Re: [USMA:45399] Spelling metre or meter Spelling is not all that important
if understood in context; however using the meter spelling for a gage and the
metre spelling for length/distance would be a refinement. When the SI symbol m
is used, it's unambiguous.
It's a similar problem as the words further (for more) and farther (for
distance). They are used interchangeably, and incorrectly, by many here in
the United States. It shows a lack of education.
Stan Doore
----- Original Message -----
From: Patrick Moore
To: U.S. Metric Association
Sent: Friday, July 17, 2009 9:33 AM
Subject: [USMA:45413] Re: Spelling metre or meter
Arguments pro and con about spelling do not matter and may also be addressed
to the Spaniards or Czechs or Germans, who also do not conform to British
spelling. What matters are the conventions we follow in our discourse, because
those conventions ramify.
There is no doubt that the -re spelling hurts metrication efforts in the USA,
and I pray that the information-deficient congressmen, contractors etc. who
oppose metrication will never even see pro-metric literature with the -re
spelling. What they need to learn are the many reasons why metrication is
patriotic rather than yet another unnecessary change in their working habits,
one that not merely is foreign but looks so.
It is not a question of logic or science, but of psychology and rhetoric. Why
does Obama wear a flag lapel pin? It's not really reasonable and is not
important to me, but it does matter to others. Nor would I wear a fright wig if
making a presentation at a conference. Details of presentation are rhetorically
important because they tell our audience who we are and so become a part of our
message. The -re spelling has political and rhetorical resonance that we will
not discover by poring through dictionaries and science history. So when I tell
-re apologists that the -re spelling is harmful to metrication, I am sharing
something that may have not yet entered their calculations.
Members of this group tend to be hidebound and obsessive-compulsive and love
our list of rules. Myself included - I am an editor. My workplace follows ASTM
by policy, and we must butt heads with U.S. industry on issues like this every
week. With numerals for measurements, the symbol alone is enough. The issue of
spelling, however, arises in tutorial and administrative literature and
provokes a very silly battle where I refuse to waste bullets. This situation is
mirrored on a larger scale by a bill in the U.S. Congress. A bill on, say,
infrastructure is less likely to be passed with -re spellings than with -er
spellings. Those who prepare the bill for presentation will take care to fix
the spelling - if they are doing their job. The issues are rhetorical and
political. The arguments for -re dwindle to insignificance and finally vanish
with a little piff sound.
For collateral reasons that Frysinger and others have explained in other
threads, the whole question of spelling is off-topic for this group.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Pat Naughtin <[email protected]>
Reply-To: <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:01:43 +1000
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Subject: [USMA:45399] Spelling metre or meter
Dear All,
For those of you who are interested in the spelling question, I have just
finished polishing the article, Spelling metre or meter. You will find many
arguments to support either of these choices at
http://www.metricationmatters.com/docs/Spelling_metre_or_meter.pdf including my
own Australian oriented view.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
Author of the forthcoming book, Metrication Leaders Guide.
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped
thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric
system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands each
year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat provides
services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and professions for
commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and
in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA,
NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See
http://www.metricationmatters.com <http://www.metricationmatters.com/> for
more metrication information, contact Pat at
[email protected] or to get the free 'Metrication matters'
newsletter go to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe.
