Dear Greg and All,
Two stories:
I was in a furniture store some time ago with a view to buying a table. I
asked an assistant if a particular table came in various sizes. 'Yes' he
replied, 'this model comes in 5 by 3 or you can have it as 6 by 3.' My
response was, 'Could you tell me that in modern metric measures, please. I'm
not old enough to understand your old measures.'
In a camping store I was seeking a hose to connect my gas stove to its
bottle. I asked an assistant to show me some hoses about a metre long. He
replied, 'We've got some 3 foot ones here.' My response was simple, 'Could
you please find another assistant to serve me, please. I did not come here
for a history lesson - I wanted to buy a hose about a metre long.' I then
ignored him - and, in the absence of a suitable assistant - I bought the
hose from another supplier.
I suspect that my anger in these instances was partly based on the apparent
young ages of the assistants, as it was clear that they had recently left
school and they were inordinately proud of their new-found knowledge of the
foot as a measuring unit. I am sure that they didn't learn it at school; it
was part of their on-the-job store training.
I am reminded of a line in the 'Assessment of NASA¹s Use of the Metric
System, G-00-021' report following the loss of the Mars Climate Observer,
which referred to the relationship between older and younger members of
NASA's engineering staff. I quote:
'The problem arises when senior engineers comfortable with the English
system encourage or require young (often metric-trained) engineers to use
English rather than SI units, indefinitely delaying the transition to SI
usage.'
And I am inclined to view this simply as due to the power and status
relationships between young bulls and old bulls, with little or nothing to
do with the technical transition to SI.
The technical transition of a mind to SI is essentially the work of an hour
or (at most) two; the transition of a mind to a new power relationship is
the work of a generation or (at least) two.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin CAMS
Geelong, Australia
on 2001-03-15 01.11, Gregory Peterson at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> I noticed a couple of uses of metric at Walmart that were worth noting:
>
> 1) Life jackets.
>
> Though none of the labelling was done by Walmart all the printing on the life
> jackets gave chest sizes in inches, centimetres; this order and no brackets.
> As well certain brands also included a "minimum flotation" value quoted in
> 'N', 'pounds-force'; this order and no brackets
>
> I have to admit that at first I didn't know what "61 N" was refering to, at
> first thinking that this might be some regulatory rating number. It was
> unforatuante that I had to see "pounds-force" to realize that the number was
> quoted in newtons. I so rarely see newtons and I have come to expect any of
> the confusing collection of wombat units that I didn't expect to see a
> rational metric unit of measure.
> Fortunately I understand this newton value relative to my own weight far more
> than "pounds-force".
>
> In both cases, chest size and flotation, the rational numbers were wombat and
> the metric were merely converted, however it was nice to see them there none
> the less.
>
> 2) Store signage.
>
> There was an large back yard tent/gazebo that caught my wife's eye. The
> Walmart tag listed the dimesions as "3 M X 110 IN". I said outloud "three
> metres by one-hundred and ten inches.... whatever one-hundred and ten inches
> means!" A sales person (about 45 years old) was nearby and he told me that he
> didn't know were they came up with these measurements and he just tells people
> that its "ten by ten". He didn't provide me with units. At this point he
> continued on his way. I can only assume he measured the gazebo by placing one
> foot in front of another. Hoping he'd hear me I said, "Oh, I guess it's about
> three metres tall then."
>
> I would have caught up and pressed the issue with the sale's person but at the
> time I was holding an 85 cm softball bat and I thought I looked a bit too
> agressive. >;)
>
> greg
> Saskatoon SK Canada
>
>
>
