I think that we all here know that when we say "Metric System" we mean SI,
not cgs. If we started talking about "SI," we'd get befuddled looks from
almost everybody. Curiously, we call that system "SI Metric" rather than
"International System," though I like that term, but it too would also not
be recognizable to the vast majority of people. I think, for practical
reasons, we're stuck with "metric" in the standard vocabulary. --MM
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On Mon, 1 Sep 2014, [email protected] wrote:
Martin Morrison. I agree with what you say. But I find it a bit strange that
most people in this
group still call it the Metric System, when we really should be using the
current name. The eleventh
CGPM (Conference Generale des Poids et Mesures = General Conference on Weights
and Measures) in 1960
faced the question of what to call this new reorganization and extension of
measures. The name
Metric System had referred to the units for length and mass. What the CGPM had
created was much more
comprehensive, and after some discussion, this new system was called the
International System of
units or SI after its French initials. For the first time, the world had not
merely universal units,
but a universal system of units. The Metric System became the International
System the same year I
was born, 1960, and after 54 years, you still refer to SI by its old name. It
is beyond me! Does
anyone want to justify using the old name?
