Bob:
I do not know about other languages as only Czech I try to keep up to date.
That language has several words for "weight" as a noun for gravity force
(vaha, tiha, etc.), and two words for "mass". One, "hmota" is an old word
meaning "mass" in the sence of any substance, and "hmotnost," a new word
coined at the time SI was introduced that means specifically the mass as
measured in g (kg, Mg, ng, etc). This word appears on nutrition and other
labels, for example.
The verb for measuring gravity force or for measuring mass is the same:
"vazit." It is used both as "to weigh" and in "how much does it weigh". Czech
does not have the phrase: "what is its ...?" neatly avoiding the problem we
struggle with.
Stan Jakuba
www.awc.com/metric
