John, You should write a letter to the newspaper and ask them to follow the AP Stylebook which clearly states "use metric terms when they are the primary form in which the source story has provided statistics......." cheers Baron Carter -----Original Message----- From: John Woelflein [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, 04 December, 2002 05:24 To: U.S. Metric Association Cc: List Serv Subject: [USMA:23786] Translating metric into inch-pound
This morning I noticed an article entitled "U.S., Israel have common terror foe." There was an illustration with information abouta "Grail" missile with such specifications as "Length: 4ft., 11 in. (launcher)" and "Weight: 9.2 lbs. (launcher)." At the bottom of the illustration I read that the sources were AP and Jane's Information Group. I visited www.jane.com <http://www.jane.com> on the web and saw that all specifications and data were given using SI, or the modern metric system. Our military, of course, uses the SI in its operations now. Why does the Associated Press translate this information into inch-pound units? All this will do is prevent the American public from becoming more familiar with SI units. Is this what you truly want to do? Most Americans do not go into a store to buy a 67.6 fluid ounce bottle of soft drink. Usually they get a two-litre bottle, right? If you treat people as if they are intelligent, they will act intelligent. What you are doing by translating metric into inch-pound results in "dumbing down" your data. Aim high, not low! Thank you. John Woelflein Nashua, NH USA _____ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail <http://rd.yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.com> Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up <http://rd.yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.com> now
