either the
metre or the half metre rule.
The only hangover I see in Karnataka are the "speed governors" which
read "Not over 48 Km" It took me some time to realise that it was the
equivalent of 30 miles converted by a person who did not believe in
rounding up!
Fortunately, no one writes S1.6kmS for SMILES !!
Mog asundi.
Miguel
> Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:24:59 +0530
> From: "Cecil Pinto" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: [Goanet] Conversions in India
> Can someone explain why we here in India use the metric system (grams,
> metres) for most calculations of weight, distance etc but still use the
> feet/inches system to measure human height?
> What is the standard practice in other countries?
> Cheers!
> Cecil
On 10/18/07, Joy Figueiredo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Dear Cecil
> There over the centuries, there have been several standards of measurements.
> These "units of measurements" were placed for convenient accounting of
> measure. The FPS system is the imperial units system of measurement, there as
> the Metric system, a system of units developed in France in the 18th century.
>
> Since British ruled India for quite a while with interests in trade, the FPS
> system had to be popular. The Metric system is popular worldwide due to its
> convenience of being decimal, easily divisible or multiplied.
> India has been fortunate and unfortunate depending on the perspective of
> ones' view. The British India used the FPS, The French India used the metric
> besides we had the Dutch and the Portuguese with theirs too. The later we see
> till date prevalent in Goa, I am not sure if its official status, the
> department of weights and measures will be able to give a crystal clear
> explanation to that.
>
> Some of the legacy measuring units practiced in Goa. The Finger ("bott"), the
> hand "hath", and the SPAN "Veth") of the human hand for small lengths and
> thickness, The "Podd" , the "Maap" and the "lath" (tin) for measure of
> volume, and many more. Guess you could have a pedia project on the same.
> However please don't use the unit "stone's through away" for distance.
> Regards
> Joy
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Miguel Braganza, S1 Gracinda Apts,
Rajvaddo, Mhapsa 403507 Goa
Ph 9822982676 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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