Hi Pat The point that I am making is that the noun "metric" and the adjective "metric" are only loosely related - the adjective being used to describe measurements that conform to SI, whereas the noun has a toitally differtent meaning and I often come across it in the context where it is used to assigna number that descibres the complexity of a piece of software.
Regards Martin ----- Original Message ----- From: "Pat Naughtin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, March 25, 2006 4:24 AM Subject: [USMA:36372] Re: Units used in popular science books: buy Canadian > > On 25/03/06 10:02 AM, "Pierre Abbat" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > On Friday 24 March 2006 15:42, Martin Vlietstra wrote: > >> According to Chambers Dictionary, the noun "metrics" is the "theory of > >> measurement". > >> > >> Does this mean that the American version of the book has been really dumbed > >> down? :-) > > > > A metric, if I figured the meaning out right, is a computable number used to > > quantify something which may not be obviously quantifiable. In this sense, > > "metrics" is used with a plural verb. > > > > phma > > > Dear Martin, Pierre and All, > > The fact is that we live in a living sea of language. As promoters of the > metric system we strive to promote a single measurement method that is clear > open and fair to all who use it. In short: 'For all people; for all time. > > However, other people simply play with words as they encounter them with > little or no understanding of their underlying systemic structure. > > As an example, I was recently introduced to a measure of cardboard thickness > called 'UMS' pronounced to rhyme with 'hums' without the initial 'h'. It > took me a little while to realise that this has now become paper industry > jargon for micrometres (µm) that were wrongly written as (µms) and then even > more wrongly written (as ums) and then even more wrongly written in their > present 'standard' form as 'UMS'. > > As you make your transition to the full use of the metric system, you should > expect, and be prepared to counter, this sort of naïve nonsense -- it will > happen quite a lot. Other examples are 'mils', KayGees, Kliks, microns, > Gigs, Megs, etc. > > 'Metrics' to mean measures of any kind especially financial measures will > develop to haunt those of us who believe that the use of the word 'metrics' > somehow belittles the metric system itself. > > 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. > -- >
