Dear Stan and All,
The APm Style guide shows a fundamental misunderstanding of
measurement when they write:
speedometers with kilometer markings
I would believe
speedometers with kilometer per hour (km/h) markings
or
odometers with kilometer markings
but what they wrote (see Victor's message below) does not make sense
at all.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
Geelong, Australia
On 2009/01/24, at 12:21 PM, STANLEY DOORE wrote:
Thanks for the AP Style Manual guidance on using metric.
Now we can understand why the press obfuscates data. Certainly
the AP guidelines could be much more clear and more educational,
however, that would be too much to expect of the press.
Stan Doore
----- Original Message -----
From: Victor Jockin
To: U.S. Metric Association
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2009 12:43 PM
Subject: [USMA:42417] Re: An Associated Press article in today's
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is from the 2004 AP Stylebook:
Metric System
In general, metric terms should be included in a story when they are
relevant.
There are no hard-and-fast rules on when they are relevant, but the
following two guidelines have been developed to cover questions
likely to arise as metric measurements gain increased acceptance in
the United States:
—Use metric terms when they are the primary form in which the source
of a story has provided statistics. Follow the metric units with
equivalents in the terms more widely known in the United States.
Normally, the equivalent should be in parentheses after the metric
figure. A general statement such as: A kilometer equals about five-
eighths of a mile, would be acceptable, however, to avoid repeated
use of parenthetical equivalents in a story that uses kilometers
many times.
—Provide metric equivalents for traditional forms if a metric unit
has become widely known. As speedometers with kilometer markings
become more prevalent, for example, a story about speed limits might
list miles per hour and provide kilometers per hour in parentheses.
My impression from reading stuff from AP and other sources with
similar guidelines is that there are in fact "not hard-and-fast
rules on when [metric units] are relevant". I think I've shared
with this group that I've seen several recent pieces in the NY
Times, which has similar guidelines, that cited metric units
throughout without parenthetical conversion. Others convert to US
units and don't mention the original metric units.
And maybe we can take some solace in the fact that this 2004
publication states these guidelines are useful "as metric
measurements gain increased acceptance in the United States". I
hope that's not a hold-over from the 1970 edition.
From: Norman & Nancy Werling
Sent: Friday, January 23, 2009 6:50 AM
To: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:42415] An Associated Press article in today's Atlanta
Journal-Constitution
USMA list members,
Spanish energy company Acciona Energia will build a wind farm in
Mexico which will be the largest in Latin America.
The article was written by Mark Stevenson of Associated Press. It
states that the wind farm will be 6180 acres. When converted back
to hectares that would have been 2500 hectares. Don't you agree
that Mark Stevenson was required to convert those 2500 hectares to
6180 acres by the Associated Press, even had he wanted to report
using the metric measure?
Norm Werling
Pat Naughtin
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
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