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10 Ways to delay SI - the modern metric system
1 Don't tell anyone that SI is simple.
Under no circumstances should you allow people to find out that SI is
simple. Do not let anyone know that they, and all their family and friends,
could successfully go through the whole of their life knowing only ten
units:
millimetres, metres, and kilometres for length;
grams, kilograms, and tonnes for mass;
millilitres, litres, and cubic metres for volume or capacity; and
square metres for area.
The modern metric system, now called the International System of Units with
its symbol SI, developed from several older metric systems and at each
development it was made even simpler. As I said, to delay the introduction
of SI, never let people know about the simplicity of SI.
Imply, but never state, that SI is 'just another measuring method'. Suggest,
but never state, that SI is 'just as complex as old measures'. For example,
do not let anyone ever know that a single unit � the metre � (adjusted for
size with prefixes) has replaced all of the old ways for measuring lengths.
This means that millimetres, metres, and kilometres can replace: air miles,
angstrom units, astronomical units, cables, chains, computer picas, computer
points, drill numbers, European shoe sizes, fathoms, fermis, furlongs,
geometrical paces, hands, inches, international feet, international miles,
light minutes, light seconds, light years, links, microinches, microns,
mils, military paces, nautical miles, parsecs, poles, perches, printers'
picas, printers' points, rods, screw numbers, shotgun gauges, UK shoe sizes,
US shoe sizes, US survey feet, US survey miles, standard plate gauges, vinyl
gauges, wire gauges, and yards.
A good way to keep the secret about the simplicity of SI is to encourage the
use of the old (redundant) metric units as much as you can; this makes
'metric' measures seem much more complicated. You should encourage the use
of a selection from these old metric units: atmospheres, calories, Calories,
carats, curies, dynes, ergs, fermis, gals, gammas, gausses, janskys,
kilocalories, light years, maxwells, microns, mmHg, oersteds, parsecs,
phots, poises, rads, rems, r�ntgens, stilbs, stokes, torrs, and X units. You
should also encourage the use of mongrel units, those that are partly metric
and partly old units; in this regard, kilowatt-hours (kW.hrs) are good, as
are milligrams per gallon.
Remember your aim is to encourage confusion; so do not let anyone ever know
that SI is simple.
2 Don't set definite goals
Say things like 'let's change to metric' without setting any definite goals
or timelines. Avoid statements like:
The science and engineering departments of this institution will use SI
units exclusively from 2001-12-31. SI is defined as the units that are
modelled on those contained in the Bureau International de Poids et Mesures
(BIPM) document 'The International System of Units' in Tables 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7, and 8; however, the prefixes hecto, deca, deci, and centi will not be
used. Copies of 'The International System of Units' are freely available
from www.bipm.fr.
Or:
Our manufacturing group will use metric units exclusively from 2001-12-31.
Metric is defined as the units that are modelled on the units contained in
Tables 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 in the Bureau International de Poids et Mesures
(BIPM) document 'The International System of Units'; however, the prefixes
hecto, deca, deci, and centi will not be used. Copies of 'The International
System of Units' are freely available from www.bipm.fr.
Remember to avoid goals that are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable,
Realistic, and Timed). SMART goals are very likely to achieve metrication
smoothly and rapidly.
3 Decimalise old units
Redesign your old units or products to give an illusion of progress. One of
the easiest ways to do this is to change your old fractional numbers into
decimals. For example, if you have a product that is 1 3/8" call it 1.375, 1
foot 5 inches becomes 1.416 (recurring), and so on.
Canadian paper manufacturers took the lead here, when they introduced the P
series of paper sizes, as they had no desire to change to the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) paper sizes. They wanted to create
the illusion that although most of the world used ISO sizes, the Canadians
could match them with their P series. In this way, the only change the
Canadian paper manufacturers had to make was the P designations given in
their price lists.
By the way, the ISO A series and B series of paper sizes are designed to be
rational, to be simple-to-use, and to save on waste paper; the Canadian
paper manufacturers P designation does not share these properties.
Remember that illusions are better than reality to delay metrication.
4 Encourage the use of jargon
Wherever possible, encourage small groups of people (professionals?) to
develop their own jargon and to use this jargon exclusively when they try to
communicate with the public. For example, astronomers should use parsecs and
Light Years, jewellers should be encouraged to advertise and sell their gems
using carats rather than milligrams; chemists should continue to use parts
per million, nuclear scientists should use barns as a unit of area rather
than square femtometres; textile workers should be encouraged to use microns
rather than micrometres; physicians and pharmacists should continue to use U
to mean any old unit; and the non-existent barrels � that have never been
used � should be encouraged in the oil industry.
