The *problem* with deviations from American English standards, practiced by NIST, by the Government Printing Office, and by the Associated Press (at least for publications in American English) is that these *deviations* detract from the objective of increasing the acceptance and use of SI in the United States.
French and British spellings and phonetics appear and sound foreign to citizens of the United States and encourage opposition to the standards for SI as promulgated in NIST Special Publications 330 and 811. Some private citizens and indeed even some professional societies (e.g. ASTM International) choose to ignore guidance from NIST SP 330 and 811, which is, of course, their freedom-of-speech right, but my appeal is that spelling reforms be attempted only *after* SI becomes more firmly established in US Industries and private sectors. Eugene Mechtly ________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] on behalf of [email protected] [[email protected]] Sent: Monday, February 04, 2013 4:16 PM To: U.S. Metric Association Cc: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:52320] RE: Spelling of "Meter" Some of the forms that now serve to distinguish American from British spelling (color for colour, center for centre, traveler for traveller, etc.) were introduced by Noah Webster himself; others are due to spelling tendencies in Britain from the 17th century until the present day (for example, -ise for -ize, although the Oxford English Dictionary still prefers the -ize ending) and cases favored by the francophile<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francophile> tastes of 19th century Victorian England<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_era>, which had little effect on AmE (for example, programme for program, manoeuvre for maneuver, skilful for skillful, cheque for check, etc.). One of the most common spelling differences is that words ending in "-re" in BrE are rendered as "-er" in AmE (such as "centre" and "center", "theatre" and "theater", and "metre" and "meter"). > Silly, silly. It's a language difference. Who cares?Is it Cologne or > Koln? Is it Spain or Espana? Is it Italy or Italia? Is it aluminium > or aluminum? > The spelling is neither here nor there. A waste of discussion space. > Move along. -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: [USMA:52318] RE: Spelling of "Meter" > From: Anthony Fletcher > Date: Mon, February 04, 2013 2:06 pm > To: "U.S. Metric Association" > > Sorry to disagree. The rest of the world uses metre and litre so the > US should just follow. There are enough issues without changing the > words as well..... It's going to be a hard battle anyway, you might as > well go for the whole hog. > > Anthony. > > > On 04 Feb 2013 at 19:31:27, mechtly, eugene a wrote: > > I advocate the phonetic American English spelling "meter" for > continental USA. > > > > When traveling in French speaking regions, I attempt to pronounce meter > as "me-tre." > > > > The attempt to distinguish the unit name "meter" from the name of an > instrument "meter" by spelling reforms is without necessary > justification in my opinion. The spellings meter and meter are not a > "reversion" but are continuity of well established and correct practice > in the USA. Combining attempted spelling reforms with efforts to > metricate the USA create only hostility to all metric units of > measurement, not just to the SI unit of length, the meter. > > > > Eugene Mechtly > > > > ________________________________________ > > From: [email protected] [[email protected]] on behalf of > [email protected] [[email protected]] > > Sent: Monday, February 04, 2013 12:48 PM > > To: U.S. Metric Association > > Subject: [USMA:52312] Spelling of "Metre" > > > > Carleton is correct in stating that there are those regional spelling > > preferences -- in general. At one time the U.S. Metric Association > made > > what I thought was a useful distinction: "metre" is the measurement, > > "meter" is the measuring instrument. > > > > Since making that distinction more than a decade ago, the USMA seems to > > have reverted to the "meter" spelling for both, following the standard > of > > U.S. Government publications. Perhaps the USMA thought that the > "metre" > > spelling was too "exotic" for the U.S. > > > > As someone who thinks that distinctions are good to keep in language, I > > prefer the USMA's original position distinguishing between the > measurement > > and the measuring instrument by a difference in the spelling. > > > > ============ > > On Sun, 3 Feb 2013, Carleton MacDonald wrote: > > > > > With regard to spelling, sorry, both are right. In the USA it's > meter, > > > theater, center. In Canada and the UK it's metre, theatre, centre. > > > It's a regionalism, NOT an error. > > > >
