It's easier to accept if you regard the rules regarding spelled-out unit names and unit symbols as the grammar of SI.
I don't think the participants in the quadrennial CGPM (Conf�rence G�n�rale des Poids et Mesures) want to bully anyone. However, in order to have SI units universally understood, the definitions need to be prescriptive (as in a specification), not descriptive (as in a dictionary). Bill Potts, CMS Roseville, CA http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] >-----Original Message----- >From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Behalf Of ewc >Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 02:20 >To: U.S. Metric Association >Subject: [USMA:31876] Re: "UK measures"/FFU's > > >Hi Bill > >First just to say that is a really well built (& useful) web site you >have on metric units - certainly the bits I have looked at anyhow. > >You write: > ><<The trouble with an abbreviation, such as gms, is that, according to >the rules regarding SI symbols, it can be mistaken for the >non-existent unit, gram meter second. That may not usually be a >problem for humans, but could be a problem for software used to scan >specifications in>> > >I honestly have a big problem about being told to do things just for >the benefit of a small special interest group. I really do fear that >it is often done mainly to gratify a basic desire to bully others >(bullying for its own sake). > ><<Some entities (e.g., the Gulf States Cooperation Council) have very >rigorous rules regarding the use of SI in specification documents.>> > >I am inclined to think that the fact that the Gulf states are not >democracies has a bearing on this matter. > >The reason I raised Einstein was that he got expelled from school for >comments like the one I quoted - and then failed to get a job as a >lecturer for roughly the same reason. In a rational society contracts >should surely go to innovative, efficient and inexpensive tenderers. >Human nature being what it is they may well turn out to be the kind of >people who find excessive rule following unbearably irksome > >Seems no one out there knows anything about the history of the US ton? >If so it kind of vindicates my comments on Homer Simpson I feel (a >comment not aimed at Jim - but at everybody who uses 'FFU') > >best > >rob > >(Robert Tye, York, UK) > >
