On 2003.08.14, 05:24, John Cowan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Anto'nio Martins-Tuva'lkin scripsit: > >> Some habits are indeed language dependant, but some others are just >> tradition (some of it imposed as logic and correct decades ago, like >> compulsive caseless singular for SI units in speech), and should not >> necessarily apply. > > "Compulsive caseless singular"? That *is* language dependent.
It is -- but I twisted my words less than my reasoning: I meant that *even things clearly language dependent*, like case and number, were (still are) legislated as part of the SI (in terms that SI units should be always nominative singular), and yet widely ignored. > You just can't say "four meter" in English; it has to be "four > meters". Yet, according to the SI, you should. Actually, we joked about a 10th grade Physics teacher who would say (in Portuguese) �fifty kilogram� in class and �fifty kilos� in the corridor. -- ____. Ant�nio MARTINS-Tuv�lkin, | ()| <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> |####| R. Laureano de Oliveira, 64 r/c esq. | PT-1885-050 MOSCAVIDE (LRS) N�o me invejo de quem tem | +351 934 821 700 carros, parelhas e montes | http://www.tuvalkin.web.pt/bandeira/ s� me invejo de quem bebe | http://pagina.de/bandeiras/ a �gua em todas as fontes |
