RE: (hopelessly) Dumb APA style

[Rick Froman]

Title: Re: (hopelessly) Dumb APA style

These actually mean different things. Body weight is used in the calculation of body mass. The Body Mass Index (BM!) is a number based on a person’s weight and height. It is now the preferred measure for obesity.  If the editor took the weights and called them mass, that would be incorrect given the usage of the term BMI. Given the popularity of the BMI, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear someone say they are trying to reduce body mass. However, given that their height is likely to remain the same, that would be the same as saying they wanted to lose weight. If you are interested in your BMI, you can try it out at: http://nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bmicalc.htm. BMI is (weight in pounds) divided by (height in inches) squared x 703. You can also do it using kilograms for weight and meters for height that requires no multiplier at the end. I saw a key at the calculator site that indicates that Underweight = <18.5, Normal weight = 18.5-24.9, Overweight = 25-29.9, and Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater. So for the editor to know the body mass of your participants, he/she would have had to know their heights. Rick Dr. Rick Froman Associate Professor of Psychology John Brown University 2000 W. University Siloam Springs, AR  72761 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (479) 524-7295 http://www.jbu.edu/academics/sbs/rfroman.asp     -----Original Message----- From: Paul Brandon [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2003 9:50 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences Subject: Re: (hopelessly) Dumb APA style   At 3:42 PM -0500 11/19/03, Stephen Black wrote: On 19 Nov 2003, Allen Esterson wrote: > > Has anyone else had the experience of having a copy editor changing > the tenses throughout an article? > No, but I did have an editor change "body weight" to "body mass" throughout. While I suspect that may be techically correct ( I imagine Allen, given his boffin background, would know), it's certainly not current usage. For example, imagine saying you went  on a diet to lose mass.   From Merriam-Webster's unabridged:   weight 1 a : the often specified amount that a thing weighs : quantity of heaviness <a basketball player with a playing weight of 215 pounds>.   mass 1 a (1) : a quantity of matter cohering together so as to make one body usually of indefinite shape <a mass of dough> <a mass of ore> (2) : an aggregate of particles or things making one body or quantity usually of considerable size <a mass of sand> (3) : a homogeneous pasty mixture compounded for making pills, troches, and plasters <blue mass> (4) obsolete : UNIVERSE, EARTH b (1) : the extent of body of a solid object : the extent of space that an object occupies : EXPANSE, BULK <the highest mountain mass on the globe -- Encyc. Americana> <lifts its bulky mass over the tangled summits -- Wynford Vaughan-Thomas> (2) : massive quality or effect : MAGNITUDE, MASSIVENESS <in the face of their mass and virtuosity, what was the use of rebelling against his frequent abuse of the language -- Time>   Note the last exemplar!   Since the term mass has many more meanings, its use would be less precise. Also, it does not have a usable verb form: one may weigh a subject, but not mass it! -- * PAUL K. BRANDON               [EMAIL PROTECTED]  * * Psychology Dept               Minnesota State University  * * 23 Armstrong Hall, Mankato, MN 56001     ph 507-389-6217  * *    http://www.mankato.msus.edu/dept/psych/welcome.html    * --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]