Here is an example that is closer to the issue of the "proper" way to
pronounce "kilometer". In Chinese, "kilo" (千) is pronounced "qiān" and
"meter" (米) is pronounced "mi". (But in Taiwan "meter" is 公尺,
pronounced"gōngchǐ".) Perhaps in the PRC they say "qiāngmǐ" (千米 would
be the spelled out unit name) for the unit symbolized with "km". I don't
know their grammar so I'm guessing.*
But perhaps, Gene, you could tell us where the Chinese should put the
accent in "qiānmǐ" or "qiāngōngchǐ". Grin.
BTW, what I've been posting comes from
http://www.metricmethods.com/Resources.php
Please note the references and acknowledgement of contributors at the
bottom of the page.
Jim
*Trusting the never-wrong Web, I just now found the Chinese expression
for "kilometer" as used in physics:
千米, pronounced qiānmǐ
Dang! I was right!
http://en.bab.la/dictionary/english-chinese/kilometer
On 2014-02-17 21:44, James Frysinger wrote:
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 δευτερόλεπτο which transliterates to "deuterolepto". That is
why the SI symbols are inviolate. The symbol for "second" is the same as
it is for the δευτερόλεπτο, 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
