I was curious about how often metric is used for baby weights in birth announcements.
So I did a quick search of the Globe and Mail's Birth announcements using the keywords
in the table below.
Here are the results going back to January 1998 (as far back as the search engine
allowed):
...................SI..................SI (imp)..................Imp
(SI)..................total
kg 6 - 4
10
kgs - 1 -
1
g 2 1 -
3
gs - - -
-
gm - - -
-
gms - 1 -
1
gr - - -
-
grs - - -
-
grams 5 2 -
7
gram - - -
-
kilogram - - -
-
kilograms 1 - -
1
.............................................................................................................
Total 14 5 4
23
A total of 23 references were made to SI measurements, 14 were SI-only, 5 were SI
primarily, 4 were Imperial primarily. Most commonly "kg" was used followed by "grams".
Assuming that today (2001-01-25) is an average day for announcesment there would be 5
per day.
5 announcements x 300 days (no Sunday paper) x 2 years = 3000 birth announcements
The percentage of birth announcements that are metric would be: 14/3000 = about 0.5%
The percentage of birth announcements that include metric would be: 23/3000 = about
0.8%
At least metric announcements can be found!
Interestingly I say only one reference to the length of the baby in this search... it
was listed in centimetres only. Also there was a tendency to include a 24 hour time
reference when metric-only was listed, however usually only the date was given.
Finally there also seemed to be references to international (non-North American)
parents or grandparents in these announcements.
I listed a couple of announcements below as examples
greg
Thursday, January 22, 1998
BENNETT/LARCOMBE
Russ and Laurel are absolutely thrilled to announce the arrival
of their son,
Christopher John Larcombe Bennett who weighed in at 2660 grams
(5 lbs. 14 ozs.
for metric phobes like us) at 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, January
17, 1998. Everybody
is healthy, happy and home, thanks to Laurel´s coaches, Russ and
Cathy Cranston,
and the very capable and caring team at The Toronto Hospital.
Saturday, August 7, 1999
SILER/SILEROVA
Jiri and Roberta are very pleased to announce the arrival of
Oscar, on July 2nd,
1999, in Saskatoon, weighing 2.91 kg. A little brother for Dana,
and grandson for
Lenka Silerova of Prague, and Margaret Back of Ottawa.
Monday, June 26, 2000
SNELL/REID-BICKNELL
Jack George Snell came into this world at 23:24, June 19th,
2000, weighing in at
4080 grams. His proud parents Robin and Susan wish to thank Dr.
Bernstein and
the staff of Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, for their excellent
care. Jack is grandson
to Len and Carol Snell and Joan and the late great Roger
Reid-Bicknell.
Great-grandson of Dorothy Brasier and Isabel Powlesland. Jack is
looking forward
to playing with his many uncles, aunts, cousins and friends. He
is proudly named after
his great-grandfathers. His life is their legacy.
Tuesday, December 19, 2000
TEAM CANADA-FINLAND KOKONIS
Robert and Tuija (Anttonen) are thrilled to announce the early
arrival at 36 weeks
of two precious Christmas presents, their twin sons Nikolas
James and Stefan
Robert. Born November 17, 2000 at 6:42 p.m. and 6:44 p.m.
respectively,
Nikolas weighed in at 3 pounds, 11 ounces (1.69 kg) while his
brother Stefan
registered 2 pounds, 13 ounces (1.28 kg). Big sister Kristina is
thrilled to have
baby brothers in her life. Overjoyed grandparents are James
(Jim) and Helen
Kokonis of Ottawa, and Erkki and Annikki Anttonen of Savonlinna,
Finland.
Special thanks to Dr. F. Engle and Dr. G. Ryan at Mount Sinai
Hospital in Toronto,
as well as to the nursing staff in the NICU Level III and Level
II nurseries.
