Gustaf, The reason mL (or ml) is used in North America (in my opinion) is simply to make SI and metric look friendlier! Currently we don't have hard-metric soda cans - I have heard the arguement that this is because all the vending equipment is currently designed to work with the American/Imperial sized cans. Hard metric bottles are much more common, but there are still many more hard-American sized bottles, in general. Take these examples: 12 US fl. oz. = 355 mL = 35.5 cL 1 US quart (32 US fl. oz.) = 946 mL = 94.6 cL The decimal place makes cL look messy and more awkward than the ounce/quart equivalent. It is true that these could be rounded to 36 cL and 95 cL or 35 cL and 94 cL. However, rounding-up it suggest there is more in the container than there really is. Rounding down would put the manufacturer at a disadvantage because his competitor using mL or decimal cL would appear to have just a wee-bit more product in the container at the same price. Honestly, people are too stupid to know how little 5 mL really is. More than 5 mL is usually left sticking to the inside of the container when the container is considered "empty". Fortunately a standard series of plastic bottle sizes are emerging from the chaos: 600 mL, 1 L, 1.5 L, 2 L and 4 L (4L is not for soda, but for juices and milk) The series would look good as: 60, 100, 150, 200 and 400 cL or 6, 10, 15, 20, and 40 dL, I do admit. But, if we stick to mL sizes on this side of the Atlantic then an equally valid series would be: 100 mL, 333 mL, 666 mL, 1 L, 1.5 L, 2 L, 3 L, and 4 L We will have to wait, in North America, for standardized metric sizes before we can consider the use of the cL, dL, cm, dm, dag, and hg. btw... I support the use of the mL, for now, but I do like to use the cm over the mm for lengths greater than 1 dm. Gregory Peterson Saskatoon SK Canada >>> Gustaf Sj�berg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 2000-11-28 12:38:27 >>> I am sick and tired of seeing cans measured in milliliters. The ml-desease seems to have reached Sweden, influenced by import legislations to certain countries. Worst of all are the standard 33cL sodacans that are measured as "330 mL". To those who support ml-usage, which probably are the same people as support mm-only usage, (Now what the hell is that???) I just want to say: Wake up! I think the USMA should take a stand for more user-friendly usage of the metric system. That would help you in your cause, I guarantee you. Unfortunately, many of the strong metric supporters in USA seem to be "SI-geeks" (sorry) at the same time and that is a burden to you. Don't let these people have to much influence. Death to SI. Long live the metric system.
