I wrote a letter to the newspaper about their misspelling of the word
"milliliter". They had spelled it "millileter". (Note carefully that
the error has nothing to do with the question of the -er vs -re
spelling. It is the "e" in place of the "i" in "liter" that I was
commenting on.)
In passing I mentioned that the use of the symbols instead of the
words would avoid some such errors and make easier to read copy.. I
went on briefly to note that the short forms were symbols, not
abbreviations. I avoided clouding the issue by entering into a long
discussion of the reasons for calling the SI short forms "symbols" and
said I'd be happy to elaborate if they were interested.
One of the editors emailed me back and said he was intrigued by this
"symbols vs. abbreviations" thing and would be interested in hearing
more.
WELL, HE HAD OPENED THE DOOR !!!
I thought some of you might be interested in seeing my (lengthy)
reply, so I am posting it below for you edification and comments.
PLEASE NOTE my "Special Request" near the end even if (maybe
especially if) you don't read the rest. Here it is:
============================
On Jul 8 , at 5:15 PM, Wayne Ezell wrote:
Well, now I am curious.
I suppose I could look up the distinction between symbol and
abbreviation, but if you have a quick version I would appreciate
seeing it.
Thanks for your interest. I'll try to explain it briefly but I want to
be thorough, so it may not be as quick as you were hoping for. Please
note my special request at the end.
The BIPM (International Bureau of Weights and Measures) wanted to
build into the SI (International System of units) a set of unambiguous
and internationally understood "short forms" for use with measurements
using the system. They decided to call them "symbols" rather than
"abbreviations" to emphasize the fact that they would always be the
same and would not involve the kind of variations that are inherent in
common abbreviations.
Here are the three things that distinguish the SI symbols from
ordinary abbreviations.
1. The MAIN thing
The case of the letters is always specific, never CAPS when l.c. is
stipulated nor vice versa. Some symbols even involve mixtures of
capital and lower case letters. Let me give you a couple examples
first and so you can be sure of what I am saying, then I'll explain
why all this is desirable (and necessary).
metre symbol: m
not M and not a script M (either cap. or l.c.)
kilowatts symbol: kW
not KW, not kw, not Kw nor any of these with script letters
kilometres symbol: km
not Km, not KM, etc.
kilometres per hour symbol: km/h
not Km/H, not KPH or kph, etc.
milligrams symbol: mg
not Mg (see following example), and not MG or anything else
megagrams symbol: Mg
not mg (see previous example), and not mG or anything else
Now for the reason to "be so picky"; this is a truly international
system for expressing units of measure. The symbols used are EXACTLY
the same regardless of how the word is spelled when written out or how
it is pronounced when spoken. They are also the same regardless of the
alphabet that is used for conventional text. You can read a label in
Japanese or Chinese, in Arabic or Parsi, in Greek or in Russian and
the symbols are the same. The words before and after the measurement
may be unintelligible to you, but the numbers and the units are clear
because they are the same for everyone.
That is, they are the same everywhere if we all obey "the rules".
Americans tend to use all sorts of variations when, indeed, there are
no acceptable variations in SI metric. (Well, there is one.) I know
the Russians don't do a very good job of it either. (I've been there
and seen it.) They are stuck with their own special alphabet
(Cyrillic) and many of the letters used for symbols in the metric
system are not part of the Russian alphabet at all. However, Americans
really have no excuse. There are only two letters used in metric
symbols that are not in our Latin alphabet. They are the Greek lower
case mu (µ) and the Greek capital omega (Ω).
2. The "s" thing (second thing)
Abbreviations are very often written with an "s" to indicate a plural
("secs" for seconds, "LBS." for pounds. Metric symbols NEVER add an
"s". The same symbol stands for either one of something are many of
something. One would read it as a plural if the number is more than
one but you would write it with no "s". Thus we write:
"The size of the beach towel was 2 m long and 1 m wide."
even though we would read that as
"The size of the beach towel was two metres long and one metre wide."
3. The last thing (period)
The SI symbols are not written with a period at the end (as all good
little abbreviations are supposed to have). A period may come after a
metric symbol only if it is there for some other reason, the only
reason of importance being that it is the end of a sentence. So we write
"The towel was 2 m long." or
"The length of the towel was 2 m."
Finally:
My Special Request
==================================================
I have written this for your information, not for publication. Perhaps
it did not even cross your mind to consider publishing any of this,
but I just want to make sure.
These details about the metric system are more technical than most
people need to know. Indeed many people would find them to be finicky
details that make the metric system difficult (when it isn't). The
only people that should be very concerned about them are professionals
who are in the business of writing. Just as I know that Times-Union
reporters would not want to write a story with incorrect spelling or
grammar, I would hope that they would not want their story to contain
errors in usage of units of measurement.
So I would encourage you, if you are so inclined, share some of the
above with your reporters and editors for their enlightenment.
Please don't let anyone try to contradict the facts of correct metric
usage by citing a dictionary or the AP StyleBook. Neither has the
authority to make such pronouncements if they contradict the BIPM
rulings. That authority was given to the BIPM by international treat,
signed by the US along with many other countries. Further, the US
Constitution gives the Congress the authority to establish a system of
weights and measures and it has proclaimed the SI metric system to be
the preferred system for trade and commerce in the US. The BIPM
rulings are official and supersede any AP rules or dictionary entries.
As far as the public is concerned, a good newspaper can teach the
public painlessly by setting a good example of correct usage of metric
symbols. The schools already teach it but people forget when the get
out of school and, in school or out, it's hard to teach someone the
correct way when they see so many examples of wrong ways.
Thank you for giving me a willing ear (I hope) for me to express my
views and the facts. I hope you have found it interesting. If you have
further questions, I'd be more than happy to continue our dialog
(well, so far mostly a monologue).
Regards,
Bill Hooper
Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA
904-261-8476
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SImplification Begins With SI.
==========================
