Letters to the media on U.S. metrication should be both respectful of, and
informative to, the recipient.
First, praise the insitution for its virtues; I sense that the publication or
broadcast has value or one would not be reading or observing it. Start out by
pointing out its good qualities.
Then, give the recipient a perspective on U.S. metrication, something it, or
he/she/they, may not have. The purpose of the letter should be to educate, but
not to lecture. However, when you educate, educate well. You don't have to be
bashful about giving the facts.
I would have written the 10 km letter as follows:
Dear AJC ---.
Thank you for your excellent preview of the city's annual Peachtree Road Race.
The maps and story were very helpful to me in following the unfolding event.
However, I am puzzled by your insistence upon describing the race as a 6.2 mile
contest. Instead of reporting what appears to be a random number of miles of
the race's length, you should have stated it as what it really is: namely, an
even 10 km or 10,000 m. The race is designed to be a round, standard length in
units of the metric system.
Besides being widely used for athletics in all nations, including the United
States, the metric system is also the legally preferred system of measurement
for U.S. trade and commerce (Metric Conversion Act of 1975, as amended 1988).
I think it would be useful for you to concentrate upon reporting in the metric
system whenever possible. This approach would add to the expertness you
already show, and particularly starting in this Olympic year, because all
nations (except the U.S.) participating in the games use and understand only
the metric standard.
Thank you again for your otherwise fine story.
SI-ncerely,
etc.
----- Original Message -----
From: Jon Saxton
To: U.S. Metric Association
Sent: 05 July, 2008 06:56
Subject: [USMA:41319] Re: Fw: The July 4th 10 kilometer race
Norm:
After thinking about your concerns for a moment, I wonder if a slightly
different approach might be more effective.
Dear <reporter>:
Why do you and most of your colleagues in journalism feel compelled to
convert every metric measurement into old British colonial equivalents for us?
Do you think we are so out of touch with the world that we have to be treated
like 19th century children? I find it really irritating when you describe 10
km as 6.2 miles. We are exposed to the metric system quite a lot and we don't
need to have everything "dumbed down" for us. It seems so patronizing,
unnecessary and almost insulting.
Please treat us like 21st century adults.
Regards
<sender>
Norman & Nancy Werling wrote:
USMA members,
I tried to make nice with this missive to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
about tomorrow's 10 km race, but I'm not sure I succeeded.
Norm
----- Original Message -----
From: Norman & Nancy Werling
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2008 23:35
Subject: The July 4th 10 kilometer race
Dear AJC reporter Mr. Scott Bernade,
I'm going to give you credit for realizing that the race in more than 6.2
miles because at least Wednesday's sports section headline said: "6.2 Miles,
Plus."
I'll assume it was your editors that were at fault for not allowing you to
simply and correctly refer to it as 10 kilometers. Perhaps next time, your
editors will allow you to refer to it as a 10,000 meter race. Surely you agree
that the public, which follows Olympic competition, is aware of track events in
meters. However, I would be loath to think that the Atlanta public does not
realize that the prefix "kilo" means a thousand. Thus 10 kilo(thousand)meters
is 10,000 meters.
I would be truly interested in knowing if the serious runners from other
countries practice and gauge their running on one kilometer (1000 meter)
intervals, as I assume that 95% of the world would do, rather than the one mile
(5280 feet) measures, as only the US persists in doing.
Norman Werling
Stone Mountain, GA 30083
