And we must convince AP to change to have any effect. Trying to change individual writers is a complete waste of time' all they care about is AP direction. I recently had the follwing exchange. I said "One minor correction on metric usage: "Kph" is a random abbreviation made up by and dictated by the Associated Press. It is not an accepted symbol in the International System of Units (the formal name of the modern metric system), the proper symbol is "km/h". As an automotive writer, if you research FMVSS 101, (instrument panel marking requirements) you will see that a speedometer in the U.S. with secondary kilometers per hour markings MUST be labelled km/h, kph would be considered illegal marking. Since your readers will never see a kph on a car, they are probably more confused by it than the correct km/h. Many will have a seconadary speedometer indication, marked km/h, on their cars." He said, "As a member of the Associated Press, we use AP style." (I have previously encountered the same attitude. We can only change the media by changing AP. Please write.)
--- On Mon, 10/24/11, G. Stanley Doore <[email protected]> wrote: From: G. Stanley Doore <[email protected]> Subject: [USMA:51281] Re: 2012 AP Stylebook Suggestion Form Now Open To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Cc: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Date: Monday, October 24, 2011, 1:37 PM John: Your recommendation is on target - km/h rather than kph. It's sad that correct useage is rejected by AP Stylebook editors. The AP editors are not in the real world. Keep up the good work! Regards, Stan On Oct 24, 2011 12:09 PM, "John M. Steele" <[email protected]> wrote: The AP Stylebook is the "cause" of most incorrect metric usage in the media, such as the use of kph for km/h. They have a short period of accepting suggestions in the fall for the next edition of the AP Stylebook. I found the submittal form open today and they are accepting suggestions through November 15. http://www.apstylebook.com/?do=social_media I used the form to resubmit the three page analysis I sent them earlier this summer. I hope many of you will submit suggestions, in particular for the use of km/h in preference to kph, and better guidelines for when the metric should be retained in the article, as well as any other incorrect usage that bugs you. Write your suggestion in your own style. However, I think the strongest argument for km/h, and particularly automotive writers is FMVSS 101 (safety standard on instrument panel marking.) The US requires a "miles" speedometer, but allows a secondary indication in kilometers per hour. That MUST be marked km/h; kph would be an illegal marking under FMVSS 101. Automotive writers write using a symbol that Federal law forbids on the cars they write about because AP requires them to do it wrong. If you intend to comment, do so before Nov. 15. After that, the form stays up but the comments are not really accepted. They send you an email with a link you have to click on for the comment to actually go through. I learned last year they close the process after Nov. 15, so I wasted time with a suggestion no human ever saw.
