on 2002-12-08 21.20, Harry Wyeth at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > So, how does one pronounce the word? I have always wondered. > > HARRY WYETH
Dear Harry and All, When Australia 'went metric' in the 1970s, there was an attempt by the Metric Conversion Board to have us pronounce tonne to rhyme with either the names 'Tom' or 'Don'. This was intended to provide a distinction between the old ton and the new tonne in addition to the distinct spelling. The campaign had limited success. Soon enough the Australian public realised that the old ton and the new tonne were near enough to the same amount of stuff � a whole big lot � so to the general public there was no real reason to make a distinction between the two units. Australians, with almost no exceptions, now use the old pronunciation 'tun' when they read the word tonne but they take this to mean a tonne of 1000�kilograms. By the way, the expression 'metric ton' has never been used here. Cheers, Pat Naughtin CAMS Geelong, Australia
