On Monday 2005 January 03 12:58, Stephen Humphreys wrote:
> I was under the impression that Americans simply call it "Customary"
or
> "English". Personally I don't like the term "English" as 1) English
is a
> language, and 2) What would you call it in Wales?!?
>
> Over here (I'm from the UK) its either "imperial" or simply "UK
measures".
> I think the older generation favour "imperial" and the younger
generation
> "UK measures". It's not uncommon to hear "what's that in UK
measures?". On
> the other hand, just the unit can be used to express the usage - like
> "what's that in miles". In this case reference to the type of unit
gets
> lost altogether and you get the odd situation of people not even
knowing if
> something is metric or imperial!
>
....
NIST sometimes speaks of SI (or metric) and American customary units.
Sometimes they refer to the latter as inch-pound units but that tends
to represent a smaller subset of all that we have seen and still see in
this country. Except in technical writings, they don't emphasize the
distinction between SI and non-SI metric (cgs, etc.) because they are
trying to keep it simple for the average citizen.
The term "English units" is not all inclusive. Some of the units we use
did not come from England.
The term "inch-pound units" (or "ifp") tends to emphasize length and
mass (or weight). It ignores those units not derived from those.
The terms "American customary units" and "American traditional units"
provide too much glory to what we are trying to give up.
The term "Imperial units" is inaccurate because many of our units arose
before Great Britain had an imperial system of measurement.
The units that were used in the United States were borrowed from many
sources and some were invented locally. Thus, in my role as Vice Chair,
IEEE Standards Coordinating Committee 14, I normally just say "non-SI"
when doing my SI review of IEEE standards. Informally here on this list
or in conversation, though, I might reflect the multisource origins of
our non-system of units by the term "American Hodgepodge units"
because it is American (U.S.) and because it is a hodgepodge of units
borrowed here and there or else locally fabricated. That way I don't
have to call it a system (which it is not) and I can trust that most
folks know what "hodgepodge" means without taking too much offense.
Again, for emphasis, in formal matters (such as standards reviews) I
use the term "non-SI".
For a small bit on the history of the SI in the U.S. (and other units)
you might enjoy seeing
http://www.cofc.edu/~frysingj/background.htm
and similar materials to be found on the USMA web pages.
Jim
--
James R. Frysinger
Lifetime Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist
Senior Member, IEEE
http://www.cofc.edu/~frysingj
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