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 *
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