2002-08-10 John I can't agree with you about critics of the SI system using the fact that another language might spell a unit differently.
The main thing is that we all speak the same language as far as the system is concerned, and that a 'meter' in Sweden is exactly the same length as a 'metre' in France. You can't say that about the BWMA's wonderful system of measurement they so lovingly adore. While their units have different WORDS altogether (such as 'foot' in UK and 'pied' in France) they cannot defend the confusion caused when a TV announcer says something like "10 gallons". Ten gallons what? US or Imperial? Mike ----- Original Message ----- From: "kilopascal" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, August 09, 2002 11:46 AM Subject: [USMA:21592] RE: Digital TV : Opposition to US gov | 2002-08-08 | | 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 | | | | | ----- Original Message ----- | From: "Bill Potts" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> | To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> | Sent: Thursday, 2002-08-08 20:21 | Subject: [USMA:21589] RE: Digital TV : Opposition to US gov | | | > Brij Bhushan Vij wrote: | > | > > They advocate the SI-metric policies but refuse to change even the | > > spellings of > 'meter and liter" to Syst�me International d'unit�s | > > (SI in all languages). Great thinking, I must profess! | > | > Brij: | > | > SI does not specify spelling for all languages. The US spelling is in line | > with the German, Dutch and Scandinavian spellings (and others). Italy, | Spain | > and Portugal don't spell them litre and metre. Many other languages have | > non-Roman alphabets (Greek, Cyrillic, Thai, Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi, | Chinese, | > Japanese, etc.). | > | > As far as SI is concerned, it's the symbols and prefixes that matter. | > However, even there, other alphabets must be considered. | > | > Bill Potts, CMS | > Roseville, CA | > http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] | > | |
