I will quote from part of a French lesson handout received this week. We are studying foods and the ordering thereof. "Les oeufs se vendent à la douzaine (ils se vendent au kilo dans certains pays)." Eggs are sold by the dozen (they are sold by the kilogram in certain countries. Norm ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: 2001June06 22:58 Subject: [USMA:13526] No, *you* go first... The voluntary approach to metrication has one fatal flaw: it leaves it up to everyday people, who, honestly, have more important things to obsess on. Bitch and moan though some may, most neither care about metrication *nor* saving Flintstone Units. They simply don't care very much about the subject, at least not to the degree we do. On the other hand, they don't normally feel a need to *prevent* metrication, either...in fact, the prevailing attitude among persons my age (35±) and under is, "We probably *should* go metric, but *I'm* not gonna volunteer". So everyone waits for the other guy (or girl) to go first, and no-one does. Therefore, I definitely support a federally mandated approach, but not along the lines of, "okay, everyone, we're all metric in ten minutes." The "Hondo" approach is worse than the voluntary one, in that we'll try to change everything at once, screw it up badly, then revert...anytime anyone suggests trying again, opponents will point to the previous fiasco and declare, "See!" To do it right, do it painlessly, and do it permanently, we need: * To devise a firm timetable AND STICK TO IT (pardon my caps) * To show that it really will be good for business and industry, and even the general public * To dispel this downright idiotic notion that metric is "un-American" or "counter-Canadian" (We didn't invent FFU, either!) * To not waste time on pointless, trivial "improvements" like renaming ten-gallon hats, foot-long hot-dogs and Three Mile Island, PA, and silly acts of "dekaphillia" (Does *anyone* sell a "dek-ova" of eggs in place of 12? Anywhere?) * Finally, to reassure people that their familiar IFP won't disappear overnight and leave them in a lurch; it's a transition, not a blitzkrieg; grandpa won't have to trash his '74 Buick just because there are no km/h on the speedometer Remember, we're not a band of militant nerds hell-bent on dumping the apple cart: We're folks who love our respective countries and their people, and want to bring about a much-needed — and long overdue — improvement to them. Randi (The Long-winded)