The obfuscation possible with jargon is profound and, unlike using SI,
cannot, in any way, lead to dealings with the public that are open and
honest. You could even have some legislation organised to confuse the whole
issue of measurement. For example, make it legally possible to sell gold
using the old Troy ounces as well as grams and kilograms; encourage the
legality of pints of beer (as they do in England) at the same time as you
legalise millilitres of spirits.
Remember that jargon always confuses people. Encourage it as much as you
can.
5 Use centimetres
Experience in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa has clearly shown
that metrication can be smooth and rapid if you avoid the use of the
prefixes hecto, deca, deci, and centi. Experience also showed that using
these prefixes can delay metrication dramatically. It is not well understood
why this is so, but it is clearly true. The Australian building trades were
very clear about the use of these prefixes:
'The metric units for linear measurement in building and construction will
be the metre (m) and the millimetre (mm), with the kilometre (km) being used
where required. This will apply to all sectors of the industry, and the
centimetre (cm) shall not be used.' and 'The centimetre should not be used
in any calculation and it should never be written down'.
The net result was a very rapid and smooth metrication program.
As an alternate example, the Australian textile and clothing industries
chose to use centimetres. They are still dithering over their conversions
after thirty years (so far) of metrication.
Those of us who watched these changes sometimes claim (with tongue in cheek)
that it takes about 100 minutes to change to metric using millimetres and
(at least) 100 years using centimetres.
You should also allow, even encourage, importers to use units like
centilitres, hectolitres, and decagrams, so that the public might gain the
illusion that SI is frighteningly complicated.
Remember to complicate SI by encouraging old metric prefixes that
professional people rarely use. The prefixes to encourage are: hecto, deca,
deci, and centi.
6 Misuse SI whenever you can
When you are finally forced to use metric measures, do not use the standard
SI symbols. The short forms for SI units, such as mL for millilitre, are
called SI symbols. These symbols are all agreed by international treaty �
they are not abbreviations � and there is only one correct symbol for each
unit. Using the correct symbols makes metrication too quick and easy. It
will be much slower if you make up your own abbreviations for the official
SI unit names (see www.bipm.fr for the correct ones to avoid).
For example, the common unit for length is metre, and the lower case letter
m is its universally recognised symbol. Both of these � m for metre and m
for metres � are correct; examples are 1 m for one metre and 2 m for two
metres. To delay SI use one of these abbreviations, for metre or metres,
instead: M, Mt, MT, Mt., MT., Mtr, Mtr., Mtrs., mr, mr., me, m., ms, ms.,
mt, mt., mts, mts., mtr, mtr., mtrs, mtrs., or my personal favourite Mtres.
Under no circumstances should you use the SI standard lower case m for metre
or for metres � that is too easy and too quick. Try not to let the public
learn about the correct SI symbols and their ultimate simplicity. If you can
persuade people to stay stuck in an abbreviation mind-set, they may never
see the beauty and the simplicity of the SI symbols for the rest of their
lives.
Here is a start on mass units for you. Avoid the correct symbol � kg for
kilogram and kg for kilograms. Use one of these: Kg, kay-grams, KG, Kilo,
KGs, kay, kilo, kgram, kilos, k-grams, Kilos, k, kays, Kgs, K, or KGS.
Coincidentally, make sure you refer to mass as if it were weight as often as
you can. Although Sir Isaac Newton clearly distinguished between mass and
weight in 1687, many people still use these words interchangeably. This is a
clear success as a delaying tactic; the muddle between mass and weight is
now over 300 years old!
For speed units you might like to avoid the correct SI symbol, km/h, for
kilometres per hour, and start with one of these: Kays, kays, KPH, kph,
km/hr, km per h, kmh, k/mh, Kilos, kilos, K, k, Ks, ks, or kliks.
You will soon learn that you are not alone in your attempt to slow down
metric conversion. Paper makers are specially gifted in this area. At my
paper suppliers I found the following, all different and all incorrect, ways
to describe paper: 100gsm, 90GSM, GSM: 110 Grain:, 150GSM, 80GSM, 80GSM, 80
gsm, GSM: 140, GSM: 140 Grains:, 90 GSM, GSM: 200, 200 G.S.M, GSM: 80, 110
GSM, 100 Gm2, GSM: 150 Grain:, 80 gsm, 110 GSM, Brandname 80, Brandname 80,
80 gsm, GSM: 80 Grains:, GSM: 150 Grains:, Gsm 90, 80GSM, GSM: 80, 80 gsm,
80 gsm, 80gsm, 80 g/m2, GSM: 80, 80gsm, 80GSM, 80 GSM, 80 GSM, 80gsm, 80
GSM, 100 GSM, 80gsm, 80 grs/m, 80GSM, 70gsm, 80 g.s.m, 70g.s.m., 80 G.S.M,
90GSM, 90 gr/m2, 90 gr/m2, GSM (without a number), 80gsm, 80GSM, and GM2.
