Sent moments ago... Jim -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Mummified units of measurement Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:00:14 -0500 From: James Frysinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: ....
Dear Ms. Koerth-Baker, I saw your article on "Things your body can do after you die", posted on CNN.com. The link to this is http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/04/30/dead.bodies/index.html To say it is unusual would be an understatement. It is also quite fascinating. As a professional writer you surely are sensitive to maintaining the flow of thought in your writing. Awkward constructions cause readers to stumble and to risk losing the point. One such stumbling block occurred in the article regarding the use of bodies for fuel. You stated, "Some European crematoriums have figured out a way to replace conventional boilers by harnessing the heat produced in their fires, which can reach temperatures in excess of 1,832 degrees Fahrenheit." Here, you give a temperature to four significant digits, as if it were some very precise number. In fact, the temperature is "1000 degrees Celsius", a nice round number that reflects the variations one might expect and the fact that this is a "ballpark" number. A key to the latter is that you said "in excess of". Even Americans have as much "feel" for "1000 degrees Celsius" as they do for "1,832 degrees Fahrenheit". The metric figure is also more universally understood and I'm sure that CNN hopes its readership goes beyond our shores and borders. It flows more trippingly off the tongue, too. I find it much easier to say "one thousand degrees Celsius" than "one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two degrees Fahrenheiht". In short, your mathematical conversion of a nice, round metric temperature to an awkward, overly precise non-metric temperature has all the common feel and modernity of a mummified stiff found lying on one's couch the morning after a party. I encourage you to join us in the twenty-first century and to follow good writing practices in using metric units. Many style manuals abound, such as the Chicago Manual of Style, the AP Wordbook, etc. If you choose not to update your writing style, you might instead prefer to go the whole hog and to adopt the use of Elizabethan English in your writing. I would rather see you become a writer who is proficient in the use of the metric system, though. Thanks for the otherwise fascinating article. regards, Jim Frysinger -- James R. Frysinger 632 Stony Point Mountain Road Doyle, TN 38559-3030 (H) 931.657.3107 (C) 931.212.0267 -- James R. Frysinger 632 Stony Point Mountain Road Doyle, TN 38559-3030 (H) 931.657.3107 (C) 931.212.0267
