I think we all know why Wikipedia recommends the American pronunciation
of kilometer, because it is widely and commonly pronounced that way. I even
hear BBC reporters and France24 reporters pronouncing kilometer the
second-syllable-emphasis (American) way all the time. I watch France24 and
BBC News every day.
----- Message from "mechtly, eugene a" <[email protected]> ---------
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 21:33:09 +0000
From: "mechtly, eugene a" <[email protected]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
Subject: [USMA:54138] RE: Don't be a dunce!
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Cc: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Clearly and fundamentally in SI there is a prefix “kilo” and the name
of
the base unit “meter” each accented clearly in the spoken word for
“kilometer”!!!
This is not merely a “detail”!!!
Eugene Mechtly (not a detail stickler)
On Jul 14, 2014, at 4:08 PM, <[email protected]>
<[email protected]> wrote:
Some might be tempted to accuse detail sticklers (like Mark) of
straining at gnats and swallowing camels. Others might prefer to accuse
people with a more relaxed approach (like Brian) of embracing a chaotic
disregard for uniformity. I am happy that we have sticklers for detail
AND people who are a little toward the other end of that spectrum in
our colorful world. It is a hard job to strike a balance. I hope the
sticklers for detail continue to try and keep us on track. I also hope
when we as individuals try to teach and convince other Americans to
adopt SI that we not push too many details if that would kill the
moment, but we should indeed mention those details if we are talking
with a person who would appreciate those details. It is all a matter of
accurately judging the personality of the person we are trying to
convince. So who is right and who is wrong? Mark or Brian? In any given
conversation, it is just as important what you say as what you refrain
from saying. There is no right and wrong. There is only kind and
hurtful behavior. Two people having a conversation is way different
than this group email, so no matter what anybody says, somebody is
bound to feel rubbed the wrong way.
----- Message from [email protected] ---------
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 10:42:16 -0700
From: [email protected]
Reply-To: [email protected]
Subject: [USMA:54132] RE: Don't be a dunce!
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
There is no incorrect pronunciation. Come on people. Seriously.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [USMA:54131] RE: Don't be a dunce!
From: Mark Henschel <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, July 14, 2014 10:40 am
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Cc: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Be careful using Wikipedia as a source. Wikipedia
also recommends the incorrect pronunciation of kilometer.
Mark
On Mon, Jul 14, 2014 at 10:25 AM,
<[email protected]> wrote:
The beauty of the International System of units or SI after its
French initials is that one has the option to dispense with ever
having to use any word for any number higher than thousand on the
scale, which thankfully has only one definition everywhere on Earth.
See snippet in context here:
http://metricpioneer.wordpress.com/2014/01/05/long-scale-and-short-scale-how-much-is-a-billion-it-depends-where-you-live/
----- Message from "John M. Steele" <[email protected]>
---------
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 06:55:17 -0700
From: "John M. Steele" <[email protected]>
Reply-To: "John M. Steele" <[email protected]>
Subject: [USMA:54128] RE: Don't be a dunce!
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
On groupings, I see Wikipedia specifies the comma as a thousands
separator but allows the space in scientific/engineering articles.
Nowhere do they require the space as a thousands separator with SI
units. In my opinion, the comma should NOT be used as a thousands
separator with SI units.
I further notice down in the SI section they allow
the word micron as a name for 10^-6 m, although they do require the
correct symbol.
-------------------------
FROM: Martin Vlietstra <[email protected]>
TO: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]>
SENT: Monday, July 14, 2014 8:33 AM
SUBJECT: [USMA:54126] RE: Don't be a dunce!
The Wikipedia standards can be seen at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Mosnum. Leading zeros
are
required except for gun calibres and [baseball] averages.
FROM: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] ON BEHALF OF Michael Payne
SENT: 14 July 2014 06:19
TO: U.S. Metric Association
CC: USMA
SUBJECT: [USMA:54122] RE: Don't be a dunce!
I’m not saying you should change formats
in
your job, but it would be good if an organization like Wikipedia
which is read worldwide, could adhere to what is an internationally
recommended standard instead of the de-facto US format for numbers.
