I think that happens in a lot of people where they see metres as being
syonymous and interchangable with yards.
Whilst Rugby-football is, strictly speaking, in metres commentators tend to
switch between the two - sometimes in the same sentence.
I suspect it has little to do with his hand being forced (IMHO)
From: "Carleton MacDonald" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Subject: [USMA:33820] RE: Air France Plane Mishap in Toronto
Date: Wed, 3 Aug 2005 19:04:53 -0400
Wolf Blitzer on CNN repeated "meters", and so did the graphics - until the
end of the broadcast when suddenly he said "yards". Wonder if some
producer
got to him.
Carleton
_____
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf
Of Phil Chernack
Sent: Wednesday, August 03, 2005 09:38
To: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:33813] Air France Plane Mishap in Toronto
As I am sure you all know by now, an Air France Airbus 340 skidded off the
runway at Toronto's Pierson International Airport yesterday afternoon.
Fortunately, everybody was able to escape with only minor injuries. As I
was watching the press conference from Toronto on my local CBS channel
(WCBS
in New York), the official being asked about it said that the plane
"skidded
200 meters off the runway." The news anchor, recapping what was said, also
repeated 200 meters.
Later in the evening, I went to the website for WCBS (www.wcbstv.com
<http://www.wcbstv.com/> ) and the article stated 200 yards. My local
newspaper stated the same thing, 200 yards. Another news program this
morning at least said, "more than 600 feet" which is a little more
accurate.
My point is that right from the source we heard 200 meters and it was
changed to 200 yards with no statement of what was actually said. It is a
clear case of the media changing measurements due to their belief that we
either don't understand metric or don't want to. Frustrating indeed!
Phil
