Portuguese is very similar, as might be expected from Portugal being right next door to Spain Polegar is thumb, polegada is inch. Pé is foot, both anatomical and measurement-related.
--- On Mon, 4/6/09, Stephen Mangum <[email protected]> wrote: From: Stephen Mangum <[email protected]> Subject: [USMA:44449] RE: Reasoable Language (was Metrication US) To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Cc: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Date: Monday, April 6, 2009, 3:28 PM The Spanish word for inch is "pulgada." Like most words for inch, it is similar to word for "thumb," which in this case is "pulgar." Of course no Spanish-speaking country uses inches or feet. Naturally the original pulgada, pre-metrication, was not equal to 25.4 mm or the barley-based system you mention. But the word "pulgada" now refers to the 25.4 mm international inch. Similarly the word "pie" means "foot," in both the measurement and anatomy. Stephen Mangum On Sun, Apr 5, 2009 at 7:26 PM, Jeremiah MacGregor <[email protected]> wrote: 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 To: U.S. Metric Association 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> -- Stephen