Leaving aside the question of a space between the numeral and the unit,
(preferred in SI) and no space, there are enough incorrect units here to
slow anyone down. By the way, the correct unit, 'grams per square metre',
measures 'mass divided by area', and its internationally accepted symbol is
g/m2 (with a superscript 2).
Another ploy used by paper makers is to encourage the jargon terms 'paper
weight' or 'grammage', which has the effect of preventing people from
knowing that paper is described in terms of the mass of the paper divided by
its area. A range of occupations can use this trick; simply borrow poor
language practices from the old ways of measuring. Encourage the use of
words like footage, mileage, and yardage where you use the name of the
measuring unit as if it were the name of a physical quantity. This always
was an inferior and confusing practice. The words amperage, tonneage,
voltage, and wattage should be enough to get you started.
Remember that as SI is so simple, that you should always aim for as much
complexity as you can.
7 Praise old ways of measuring
None of the old ways of measuring were ever developed into systems, even
though there were several partial attempts at organisation. To give the
illusion of organisation, talk about the British system, which never
existed; the Imperial system, which never existed; or the customary system
of the USA, which never existed.
Before the invention of the International System of Units (SI), there had
never been a fully developed, coherent, system of units. SI is the only
system ever developed where units are completely standard wherever they are
used in the world. When you buy a kilogram of fruit or vegetables you can be
sure that you get a kilogram because there is an international standard
kilogram, kept in Paris, and agreed to by all nations (including the USA)
under an international treaty.
Unfortunately this is not always true with old units. When you hear the name
of an old unit you might automatically suppose that it means something
definite. For example, if someone tells you that they have a 17 inch
computer screen do not measure it; you don't need to know that some inches
are bigger than others, and that some � like computer inches � are smaller
than others.
Similarly, when you hear the price of oil on the news you might assume that
the word barrel (sometimes written as bbl) has a definite meaning. Do not
encourage people to know that there are at least 14 different kinds of
barrel, and that these measure a range of different things. To measure
volume you could use the Imperial barrel (164 L), oil barrel (159 L), Old
English beer barrel (166 L), US cistern or old beer bbl (136 L), US
cranberry bbl (95 L), US dry barrel (116 L), US federal barrel (117 L), US
federal proof spirits barrel (151 L), or the US liquid barrel (119 L).
On the other hand, the barrel might not measure volume or capacity at all �
a barrel of oil might measure mass in kilograms � you could buy a barrel of
crude oil of 136 kg. You can even buy barrels of energy; a barrel of crude
oil energy might be 5.77 gigajoules (GJ) or 6.15 GJ; and a barrel of LNG
energy might be 3.17 GJ. In addition, of course, there are also barrels of
fun and barrels of monkeys.
Miles are good too. There are statute miles, nautical miles, Irish miles,
Swedish miles, air miles, and survey miles � at least. You can take your
pick or, like some airline companies, just mix them up, or change them, at
random. Do not ever get involved in discussions about international miles
and statute or survey miles. Again, you do not need to encourage the
knowledge that, unlike kilometres, different miles have different lengths.
Remember your goal here is to try to give an illusion of organisation for
all the old (different) measures.
8 Encourage the use of old rules of thumb
Maintaining old rules of thumb are an excellent way to avoid changing your
mind to metric.
For over a hundred years, opticians have used an arrangement to measure
eyes, which uses a distance of six metres from your eyes to the test chart �
often via a mirror. For all that time the opticians have told many of us
that those six metres are really twenty feet. This lie has been built into
our language as '20/20 vision'.
Dieticians use an 'add a zero' rule where they add a zero to your body mass
(in pounds) to find out the calorific (sic) value of your foods in the old
calories (or Calories or kilocalories). Use of this, and similar, rules of
thumb has so far prevented most dieticians from using modern SI units.
For professional tennis players the 90-90 rule is also a good model. Ninety
degrees Fahrenheit and 90 % humidity means that they do not play that day.
If Rules of Thumb are a bit scarce in your industry, make some up using old
measures. On the other hand, discourage the development of SI rules of
thumb.
Remember that SI roles of thumb are very powerful, so discourage them at all
times. Even better, do not ever suggest that any metric rules of thumb could
exist.
