Dear John, Australia is at least 90 % metric and this is gaining all the time. However there are particular activities where the old pre-metric words are protected because they are a jargon. Furlongs in horse racing (even though these are now defined as exactly 200 metres) and nautical miles (defined as exactly 1852 metres) and the associated knots in yachting, etc.
The fishing equipment industry is another holdout where almost all equipment is made in Asia for Japanese companies for sale to the market in the USA and any surplus is directed to the much smaller Australian market. We get the dregs from the USA table marked in pounds! Cheers, Pat Naughtin Geelong, Australia On 2011/01/05, at 22:52 , John M. Steele wrote: > I was wondering why the fisherman wasn't using 130 N line. I thought > Australia was metric. :) > > Yes, some Americans have had little exposure to the rest of the world. > > From: Michael GLASS <m.gl...@optusnet.com.au> > To: U.S. Metric Association <usma@colostate.edu> > Sent: Wed, January 5, 2011 6:27:38 AM > Subject: [USMA:49424] Horror! Reporter has culture shock! > > Gayne C. Young of “Outdoor Life” made a shocking discovery: Australians speak > differently! > > For one thing, an Australian referred to a barramundi fish as a “barra”. How > confusing can that be? Like calling a refrigerator a fridge, or a telephone a > phone, or Santa Claus Santa. > > And another thing, they spell differently. How dare they spell realise with > an “s” or colouration with an extra “u”! > > However, the worst thing was this: “Unfortunately for me, Australians also > use the metric system which means I have to do math to covert the > measurements to standard for my readers.” > > “Once hooked, the giant quickly ripped through 80m (about 262 feet in the > real world) of 30-pound braided line before crashing across the lake surface. > “When I heard it crash, I knew it was a big fish,” Harrold detailed to the > Australian media before throwing out his “barra” and “snodger” comment. > Harrold’s monster weighed an incredible 44.6kg (about 98 pounds) and measured > 135cm (almost 4 ½ feet). Its girth was an astounding 107cm (about 3 ½ feet). > This beat the previous barramundi record taken in 1999 from Lake Tinaroo, > Queensland by almost 7kg (I’m through converting numbers).” > > Now how exotic is that! > > But don’t take my word for it. Read the original at > http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/gone-fishin/2011/01/world-record-barramundi > > Best wishes, > > Michael Glass > Pat Naughtin LCAMS Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, see http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html Hear Pat speak at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lshRAPvPZY 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 for more metrication information, contact Pat at pat.naugh...@metricationmatters.com or to get the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe.
