Centimetres are possibly favoured over metres because measurements (as opposed to calculations) are usually a whole number with no decimal point. Also, this might well be a hang-over from pre-SI days.
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: 06 June 2013 15:58 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:52887] Re: A Response to the Metric Petition at We The People Perhaps it is because of the American frame of reference when measuring human height (feet and inches - mixing units) and that Americans are not exposed to typical usage that they assume human height must be rendered in a mix of units that correspond to feet and inches, but this is not the case. Here is a paragraph from a Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_height that shows examples of typical usage, which is in cm only (no meters): According to study by Economist John Komlos and Francesco Cinnirella, in the first half of 18th century, the average height of English male was 165 cm, the average height of Irish male was 168 cm. The estimated mean height of English, German, and Scottish soldiers are 163.6 cm - 165.9 cm for the period as a whole, while that of Irish was 167.9 cm. The average height of male slaves and convicts in North America was 171 cm. David Pearl MetricPioneer.com 503-428-4917 ----- Message from [email protected] --------- Date: Wed, 05 Jun 2013 20:16:19 -0500 From: Henschel Mark <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:52883] RE: RE: Re: A Response to the Metric Petition at We The People To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Cc: "'U.S. Metric Association'" <[email protected]>, "'mechtly, eugene a'" <[email protected]> > You are taller than I am. > I am 1.68 meters high and 97 kilograms. > > Mark
