Norman,
Since you wanted to make this a listserv-wide discussion, I'll post
this there instead of replying to you directly.
Think, dude. 90 square yards is 75 square
meters. Your letter said:
"You and I both know that the true measure was should have been
reported as 90 m² , that's 90 square meters, because I doubt that you
tried to convert square meters into the equivalent exact square
yards."
Well, I sure don't know that the true measure was 90 square meters,
and I don't think you do either, unless there was something else in the
radio story I don't know about. You simply assume that they
reported 90 square yards because they were too lazy to convert 90
square meters to 108 or so square yards. I don't think NPR (or
whoever got the story for them) is that lazy. To simply assume
that they must have been that lazy insults their professionalism and
integrity.
Ultimately, your letter is complaining that they converted a
measurement away from metric. This is a common enough occurence
in US media that I don't believe that the appropriate response is
outraged indignation, as you expressed. Rather, I express my
preferences when it is appropriate, and at times I point out occurences
when the conversion was just silly. Once I wrote to the Washington
Post (which I read daily) about a story that mentioned "4.4 pounds per
10.7 square feet". Now *that* was worthy of a little
indignation.
I don't necessarily mention things like that on this forum,
because I don't want the media to get letters like your letter to
NPR.
Carl Sorenson
P.S. You might also want to avoid confusing, run-on sentences such as
your one about the U.S. military.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [USMA:33800] Re: correction submission
From: "Norman & Nancy Werling" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Mon, August 01, 2005 11:44 pm
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Are you kidding me with your question?
Because we all know Israel is a totally metric country.
----- Original Message -----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, August 01, 2005 09:32
Subject: RE: [USMA:33792] correction submission
How on earth would you know that it was originally 90 square meters? You
seem to be basing a lot of indignation on a big assumption.
Carl Sorenson
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [USMA:33792] correction submission
From: "Norman & Nancy Werling" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Mon, August 01, 2005 8:11 am
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Cc: "USMA" <[email protected]>
To Corrections at NPR:
The piece at about 7:40 EDT this morning by Ms. Gradstein (sp.) about
Israelis moving from Gaza to tempoary trailers used the term 90 square
yards.
Come on! You and I both know that the true measure was should have been
reported as 90 m² , that's 90 square meters, because I doubt that you tried
to convert square meters into the equivalent exact square yards. Don't be
afraid to use the International metric measure. Even the U.S. military
forces use meters and when you obscure that fact you hinder America's
understanding of its eventual and necessary use of the International System
of Units, the metric system.
Sincerely,
Norman Werling
Stone Mountain, GA