9 Assume rapid change
Changes take time, especially when the changes reach to profound levels of
our organisations and our society such as our ways of measuring. After all,
when we change to SI, we are asking all of our people to change all of their
minds; and we want them all, individually and collectively, to adopt a new
mindset. One big advantage of trying to do things too quickly is the high
probability that you will do it badly. The next time you try to metricate
you will hear, ' Look what happened last time. It was a fiasco. It cost us a
lot of time, and a lot of grief, and we got nowhere. It's too hard, we don't
want to do it again.'
On a national scale, a change of this magnitude is a generational change
that could take two to four generations, or between 50 and 100 years. When
you announce your change to SI, make sure you use an impossibly short
period. Most nations opt for ten years and many companies decide on one
year. This leads to wonderful confusion at the end of the allotted time as
people wander about saying, 'The conversion didn't work yet; what do we do
now?' This has worked well, nationally, in the USA when various governments
attempted, legislatively or administratively, to make a quick change to
metric in 1793, 1866, 1878, 1892, 1975, 1978, 1988, 1991, and 1992.
10 Conversions � theory not practice
Do not use practical measurement. Do not have trainees measure the thickness
of their fingernails (~1 mm), the width of their little fingernail (~10 mm),
the width of their thumbnail (~20 mm), the width of their hand (~100 mm),
the length of their cubit (~500 mm). Do not let them find their body mass
(say 75�kg) or their height (say 1.65 m) so that they can calculate their
Body Mass Index (75�1.65^2 = 27.5). Do not let them feel kilogram masses,
pour litres of liquid, or step out any distances in metres.
Under no circumstances should you support practical activities that require
actually measuring anything using SI. The more people measure the sooner
they realise that SI is essentially simple and they are then inclined not
only to learn it quickly but they may become enthusiasts � who refuse to use
old measures at all � and you don't want that.
Use conversions whenever possible. These take an enormous amount of time.
They are unpleasant to do and they are usually completely unnecessary. A
well-planned, snap change directly to metric is too easy and too quick � so
encourage conversions. Go further; invest the limited funds available for
metrication to actually train people in conversion methods.
As you do the conversions and produce conversion tables, always convert back
to old measures. For example: the approximate conversion
1 metre = 1 yard 0 ft 3 47/128ths inches
leads to the idea that SI is simple and that old methods are difficult.
On the other hand the exact conversion
1 yard = 914.4 mm
gives an illusion that yards are the right and proper units and that metres
and millimetres are not only overly complicated, but that they are a fad and
it's only a matter of time before we convert back to the real stuff. To slow
down the change to SI, always choose the second method rather than the
first.
Use dual scale instruments. If, after an extensive rearguard action you are
forced to change to metric, buy dual sided tapes and rulers, buy any
instrument that has a dual scale or any instrument that can be changed from
old measures to SI units by flicking a switch. Be assured that users of your
tapes and instruments will not change to any new methods quickly if they
have access to dual scales. With dual scales, they will dither between the
new ways and the 'safety' of the old ways of measuring on the regressive
side of the scale.
Encourage the use of fractions. Even though SI is a decimal system, without
a need for vulgar fractions, you should encourage the use of halves,
quarters, thirds, sevenths, eighths, sixteenths etc. The New York Stock
Exchange was able to hold off the change from fractional 'pieces-of-eight'
to decimal currency from 1793 to 2001 � and that's an impressive 208 years.
Schools, too, could be encouraged to continue to teach fractions other than
decimals.
To prolong the change even further, employ highly trained mathematicians,
scientists and engineers (PhDs without teaching experience are good) to
carry out the training in conversions and the construction of useless
conversion tables. Highly trained people who have a ready facility in
mathematics are rarely able to comprehend that their students in front of
them not only failed elementary arithmetic, but they also have a very
healthy fear and loathing of fractions, decimals, and algebra. With this
depth of mutual incomprehension, your training programs should be complete
failures. While the mathematician is saying, 'Just move the decimal point'
the hourly labourer is thinking 'What's a decimal?' and 'What's the point?'
Remember to devise your training programs to encourage the use of old
methods, old units, and conversions between them as much as possible.
Develop arguments to support your view for a slow change to SI. Keep in mind
� as your model � the 'little old lady' who plaintively asked in a letter to
the editor 'Why can't we wait till all the old people die before we change
to metric?'
--
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
CAMS - Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist
- United States Metric Association
ASM - Accredited Speaking Member
- National Speakers Association of Australia
Member, International Federation for Professional Speakers
