Measures where the names have other meanings are unhelpful. So "1 cup" might be meaningful to a USAn (or someone like me who bought measuring spoons/cups in the USA) but it's thoroughly ambiguous.
I notice that USAns don't talk about "stone" (14lbs) so there's only so far the non-decimal usefulness goes. :-) Probably they don't talk about "hundredweight" or "groats" or "florins" either. :-) Cheers, Martin Martin Packer zChampion, Systems Investigator & Performance Troubleshooter, IBM +44-7802-245-584 email: martin_pac...@uk.ibm.com Twitter / Facebook IDs: MartinPacker Blog: https://mainframeperformancetopics.com Podcast Series (With Marna Walle): https://developer.ibm.com/tv/mpt/ or https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/mainframe-performance-topics/id1127943573?mt=2 Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu_65HaYgksbF6Q8SQ4oOvA From: "Pew, Curtis G" <curtis....@austin.utexas.edu> To: IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU Date: 21/07/2020 14:46 Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: OOBOL and English was Re: Still COBOL After All These Years? Sent by: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On Jul 20, 2020, at 10:22 PM, Jackson, Rob <rwjack...@firsthorizon.com> wrote: > > American standard--Imperial units; they're rubbish. Abject garbage. SI is not a fad, despite its origins. No fan of the "French;" no fan of "Trump;" no fan of anything political. But SI, revised a couple times or three, is a beautiful system of units in which one may compute physics. If you disagree, then I assert you have a challenge understanding many things about physics. I'm talking about mechanics and fluid dynamics. I'm too stupid for E&M, although the same equivalency attempts apply there. For science and engineering I totally agree: you should never use anything but SI units. They have precise definitions, and being decimal-based make calculations easier. Not to mention being used world-wide. For everyday life, though, I think American/Imperial units (and any other traditional systems that may survive elsewhere) have their advantages. They evolved because people found them useful. For example, when I’m cooking I could say 250 milliliters or one cup (they’re close enough for the precision I need) but one cup is simpler. Or if my pedometer says I’ve walked 2000 steps I know I’ve gone about a mile. (“Mile” comes from “mille passuum” = “a thousand of steps”; my pedometer counts left and right as separate steps but for the Romans you had to move both before they counted it.) > > P.S. Apparently Imperial units have been redefined as relative to SI. Imagine that. Yep. For precision definitions, always use SI. I think it’s cool that SI units are now defined by specifying exact values for physical constants. > > P.P.S. This reminds me of many conversations with my father. He absolutely couldn't stand this type of thing, i.e. SI being obviously superior. I don't get it. It is what it is. > > As a disclaimer, I'm not a complete bigot. I say miles and yards; but I have this nasty habit of converting them to meters in my mind every time I say them. The one thing I cannot get used to in every-day life is Celsius degrees. I think in Fahrenheit degrees. Oddly enough, since they're exactly the same thing, I find it easier to talk in Kelvins rather than Celsius degrees. Maybe I just like starting at zero. :) I couldn't tell you what absolute zero in Fahrenheit is; I guess I never cared. This supports my point about the convenience of traditional units. Fahrenheit is more granular than Celsius, so you can be a bit more precise without having to go to decimals. -- Pew, Curtis G curtis....@austin.utexas.edu ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN Unless stated otherwise above: IBM United Kingdom Limited - Registered in England and Wales with number 741598. Registered office: PO Box 41, North Harbour, Portsmouth, Hampshire PO6 3AU ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
