Well written Bill.
A few additional arguments that you might consider include: In English, we use “s” to denote plural, other languages have other rules – metric is international hence no plural. A power supply of 1 mW can power a hearing aid, while 1 MW can power the air conditioning system of a small building. Regards Martin _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bill Hooper Sent: 09 July 2008 01:46 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:41349] symbols vs. abbreviations 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 ========================== SImplification Begins With SI. ==========================
