Context is very important. In a technical or business context (cellphone, GPS, network cables, etc) meters is OK, but in a casual or consumer context (floppy disks, personal heights, road directions, etc) it is not. I guess the rationale is you need to give the technical people flexiblity to do their job, but no more than that as it would be invading American culture. I enjoyed the WWII sub movie U-571 a week ago, in which an American crew commandeers a Nazi U-boat, and are reading its depth gauges in meters. The use of meters throughout the dilaog is pervasive, even in one tense seen where they're approaching crush depth: "180 meters!....190 meteres!....200 meters!....", with lots of tight shots of metric depth gauges and perspiring faces. Later, however, they give the range to target as 1000 yards. Nat > To PC World's credit, however, an article on privacy, cell > phones and new > FCC regulations specifies that by October, cell phone carriers > must be able > to pinpoint the 911 (emergency) call on newly-made Phase II > phones "to within > 50 to 300 meters". The FCC said it, and PC World, which isn't exactly > SI-friendly, let it stand. Now if we could just get them to stop > saying "3 > 1/2-inch floppy" and 3 inch mini-CD...<g> > > >
