I bet it was Fox editors, not reporters, who converted meters to yards. Sports reporters have trackside savvy and know meters intuitively. We editors, I am embarrassed to confess, are office-bound wonks likely to misapply arcane scraps of learning such as conversion factors.
> From: James R Frysinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Tue, 15 May 2007 13:50:27 +0000 > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> > Cc: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [USMA:38688] Poorly written article > > Dear Editor, > > Surely, in the article below seen today on foxnews.com, you meant to say "100 > m" or "100-meter" instead of "110-yard". The Mainichi Daily News undoubtedly > used the metric value instead of putting it in yards. > > I am confident that every American alive today has seen a meter stick and > knows how large a meter is. Americans often watch Olympic and U.S. track and > swim events, where distances are given in meters, such as 100 m sprints. > > Please do not "dumb down" your articles for us. As the United States continues > its progress towards metrication such awkward substitutions as yours seem very > obsolete. Even the AP style guide says that you should have retained the > metric value! > > If your reporters are behind the curve of the rest of us Americans, as they > seem to be here, perhaps you could arrange some in-house education for them. I > would hate to see your journalists getting left in the dust of days that have > long gone by. > > Jim Frysinger > > [cited article] > Attack of the 110-Yard Monster Sushi Roll > > Tuesday, May 15, 2007 > > Now that's a wrap, or should we say roll? > > About 1,000 people turned out Sunday in Mexico to make a 110-yard-long sushi > roll in honor of the 110th anniversary of the first Japanese immigration to > Mexico, the Mainichi Daily News reports. > > The participants many of Japanese descent worked together to make an > "Azteca" roll using cactus, fish cake and rice. > > "The rolled sushi, a mixture of Japanese and Mexican food, symbolizes the > integration of both cultures," a 64-year-old man of Japanese descent told the > paper. > > The first Japanese immigrants came to Mexico in 1897, the paper said. Only 35 > people came in the first wave. Today, the Japanese-Mexican population remains > small, with around 17,000 people of Japanese descent living in this nation of > approximately 105 million. > > The event was sponsored by a local Japan-Mexico society. > > Source: > http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,272293,00.html > >
