On 6/03/06 8:43 AM, "Han Maenen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> I would personally prefer to call these units neo-Napoleonic or second hand > metric units to-day. Napoleon is often wrongly credited with spreading the > metric system over Europe, while in fact he almost brought it down. It was > under Napoleon that for the first time old units were defined in terms of > metric ones, and the USA did that again in 1893. > > I do not like the prefix 'metric' for USA and UK units. Dear Han, Thanks for the information on Napoleonic times and also for your opinion about the use of terms such as the metric inch of exactly 25.4 millimetres. It would appear that others (see below) have referred to this as the 'international inch'. I have now had a chance to investigate this a little further and I found this interesting quotation in Marvin H. Green's book, 'Metric Conversion Handbook'. The following is quoted from Barbrow and Judson: 'Since 1959 the yard is defined as being equal exactly to 0.9144 meter; the new value is shorter than the old value by two parts in a million. At the same time it was decided that any data expressed in feet derived from geodetic surveys within the U.S. would continue to bear the relationship as defined in 1893 (one foot equals 1200/3937 meter). This foot is called the U.S. survey foot, while the foot defined in 1959 is called the international foot. Measurements expressed in survey miles, survey feet, rods, chains, links, or the squares thereof, and also acres should therefore be converted to the corresponding metric values by using pre-1959 conversion factors where more than five significant figure accuracy is involved.' The Barbrow and Judson reference is to: BARBROW, LOUIS E., AND JUDSON, LEWIS V. Units and Systems of Weights and Measures; Their Origin, Development, and Present Status. National Bureau of Standards Letter Circular LC 1035. U.S. Department of Commerce. Prepared by: Lewis V. Judson, Office of Weights and Measures, National Bureau of Standards, January 1960. Revised by: Louis E. Barbrow, Office of Metric Information, National Bureau of Standards, June 1975. Marvin Green then goes on to add: 'Therefore, this book (Metric Conversion Handbook) includes the survey mile, survey foot, rod, chain, and link as units based on the 1893 definition of the foot. In addition, the international foot and mile are included but without the adjective. From the quoted statements it appears that the yard is not related to geodetic surveys'. There is a wonderful maxim in English that goes: 'Oh, what a wicked web we weave, when first we practise to deceive'. I will probably continue to use the expressions 'metric inch' (of exactly 25.4 mm), 'metric foot' (of exactly 304.8 mm) and 'metric yard' (of exactly 914.4 mm) because in doing so it challenges anti-metric folk to think about, and hopefully question, the fundamentally unsound basis of all the old measures that they support. On this matter, I think that you and I will continue to disagree. Cheers, Pat Naughtin PO Box 305, Belmont, Geelong, Australia Phone 61 3 5241 2008 Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online monthly newsletter, 'Metrication matters'. You can subscribe by going to http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter Pat is the editor of the 'Numbers and measurement' chapter of the Australian Government Publishing Service 'Style manual for writers, editors and printers'. He is a Member of the National Speakers Association of Australia and the International Federation of Professional Speakers. He is also recognised as a Lifetime Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist (LCAMS) with the United States Metric Association. For more information go to: http://metricationmatters.com This email and its attachments are for the sole use of the addressee and may contain information that is confidential and/or legally privileged. This email and its attachments are subject to copyright and should not be partly or wholly reproduced without the consent of the copyright owner. Any unauthorised use of disclosure of this email or its attachments is prohibited. If you receive this email in error, please immediately delete it from your system and notify the sender by return email. --
