[USMA:25962] RE: my German friend never heard of SI

[Bill Potts]

Unless you're pronouncing it as a word ("sigh"), it's not an acronym. It's simply initials.    (NATO and UNESCO are acronyms.)   [I hope I'm not being picky, but misuse of the word acronym is one of my pet peeves.]   As to your point, I've found non-Americans who know metric (obviously <g>), but don't tend to think of it as SI (possibly because it's a detail they didn't think it necessary to remember). However, my casual observation is that more know it as SI than not.   Bill Potts, CMS Roseville, CA http://metric1.org [SI Navigator]     -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Paul Trusten, R.Ph. Sent: Saturday, June 07, 2003 11:44 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:25961] my German friend never heard of SI For just about as long as I've been following this list, I have had a German pen pal in Berlin. Last week, I sent her something I had written, and it was peppered with the acronym "SI". She, a music teacher and a lifelong European, wrote back to me asking what "SI" stood for, and of course,I replied with an explanation   She is only one person, but it got me to thinking---is the acronym familiar to most people who use that measurement system?   Paul Trusten, R.Ph. 3609 Caldera Boulevard, Apartment 122 Midland TX 79707-2872 USA 432-694-6208 [EMAIL PROTECTED]   "There are two cardinal sins, from which all the others spring: impatience and laziness."                           ---Franz Kafka