Kilopascal wrote quoting my USMA 18366 in which I wrote: >In Spanish it is kil�metro and it also cent�metro and mil�metro. My hunch >is that the Americans picked up Spanish pronunciation of kilometre, >although not of the centimetre and millimetre, from Mexico because that is >the only metric unit that most American tourists ever meet. I admit that >Noah Webster�s dictionary also said that the pronunciation of the kilometer >should have the accent on the second syllable.
You replied: >I never heard of the Spanish pronunciation of kil�metro as being >kil-lom-may-tro. It is key-low-met-tro. The way it should be pronounced. >If Noah Webster insists on the kill-lom-et-er pronunciation, it only shows >Webster is not consistant, as he then should require centimetre and >millimetre to be pronounced as cen-tim-et-er and mil-lem-et-er respectively. >But, they are not. Also, one also must define the 2-nd syllable. Is it low >or lom? If it is low, then the pronunciation is key-LOW-me-ter, or >key-LOW-may-ter. My Bantam New College Dictionary gives "kil�metro, which I interpret as meaning kiLOMetro. My Spanish-English Dictionary by Ottenheimer also has kil�metro. It may be that some ignorant Mexican pronounce it as kiloMETro I continued: >Another explanation is that kilometre is pronounced on the model of >thermometer, barometer, hydrometer, speedometer, manometer, etc. You commented: >This is only true if you spell the metric unit with -er. And this >pronunciation faux pas is good enough reason to fight for the -re spelling. >If any, it will distinguish the unit from the device and the pronunciation >as well. If we can use centre and theatre in the US, there is no reason we >can't use metre. I quite agree. Joe Joseph B.Reid 17 Glebe Road West Toronto M5P 1C8 TEL. 416-486-6071
