My brother's girlfriend had their first child in November. His (the
baby, not my brother!!) weight was expressed in lb and oz although I
would have thought that if they had asked for it they could have been
told the metric values too.
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: [USMA:40049] Re: Hostile reactions to "speaking metric".
> Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:59:13 +0000
>
> The norm in the UK is for the medical records to be kept in metric
units,
> but for some reason weights seem to be published in imperial units.
My own
> children are now in their early 20's, but what I recall is that when
they
> were born, I was given their weights in metric units. I don't know if
> things have regressed since then.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On
Behalf
> Of Michael Palumbo
> Sent: 14 January 2008 17:14
> To: U.S. Metric Association
> Subject: [USMA:40047] Re: Hostile reactions to "speaking metric".
>
> Paul,
>
> A valid theory, absolutely. Once Megan apologised for yelling, I asked
> her whether or not it had anything to do with the fact that it was a
> baby. Her curt response was, "No, I don't care that it's a baby, you
> just sound like a d**k."
>
> And there you have it. I'm more inclined to believe that because she
> can't translate from wombat to metric, that she thinks I'm insulting
her
> intelligence or belittling her, hence her aggressive, brash reaction.
>
> Cheers,
> -Mike
>
> Paul Trusten wrote:
> > Michael,
> >
> > I think Megan reacted to your metricating a /baby. /If you had
> > metricated a purchase of kumquats or the area to be occupied by some
> > new linoleum tiles, I don't think she would reacted as viciously. I
> > understand that, even in some metric countries, babies are WOMBATs at
> > birth. Somehow, people think the humanity of birth is taken away when
> > the child's units of mass/weight are stated in SI. When it comes to
> > the celebration of a new baby, pounds and ounces seem to be
> > appropriately warm and fuzzy, while kilograms and grams seem to be
> > madly scientific, or, controlled substance contraband (/Flying into
> > Los Angeleez, bringing in a couple of keys/) .
> >
> > Thank you for posting this. It is a very important issue in our quest
> > for U.S. metrication. I try to be prepared for reactions like this,
> > but the ugly head of metrophobia surfaces so quickly upon mention of
> > metric in the U.S. that I surely do have to be bit prepared when I
> > make a metric remark. When I do it, I often am made to feel as if
I am
> > one of the African American students who first sat at the Woolworth's
> > lunch counter down south in 1960.
> >
> > I would that metric is as simple as our decimal dollars and
> > cents---or, would Megan like to return to the pounds, shillings, and
> > pence of our colonial days? Your goal with encounters like this is to
> > appear to explain this as a matter of fact, and not as a lecture, so
> > the recipient will feel, "Gee, where I have I been? Do my friends
know
> > this?"
> >
> > Although we in the U.S. do use the metric system,we don't use it
often
> > enough, and the result is that we /mis/understand it, not /fail /to
> > understand it. The solution to misunderstanding is education. That's
> > why USMA supports the teaching of the metric system exclusively
> > (i.e., no more teaching inch-pound units) in America's schools. If
> > Congress says metric is preferred for commerce, it should be
preferred
> > for learning as well.
> >
> >
> > Paul
> >
> >
> > Michael Palumbo wrote:
> >> Has anyone else had something like this happen to them?
> >>
> >> Last week, my coworker's wife had a child, and we did the "guess the
> >> gender and weight" contest that we always do in our office.
> >>
> >> I guessed an even 3000 grams, and was the closest; the baby was 2981
> >> grams. I had to translate the numbers for a few people, but no one
> >> really minded that I submitted my answer in metric.
> >>
> >> Last night, I was recalling this story to my friend Megan while in
> >> the car, and her reaction to it was *this* shy of violent. She began
> >> screaming at me, telling me how much of a (insert various four
> >> letters words here) I am for using a system that no one else
> >> understands. Her basic points were, if I ascertained them correctly
> >> in between her ranting:
> >> - "No one" understands the metric system, therefore it's off-putting
> >> for me to use it.
> >> - It's "extremely rude" to speak in a manner that people don't
> >> understand.
> >> - It's "moronic" and stinks of me just trying to "be different and
> >> weird for the sake of being different and weird".
> >>
> >> I told her that I wasn't going to listen to her insult me, dropped
> >> her at her house, and left.
> >>
> >> I cannot, for the life of me, understand that type of reaction. My
> >> office-mates, even when they don't directly understand it, have a
> >> pretty good idea of what I'm talking about. Rather than try to learn
> >> something new, Megan's reaction is what I fear may be typical of
many
> >> people in this country. Either you act like everyone else, or you'll
> >> be branded a nut-case. Never mind that most of the world uses this
> >> system, never mind that the foreigners in this country use it, never
> >> mind that the doctor who delivered the baby used it, *I* am not
> >> supposed to because it makes her think, and she can't handle that.
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >> -Mike
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> > --
> > Paul Trusten, R.Ph.
> > Acting Secretary
> > The Pharmacy Alliance
> > Midland TX 79707-2872 USA
> > +1(432)528-7724
> > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/ThePharmacyAlliance
> >
> >
> >
>
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