There is no problem with using a plural with words, there is one with symbols. The symbol “km” is universal. We might say “sixty kilometres”, the Dutch usually say “zestig kilometer” *(note – no plural), though they often add “en” to nouns to convert them to plural. By writing “kms” we are removing its uiniversality and in some cases, it could be confused with km·s (kilometre-seconds). This is particularly important with watts. Does 10Ws mean 10 watts or 10 watt-seconds (ie 10 joules)?.
_____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: 05 June 2011 00:11 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:50554] Re: Australia metric What is wrong with the plural of the words? It is very common in the English Language. Now, 23 ms or kms would be wrong and is not policy. Bruce E. Arkwright, Jr Erie PA Linux and Metric User and Enforcer I will only invest in nukes that are 150 gigameters away. How much solar energy have you collected today? Id put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we dont have to wait til oil and coal run out before we tackle that. I wish I had a few more years left. -- Thomas Edison♽☯♑ On Jun 4, 2011, Harry Wyeth <[email protected]> wrote: I recently spend a month in Australia, and thought readers might be interested in the below photo of a poster seen in a bookstore. Aussies have SI almost totally correct, but I did notice various forms of the plural of "km" on signs, including some posted by the national park service. There is an overpass near one of Sydney's famous beaches posted with an old clearance sign in feet as well as meters. Scuba diving depths are in meters; tank air pressure is measured in bars. The captain of our scuba boat informed me that we were "50 kilometers, or 27.6 nautical miles" off the coast. The Aussies we heard spoke of kilometers using both pronunciations , about equally. Even when talking to obvious Americans, Aussies almost never resort to our "customary", which was very refreshing. It's a big country! HARRY WYETH IMG_1571.JPG
