Jerry,
If one traces the origin of the word "inch", one goes back to the Roman measure "unica" which was one twelfth of a "pes" (foot). Over the years there have been various ways of defining the "inch". One of the ways (but certainly not the first) was "three barleycorns". Another way was to state that it is 25.4 mm exactly. Another way was to specify it as being 1/36 part of an iron rod that was kept in the custody of Parliament. Other countries had other ways of defining the unit wich was approximately the same in all countries. All the ways were appropriate for the era. _____ From: Jeremiah MacGregor [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 06 April 2009 03:27 To: Martin Vlietstra; U.S. Metric Association Subject: Re: [USMA:44374] RE: Reasoable Language (was Metrication US) Martin, I agree that the duim is a body part that some people used it to measure things with in the past like the foot. I don't agree that it is the same as the inch. The inch was defined as three barley corns round and dry. Can you tell me the original official definition of the duim? I would suspect that it was not related to barley corns. Thus my point is, the two are not the same. No disrespect was intended. I'm sure we can find a list of units that were used in various countries that have no equivalent to English units. Jerry _____ From: Martin Vlietstra <[email protected]> To: [email protected]; U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, April 5, 2009 3:53:03 PM Subject: RE: [USMA:44374] RE: Reasoable Language (was Metrication US) Jerry, Two things: 1) Please do Han the courtesy of assuming that is command of Dutch is better than yours - the ".nl" at the end of his e-mail address suggests to me that Dutch is probably his mother tongue.. 2) I can vouch for the fact that the word "duim" means both "thumb" and "inch" in both Dutch and Afrikaans (I speak both languages). In English, the word "foot" can either be part of the human anatomy or it can be a unit of measure. In Dutch and in Afrikaans, both the words "voet" and "duim" are units of measure and are also parts of the human anatomy. _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jeremiah MacGregor Sent: 05 April 2009 14:28 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:44374] RE: Reasoable Language (was Metrication US ) . snip Doesn't the word "Duimstok" literally mean "thumb stick"? A thumb and an inch are not really they same thing, even if they are close. . snip Jerry _____ From: Han Maenen < [email protected] > To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, April 5, 2009 5:54:11 AM Subject: [USMA:44369] RE: Reasoable Language (was Metrication US ) 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. 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. And people in metric countries should never give an inch to Imperial and/or U.S. Customary in their own environment. That would be very beneficial to metrication. Han ----- Original Message ----- From: Bill Potts <mailto:[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Monday, 2009, March 30 22:30 Subject: [USMA:44234] RE: Reasonable Language (was Metrication US ) Pat and John: For years, some of us on this list have tried to be reassuring to the metrication-averse and to also counter some of the stranger statements made by the more virulent opponents of metrication. <snip>
