It just goes to prove that whoever named them inch worms didn't have any idea how long an inch was or was simply doing what is normal for inches by using them as a vague reference. Thus to give exact meaning to pre-metric units is really the wrong thing to do.
Thanks for clearing up the origin of the word inch used in Irish place names like Inchicore. Now Hans can calm himself knowing it had nothing to do with measurements and he doesn't have to call it as 25.4mmcore. If the name is still a bother, he can think of it as Inisicore or Islandicore. This way he won't have to use the word inch. Jerry ________________________________ From: Pierre Abbat <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, April 5, 2009 9:59:31 AM Subject: [USMA:44376] RE: Reasoable Language (was Metrication US) On Sunday 05 April 2009 05:54:11 Han Maenen wrote: > I agree with Bll Potts. Leave expressions like 'inch by inch' or 'not an > inch' alone. Those opposed to metric would love it if we wanted to change > such things. In the Netherlands a folding measuring stick is called a > 'duimstok', which is 'inch stick' in English. I have a wooden duimstok or > inch stick with centimetres only on it. I just avoid measuring instruments > with dual units like the plague. Or inchworm (I saw the first one yesterday, much less than an inch; the inchworms here are also called cankerworms). > Just west of of Dublin is the suburb Inchicore, how lunatic it would be to > change that to 2.54cmcore, or Sixmilebridge near Limerick to '9.6 > km-Bridge'. Of course, the distance to Sixmilebridge is always given in km > on road signs: 'Sixmilebridge 10 km'. There is a small place in Ireland > called Inch. "Inch" in Ireland is from a Gaelic word "inis" ("innis" in Scots Gaelic) for "island". Pierre
