I would say this: hands off figures of speech, expressions and place names
with old units in them. Count me definitely out. They will evolve naturally.
This is what the BWMA and F2M would dearly love us to do: attempting to
metricate them. 'A miss is as good as a km' or worst '.. as good as 1.6
km'. Sixmilebridge near Limerick in Ireland will and should remain
Sixmilebridge and Inchicore in Dublin remains Inchicore in a metric Ireland
etc. And I still use an inch stick (duimstok, Zollstock) to measure things.
Only, there are no inches, only cm/mm on it.
I would even say: "Not an inch to the inch!"
Han
: ----- Original Message -----
From: "Dennis Brownridge" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: donderdag 30 november 2000 23:42
Subject: [USMA:9467] RE: Figures of speech remain
> I believe "go the extra mile" is a Biblical admonition, in which case it
should be a Roman mile of about 1475 m, not the English mile of 1609 m, so I
suppose we should leave it as it is.
> > -----Original Message-----
> > Quotations
> >
> > A pound of flesh ... (Shakespeare)
> > There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile ... (Nursery
Rhyme)
> > The lessons of Three Mile Island ... (Newspaper)
> > A bushel and a peck ... (Song)
> > It would be an extremely brave (or very foolish) person who would
> > Bowdlerise
> > Shakespeare to read 'A kilogram of flesh' or to rewrite the popular song
as
> > 'I love you a millilitre and a cubic metre'.
> >
> > Sayings and proverbs
> >
> > Give them an inch and they�ll take an ell (yard, mile, etc.).
> > Give them a gram and they�ll take a tonne.
> > I wouldn�t touch it with a ten foot pole.
> > I wouldn�t touch it with a five metre pole. (Coincidentally five metres
is very close to the length of the old English measuring pole.)
> > Alice felt ten feet tall.
> > Alice felt three metres tall.
> > Six foot under.
> > Two metres down.
> > Within an inch (or two) of death (the finish, the goal etc.).
> > Missed death by millimetres. The knife wound in her chest went
> > close to her
> > heart, but missed by millimetres. The return to the bowler�s end missed
by millimetres.
> > Paint an inch thick.
> > The paint looked as though it was put on ten (or 50, or 167) millimetres
thick.
> > A miss is as good as a mile.
> > A millimetre miss is a kilometre miss.
> > An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
> > A gram of prevention is worth a tonne of cure.
> >
> > Clich�s
> >
> > He won�t budge an inch.
> > He won�t move a millimetre.
> > Go the extra mile.
> > Go the extra metre or Go the extra kilometre.
> > Missed by miles.
> > Missed by metres.
> > Yardstick.
> > A measure, a metre stick, or a metre measure.
> > To reach a milestone.
> > To reach a target. To reach a goal.
> > Milestones no longer physically exist as they have been replaced by
kilometre markers. In some country areas these have become known as 'klick
sticks'.
> > Do the hard yards.
> > Do the sweeter metre.
> >
> > In practical terms you can, as an editor, copy the practice of many film
> > producers who don�t use any cars in their films at all � unless the
car�s
> > name is OGenevieve�, or it has machine guns behind its headlights.
However
> > avoiding any reference to measurement at all is clearly a copout.
> >
> > Alternatively editors can help protect their speakers and writers from
> > looking foolishly old-fashioned by being aware of the correct use of SI
> > units*. It�s very hard to believe that someone is modern and forward
> > thinking in (say) economics, when their measurement mindset is so
> > clearly in
> > the fifties, and they are still Omissing by miles�.
> >
> > * See AGPS Style Manual for Authors, Editors and Printers, 1994,
> > 5th Edition
> > pp. 200-207
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Pat Naughtin CAMS
> > Geelong, Australia
> >
> > PS The reference is to an Australian Government Publishing Service
(AGPS)
> > Style manual that is widely used in Australia.
> >
> > PPS The return to the 'bowler's end refers to the game of cricket.
> >
> > > There was an interesting article in a magazine called "World Highways"
> > > which is always 100% metric although its published in England. Even
> > > articles about US Construction are SI.
> > >
> > > Headline: "Going the Extra Mile"
> > >
> > > it was about asphalt plants.
> > >
> > > Guess some figures of speech will remain with us for awhile yet.
> > >
> > > Howard Ressel, Metric Manager
> > > New York State Department of Transportation, Region 4
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>
