You have violated Godwin’s Law, thus your point is proved false. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law
For example, there is a tradition in many newsgroups and other Internet discussion forums that once such a comparison is made, the thread is finished and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever debate was in progress. From: [email protected] Sent: Monday, 2014-06-23 01:45 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:54018] Re: How meter is spelled in non-English languages Thank you, James R. Frysinger, for that very reasonable response. I agree. Mr Harold Potsdamer. In response to your first question: Yes. English. As far as the relevance of how different languages spell metric units, my response is that we share the same planet, so it is very relevant indeed. Your Nazi-like insistence that we blindly spell it your way only serves to hinder our cause, rather than further our cause. So I suggest you drop that battle plan, which is most likely not winnable anyway and only serves to distract Americans from the bigger picture, that America should abandon inches and feet, NOT abandon the American spelling of meter. Americans celebrate the Fourth of July every year to commemorate our victory over the Crown of England. Allow Americans to retain our proud American spelling. Stop shoving the British Crown down our throats! Some Americans need the catharsis of ridding ourselves of things the British imposed upon us. Forcing that issue is a big turn-off to many Americans. We want to turn Americans on to SI; we do not want to turn Americans off with petty squabbles over irrelevant minutiae. ----- Message from James <[email protected]> --------- Date: Sun, 22 Jun 2014 22:41:47 -0500 From: James <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:54017] Re: How meter is spelled in non-English languages To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> The metric system is unified and the spelling of the units within the same language must be consistent. I know of no basis for that assertion, Harold. Only the symbols are specified by the CGPM for international uniformity. The spellings of the unit and prefix names are left up to each member state within the CGPM -- and, for that matter, for states outside the CGPM. Indeed, those names can be totally different words. Spelling differences between American English and British English are of vanishingly minute importance. After all, in critical applications, we should both use the symbols, rather than the spelled out names. The -er versus -re debate has gone on in the USA for over fifty years. Frankly, I'm tired of it. Let's concentrate on finishing the metrication of both our member states! Please. Jim -- James R. Frysinger 632 Stoney Point Mountain Road Doyle TN 38559-3030 (C) 931.212.0267 (H) 931.657.3107 (F) 931.657.3108 On 2014-06-22 20:52, Harold_Potsdamer wrote: Can you provide an examples or evidence where the metric units have multiple spellings within the same language? It is totally irrelevant how different languages spell the metric units. The fact is they spell it one way and only one way within the same language. The spelling metre and litre has been chosen for English and that is what we need to stick to. Otherwise it looks like metric is a divided and inconsistent system. The metric system is unified and the spelling of the units within the same language must be consistent. English may have evolved two different spellings for many words, but that does not apply to SI units. In the same token that British spellings are found in American usage when it is beneficial to do so, standardised metric unit spellings need to be the exception. *From:* [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> *Sent:* Sunday, 2014-06-22 19:02 *To:* U.S. Metric Association <mailto:[email protected]> *Subject:* [USMA:54014] How meter is spelled in non-English languages I did a little research on how meter is spelled in various non-English languages. According to https://translate.google.com the primary SI unit is spelled meter in thirteen non-English languages. Those 13 languages are Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, German, Hausa, Islandic, Indonesian, Latin, Malay, Norwegian, Slovak, Slovenian and Swedish. Hungarian has an accent mark in the first syllable méter (which is pretty close to meter, so 14 if you count Hungarian). The primary SI unit is spelled metre in only two non-English languages. Those two languages are Catalan and Turkish. French has an accent mark in the first syllable: mètre (which is pretty close to metre, so 3 if you count French). Other languages have many different variations (for example, metro in Spanish). Some languages use non-Latin-based scripts. (English is written in a Latin-based script.) English, as we already know, has evolved two different spellings for many words, not just for the word meter / metre. ----- Message from Brian White <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> --------- Date: Sat, 21 Jun 2014 06:39:24 -0700 From: Brian White <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> Reply-To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [USMA:54013] Re: tries to pull a truck in heels - YouTube To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> Meter and metre are fine. Both are better than feet or yards. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: Harold_Potsdamer <mailto:[email protected]> Sent: 6/21/2014 4:37 To: U.S. Metric Association <mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [USMA:54012] Re: tries to pull a truck in heels - YouTube A lot of people make spelling errors, it doesn’t mean it is right. Why didn’t they just use the symbol “m”? *From:* [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> *Sent:* Friday, 2014-06-20 23:53 *To:* U.S. Metric Association <mailto:[email protected]> *Subject:* [USMA:54010] Re: tries to pull a truck in heels - YouTube Harold. Clearly, the signs say 1 METER - 2 METERS - 3 METERS et cetera, rendered with the American spelling, not the British spelling. ----- Message from Harold_Potsdamer <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> --------- Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2014 20:44:48 -0400 From: Harold_Potsdamer <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> Reply-To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [USMA:53999] tries to pull a truck in heels - YouTube To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMSStSeQyUI&feature=player_detailpage#t=50 The distances are measured in metres. ----- End message from Harold_Potsdamer <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> ----- David Pearl www.MetricPioneer.com <http://www.MetricPioneer.com> 503-428-4917 ----- End message from Brian White <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> ----- David Pearl www.MetricPioneer.com <http://www.MetricPioneer.com>503-428-4917 ----- End message from James <[email protected]> ----- David Pearl www.MetricPioneer.com 503-428-4917
