Rome had a solid hold on all of Italy before the time of Caesar, so I suppose you could say the Italians are descendents of Romans. They have abandoned Roman numerals for the most part, just as Brits have mostly abandoned Imperial measure. They are comparable anachronisms. We, on the other hand, have clung to measures even older than Imperial (bushel and gallon), so we are apparently the most anachronistic country in the world, in terms of weights and measures, even if we are progressive by other metrics, such as decimal currency, democracy, and space flight.
--- On Fri, 2/4/11, Ressel, Howard (DOT) <[email protected]> wrote: From: Ressel, Howard (DOT) <[email protected]> Subject: [USMA:49752] RE: Super Bowl: NFL, stop with the Roman numerals To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Date: Friday, February 4, 2011, 9:13 AM Are there any Romans still around? Hail Cesar! From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of John M. Steele Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2011 7:31 PM To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:49750] Super Bowl: NFL, stop with the Roman numerals This reporter would rather learn the metric system than decode Roman numerals. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/03/AR2011020303182.html Long rant about Roman numerals for numbering Superbowls. This pragraph says it all: "I'd have no objection to learning, say, the metric system, even in my dotage, because a lot of the world is already using it. Good incentive. Why should I have to decode Roman numerals once a year? The Romans don't even have to do that, for Pete's sake."