If this were done companies like your may adapt to this
standard in the future.
Mike Payne
On 14 Jul 2014, at 07:03, [email protected]
wrote:
I would be
fired from my job if I were to insist that we change commas to
spaces. Get a real-world perspective once in a while. I would LOVE
to live in a clean, tidy world with uniformity in such matters. I
think we would do well to pick our battles carefully. This battle
is akin to Harold insisting that Americans spell metre instead of
meter.
----- Message from Michael Payne <[email protected]> ---------
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 06:45:05 +0200
From: Michael Payne <[email protected]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
Subject: [USMA:54120] RE: Don't be a dunce!
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
I can only speak about the English language Wikipedia. Many
English speaking nations use the comma as the decimal, South
Africa is one, So do the French and probably most Europeans. It’s
a cleaner way of writing and it works for the digits on the right
side of the decimal.
Claiming Americans like their freedom is the same as saying we’ll
stick with American Customary because we’re free to. It does not
help in international trade! We need standardisation and this is
one standard recommended by NIST.
Mike
Payne
On 14 Jul 2014, at 06:34, Harold_Potsdamer
<[email protected]> wrote:
Try checking an authoritative source,
like the BIPM before insisting Americans has some sort of
derogation based on their claimed exceptionalism.
Here is a style guide from the US construction industry:
https://www.wbdg.org/ccb/VA/VAMETRIC/guide.pdf
Rules for Writing Numbers
-
Always use decimals, not fractions (write 0.75 g, not ¾g)..
-
Use a zero before the decimal marker for values less than one
(write 0.45
g, not .45 g).
-
Use spaces instead of commas to separate blocks of three digits
for any
number over four digits (write 45 138 kg or 0.004 46 kg or 4371
kg). Note
that this does not apply to the expression of amounts of money.
-
In the United States, the decimal marker is a period; in other
countries a comma usually is used
See also 5.3.4 from the NIST guide:
http://physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP330/sp330.pdf
Under what authority do you operate under that gives you the right
to break the rules? Those who want to do things their way and
think they are exceptional are the real dunces.
FROM:
[email protected]
SENT: Sunday, 2014-07-13 22:51
TO: U.S. Metric Association[1]
SUBJECT: [USMA:54114] RE: Don't be a dunce!
Harold. Americans use commas or spaces. We love our freedom.
----- Message from Harold_Potsdamer <[email protected]>
---------
Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 20:07:41 -0400
From: Harold_Potsdamer <[email protected]>
Reply-To: [email protected]
Subject: [USMA:54113] RE: Don't be a dunce!
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Not only that, commas dividing thousands which should be spaces.
FROM:
[email protected]
SENT: Sunday, 2014-07-13 14:26
TO: U.S. Metric Association[1]
SUBJECT: [USMA:54111] RE: Don't be a dunce!
No zeroes on the
leading decimals? Tsk tsk tsk. :)
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [USMA:54110] Don't be a dunce!
From: [email protected]
Date: Sun, July 13, 2014 11:22 am
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]>
Posted on Facebook and Twitter today:
Don't be a dunce! http://MetricPioneer.com/Metrication-America[2]
David Pearl www.MetricPioneer.com[3] 503-428-4917
----- End message from Harold_Potsdamer <[email protected]>
-----
David Pearl www.MetricPioneer.com[3] 503-428-4917
----- End message from Michael Payne <[email protected]> -----
David
Pearl www.MetricPioneer.com[3] 503-428-4917
----- End message from "John M. Steele" <[email protected]>
-----
David Pearl www.MetricPioneer.com[3] 503-428-4917
----- End message from [email protected] -----
David Pearl www.MetricPioneer.com[3] 503-428-4917
----- End message from "mechtly, eugene a" <[email protected]> -----
Links:
------
[1] mailto:[email protected]
[2] http://metricpioneer.com/Metrication-America
[3] http://www.metricpioneer.com/
David Pearl www.MetricPioneer.com 503-428-4917
