Bill
"Metrics" is an English word. A "metric" is measurement that one uses to compare two or more systems - for example the well-being of a region could be compared using two or more metrics - "Average income" is one, "employment rate" is another. However it has nothing to do with units of measure. _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bill Potts Sent: 19 March 2008 01:08 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:40639] RE: Moving SI along - What I have heard Ernie: I'm glad to see that my fellow users of this list have provided so much help and encouragement. However, unless I've missed it, nobody seems to have addressed the issue of your use of the term "metrics." Please regard the following as information, not as criticism. All our discussions here are related (even if sometimes only tangentially) to what is correctly known as the Modern Metric System, or SI metric. Neither the official SI Brochure, nor any IEEE document, nor any NIST document, nor any other official document dealing with the metric system uses the word "metrics," probably because metric is an adjective (which has no plural form in English), not a noun. As far as I can tell, "metrics" (the noun) was coined by the advertising industry (they certainly use it) in referring to the means by which they measure the effectiveness of ad campaigns. Other people use it too, in questions and statements like, "Well, it seems good, but what are the metrics?" The answers are rife with percentages, head counts, and so on, but usually no metric units. Bill Potts _____ Bill Potts Roseville, CA <http://metric1.org/> http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of ernie edwards Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 13:01 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:40636] Moving SI along - What I have heard First, thanks so much for the email responses from my email of March 15th on the history and issues that continue to hold us back from having complete conversion to metrics. My comments and feelings..... 1. It sounds like the movement got pretty close about 10 years ago. 2. Industry support and the political will was not strong enough then. 3. Now and for the future....the need for complete conversion to metrics continues to grow and the impediments are continuing to decrease. 4. Metrics will be fully accepted in the future, it's that sooner, makes a lot more sense. 5. That it is important and right to continue to build on what people have worked on so hard before. So in conclusion, I am, and I encourage all of us to contact our elected officials (Rep. Markey, Sen's Kennedy and Kerry for me) and to encourage our professional (AIA for me) and industry ties for continued and increased support. I very much appreciate this forum for allowing me to express my feelings and finding kindred souls. I look forward to continued discussion and ideas from all of you. Thanks, Ernie Edwards, AIA [EMAIL PROTECTED]
