John Kilopascal wrote in usma 21592: >I guess even if SI does not specify spelling, there should be consistency >within a language. How many other languages that you know of will spell the >same word two different ways depending on what region you live in? And I'm >not referring to languages like Serbo-Croatian. Where the only difference >is that being the same language, the Serbs write with the Cyrillic alphabet >and the Croats with the Roman. > >There should be one spelling standard for English, at least as far as SI is >concerned. Can you imagine trying to explain to Americans that SI is still >consistent even if the main units of litre and metre are spelled differently >within the same language? If I was a member of the BWMA I would exploit >this situation. > >john
As a Canadian I have been subject to British and American influences. In spelling I am eclectic. I spell fulfil, reflexion, kilometre, tonne, color, honor, etc., rather than fulfill, reflection, kilometer, metric ton, colour, honour, etc. Tonne has had an unfortunate effect on the Canadian Press. They use it now for all three tons: short, metric or long. One has to guess from the context which one of the three is meant. In France ice cream is *cr�me � la glace*, but in Canada it is *cr�me glac�e*. In France 90 is *quatre-vingt-dix* but in Belgium and Switzerland it is *nonante*. Joseph B.Reid 17 Glebe Road West Toronto M5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071
