thanks for the information, Bill. perhaps many of these observations about the writing of metric measures can be considered as format or style conventions or choices (or the use of available graphic resources).
at present formats often depend on a lot different factors (the particular measure, the language, the organization, and the type of document or usage.) in addition to SI, i would also look to ISO 8601 and to AAT ICAS for additional information about the practicable formatting of scientific or technical information. that's not to say that any one of those systems covers all formatting scenarios. however the formatting of metric information could be an area of international standardization that would be important for a lot of users. best, Ron Stone On 2010 Aug 12 Thu, day 224, at 2:38 PM, Bill Hooper <[email protected] > wrote: > Just returned from a trip to Malta and Sicily and have some observations on > metric usage in those places. > > (Malta is an independent nation consisting of 2 or 3 main islands and a few > others. Sicily is an island which is part of Italy, although Sicilians > consider themselves a breed apart.) > > Most of my observations are from street and highway signs. I'm not much of > a shopper and did not do much in stores and shops. Most things were in > metric and quite correct. None of my observations are profound but I found > them interesting anyhow. > > > IN MALTA > > Incorrect symbol "Km/h" used for speed limits but correct "km" used for > distances on official signs. > > Distances in metres sometimes expressed using incorrect "M" as the symbol > and other times using the correct "m" on official signs, sometimes on two > signs in he same location. > > Sign used 5'6" for the width of a narrow street on an official sign (with > adjacent signs all in metric). > > > IN SICILY > > Incorrect "Km" occasionally seen but mostly the correct "km" for long > distances. > > Correct "cm" consistently seen for short lengths. > > Triply incorrect "Kg." on a sign stating "Kg. 500" for the maximum load in > an elevator. The capital "K" is wrong, the period is wrong and the placing > of the unit before the number is wrong (maybe). > > I think I understand why they use the symbol before the number; Italian, I > learned, is one of the languages that puts the adjective after the noun in > sentences. A mass of 500 kg can be likened to an adjective (500) and a noun > (kilogram), resulting in "kg 500". French uses the order noun-adjective, > too, but I don't recall having seen French use of things like "kg > 500" instead of "500 kg". > > Also, I don't know whether SI specifies the order or not, so maybe it's not > wrong. > > Volume of contents of wine barrels labelled in "HL" for hectolitres. It > should be "hl" or "hL". Again, the order of number and unit were reversed > from what I am accustomed to. One barrel was labelled "HL 65" which I asked > and had clarified represented 65 hectolitres. (That would be 6.5 kL which > would also be 6.5 cubic metres, but no sign of kL or m^2 were to be seen on > any of the barrels.) > > > IN THE AIR > > An interesting set of readings of the speed of the plane flying home showed > a CORRECT symbol (km/h) when displayed in ENGLISH but and INCORRECT symbol > (Km/ora) when displayed in ITALIAN. ("Ora" is the Italian word for "hour".) > > > Bill Hooper > 1810 mm tall > Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA > > ========================== > SImplification Begins With SI. > ========================== > > > > > >
