Somewhere there has to be standards and rules (for spelling and pronunciation), ...
Maybe there SHOULD be, but there doesn't HAVE TO be, and quite apparently there aren't (at least not for English language speakers, esp. Americans). The dictionary writers are not such authorities but, because there don't seem to be any others, they are frequently given that authority, unofficially, by default.
He continued:
Some of us "hillbillies" might take exception to that remark! :-)... if not we will all be talking and writing like hillbillies.
Regarding his statement that seemed to say he didn't think it was important which pronunciation of "kilometre" was to be used;
I think the most fundamental reason to favor one over the other is consistency; all other words that begin with "kilo-" are pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable and a long "o" sound. Some more-or-less common examples in SI are:
kilowatt, kilogram, kilojoule, kilopascal, kilovolt and kilohertz.
There are also examples outside of SI like:
kiloton, kilobyte, kilobucks, kilocalories and kiloparsecs.
All are pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable with a long "o" sound for the "o". Why should kilometer be any different?
Similarly, the "metre" part of kilometre is pronounced with a long "e" sound for the first "e" because the metre itself and every other multiple or submultiple of the metre is pronounced that way. This argues against the "uh" sound in the "kil-AHM'-uh-tur pronunciation.
The fact that there is no standard setting body to proclaim this to the general public doesn't mean we shouldn't argue that kilometre should be pronounced "KILL'-oh-mee-tur". It just means we need to base our argument on logical consistency rather than on some authority.
Regards, Bill Hooper Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA <><><><><><><><><><><><> Make it simple; Make it Metric <><><><><><><><><><><><>
