I think James Frysinger makes very convincing points. Thanks, Jim, for
your thoughts.
David Pearl MetricPioneer.com 503-428-4917
----- Message from [email protected] ---------
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2014 21:44:27 -0600
From: James Frysinger <[email protected]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
Subject: [USMA:53571] Re: No Accent on "lom" in kilometer!
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Gene,
This argument seems to arise every 3 years on this mailing list. Or
it has over the last 20 years, anyway. And it never accomplishes
anything except to let people voice their preferences. It never
accomplishes anything. That is because there is no "right" way or
"wrong" way to pronounce "kilometer" except to those who write
dictionaries and thus appoint themselves as experts.
I think your first statement is entirely correct.
I think your second statement is an unfounded supposition. Secondly,
I think it flies in the face of the reality that in some languages,
the unit names, when pronounced, would sound nothing at all like
they do in English or some of the Romance languages, or even the
Teutonic or Slavic languages. For example, the Greek name for what
we call the "second" (of time) is ???????????? which transliterates
to "deuterolepto". That is why the SI symbols are inviolate. The
symbol for "second" is the same as it is for the ????????????,
namely "s".
Not only are the spellings of SI units and prefixes subject to the
whims of various languages, so also the grammar and pronunciations.
Having said that, this argument devolves down to how we should
pronounce "kilometer" in English. We will never standardize that;
people will pronounce it how they wish to. To-MAY-to or to-MAH-to.
I, for one, will be happy as long as they don't pronounce it so that
it sounds like "mile".
Now, let's figure out how to further metricate the US.
Jim
On 2014-02-17 12:19, mechtly, eugene a wrote:
The CGPM does not publish an official "Guide for Pronouncing the
Names and Multiples of SI Units."
Nevertheless, I am confident that members of the CIPM (and CGPM)
would reject an accent on the "lom" in the word kilometer.
NBC commentators at the SUCHI Olympic events, *all* seem to have
adopted this bad practice of accenting the "lom."
Who initiated this *deviation* from the established global practice
of enunciating both the prefix "kilo" and the stem "meter"?
In spoken French and German there is no accented "lom" in kilometer!
Is "lom" accented in any other languages which you might speak?
Eugene Mechtly
----- End message from [email protected] -----
