Dear Radio Netherlands, This morning as I listened to your weather report, in Geelong, Australia, I was struck by the fact that you gave a temperature as 'minus two degrees centigrade -- that's 36 degrees Fahrenheit'.
Here, in Australia, we use the international standard, degrees Celsius, when we refer to temperature, so the expression degrees centigrade jars on our ears. We understand that the term, degrees centigrade, has been officially deprecated by the Conference General de Poids et Mesures (CGPM) since 1948. (see http://www.bipm.org/en/si/si_brochure/appendix1/decisions_base_units/decisio ns_temperature.html ) I quote: 'CIPM, 1948 (PV, 21 , 88) and 9th CGPM, 1948, Resolution 7 : adoption of "degree Celsius" 'From three names ("degree centigrade", "centesimal degree", "degree Celsius") proposed to denote the degree of temperature, the CIPM has chosen "degree Celsius". 'This name is also adopted by the 9th CGPM'. I suppose that your on-air staff are doing conversions to degrees Fahrenheit assuming that they are pandering to listeners in the USA. The USA officially deprecates the use of degrees Fahrenheit in favor of degrees Celsius (see http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP811/appenB8.html#D ). I quote: 'Caution : The units listed in column�1 are in general not to be used in NIST publications, with the exception of those few in italic type. ... degree Fahrenheit (temperature) (�F) degree Celsius (�C) t/�C�=�( t/�F�-� 32)/1.8 ... Note: degree Fahrenheit is not listed in italic type. Cheers, Pat Naughtin LCAMS* Geelong, Australia Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online newsletter, 'Metrication matters'. You can subscribe by sending an email containing the words subscribe Metrication matters to [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Pat Naughtin is recognised by the United States metric Association as a Lifetime Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist (LCAMS). --
