Dear Gene, Pat, Jim, and All,

many centuries of language development should not be ignored in the context
of the development of international standards of measurement.

in the global world there are many languages and many more language
varieties.

in the context of SI, there may no longer remain many 'foreign' units of
measurement.

in the global world, who can really say what words or spellings are familiar
or not among a diverse global community?

i say try to focus on values of metrication rather than a mere politicizing
of spelling.

Cheers,

Ron

ps - i would have no problem spelling the SI unit of length (m) as either
meter or metre. i am unconvinced that regional spelling is a crucial
metrication issue.



On Thu, Jan 27, 2011 at 9:34 AM, <[email protected]> wrote:

> In [USMA:49615], Ron Stone asked  "how does spelling relate to metrication"
> ?
>
> Answer:  *Hostility* to metrication is aroused when familiar words are
> spelled in a way that suggests that *foreign* units of measurement are being
>  imposed on the people of the Unites States of America.
>
> All of us here know that SI prescribes only symbols, not spellings.
>
> However, the false perception of many uninformed members of the public is
> that SI is foreign, and that metrication requires difficult *conversion"
> calculations.
>
> In reality SI is easy to learn and use.  Only the *transition* to SI can
> sometimes be a temporary numerical burden.
>
> Gene Mechtly
>
>


-- 

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Ron Stone
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