We may indeed be in serious danger of loosing the battle if the EU once again allows a delay or even worse, cancels the directive on units, that is what the TABD wants. That will be as awful as the dark days of 1812 in France were. I am sure that metric hearts were very, very sore in that year. I shudder with the thought that I may experience another '1812'.
However, I think that infiltration of FFU will sooner or later lead to a reaction which will repel it. In a way, an immune system will kick in. In the fifties and early sixties the inferior SAE standard of gross hp almost overwhelmed the global car industry, as it was great for marketing purposes. Using this standard also implied the adoption of the FFU horse power and other ifp practices. Even French car builders like Renault and Simca had adopted it. Yet, in some way or other, the inferior standard bit the dust in the end and had to make way for DIN, SAE net and now ISO power. I remain convinced that we will win in the future. Trash like ifp cannot win in the end. Only this battle is now in a phase that does not favour us. I cannot see how the EU can accept another humiliation of this kind. When the craven act had been done, the rapporteur on the issue, the Tory MEP Chichester, spouted anti-European garbage, ranting and raving about Brussels Bureaucrats (the very category that had already approved the delay about 10 months earlier!), and he pretended that the delay was all his work. HE was the person who convinced the EU parliament to grant it. All lies. We know that the EU Commission had already allowed the delay in February 1999 and that the appointment of the rapporteur in the EP was a set-up to facilitate this decision. Han Historian of Dutch Metrication, Nijmegen, The Netherlands ----- Original Message ----- From: "kilopascal" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, 2002-07-02 0:15 Subject: [USMA:20754] Re: Reciprocal quantities (was: L/100 km) > 2002-07-01 > > You just don't understand the American way of doing things. Let me explain: > > First, you find out what way everyone else is doing it. > > Second, just to be different, you do it the exact opposite. And make a big effort to force your way on the world. > > When the world rejects American methods, America responds with spite and nastiness, insisting the world is full of anti-American ingrates who hate America, who hate freedom and democracy, and want to force the great America to follow their inferior practices. > > Americans believe that America became great because of American methods and the world is jealous of American greatness. Get the point! > > It is the matter of the US wanting to be different, so it can brag that its difference is the right way and everyone else is wrong. This is why the metric battle is being lost. > John > > There seems to be a tradition in the US marketing world, to use reciprocal units in order to ensure that a higher number means better. I would be curious if you have any reference for where/when this practice originated historically.
