I totally agree with this. I've found many people in Australia, South Africa and Britain still use the term mileage when referring to the kilometer distance recorded on the vehicle odometer. e.g. What mileage does you car have? 60000 km! (I realize here that the UK does not yet use km, but many of the people I have know there, have lived outside the UK).
Mike Payne > [Original Message] > From: Tom Wade VMS Systems <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: U.S. Metric Association <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: 19/3/03 10:49:52 > Subject: [USMA:25216] Re: How is the metrication progress in us politics? > > >by the way, I think with metrication should also come > > > >1. international road signs > >2. 24 h clock usage > >3. replacing the word mileage with kilometrage (french pronounced) > >4. no MM/DD/YYYY any more replace it with YYYY-MM-DD > >5. no metrication of pound/pint to 500 g/mL > > 1, 2 & 4 I support 100%. 5 I could live with, but I'd prefer to see the > term disappear completely. However, point 3 I would disagree with. > > Consider that the word "plumbing" is still used for pipes, even when the pipes > are no longer made of lead (plumbum is latin for lead). Similarly > prescription spectacles are still referred to over here as "glasses" even > though they are now normally made of plastic. > > The term "mileage" can easily remain part of the language, meaning the > gauging of distance, while the units after which it was named can fade into > history. Our company expense forms refer to "mileage" but the distance > quoted is in km. > > Also: > > * you can still "fathom" out something (i.e. see into its depths) without > having recourse to the obsolete unit of that name. > > * you can still "inch" closer to something in centimeters. > > * if you take something "with a grain of salt" you can do so without > realizing that a grain was a former unit of weight. > > Changing "mileage" is unnecessary. It is also counterproductive. > Question: is insisting that "mileage" be replaced by a French word likely > to endear or alienate Americans to/from the metric system ? (Hint: even > before the current political climate). > > ------------------------------------------------------------------- > Tom Wade | EMail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > EuroKom | X400: g=tom;s=wade;o=eurokom;p=eurokom; > Unit A2 | a=eirmail400;c=ie > Nutgrove Office Park | Tel: +353 (1) 296-9696 > Rathfarnham | Fax: +353 (1) 296-9697 > Dublin 14 | Disclaimer: This is not a disclaimer > Ireland | Tip: "Friends don't let friends do Unix !" --- Michael Payne --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- EarthLink: The #1 provider of the Real Internet.
