Lowercase el is ambiguous because it looks like the numeral one. I see no advantage in the lowercase el for liter.
In my first month on the job as an editor, 30 years ago, I corrected several dozen places where the typographer had entered an el to mean one. It was an old habit in someone who had learned to type on an old pica typewriter, where the same keystroke made both characters. In the Courier font on your computer today, el and one still look very similar. Cubic decimeter is a useful alternative for calculations of nonliquid volumes. From: <mechtly>, eugene a <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Reply-To: "[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Date: Thursday, July 2, 2015 12:11 PM To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Cc: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Subject: [USMA:54765] Re: labeling 1-liter bottles of Perrier In the Netherlands it it “1 Liter”; in Germany, "1 l”, all three. Thanks Martin. On Jul 2, 2015, at 4:39 AM, Martin Vlietstra <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Hi Stanislav, I don’t know about bottling plants, but “L” is often used when advertising Perrier water in Europe. I have a selection of advertisements, some of which show “L” and some of which show “l”: United Kingdom: http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=274501973 http://www.waitrose.com/shop/DisplayProductFlyout?productId=50549 http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/shop/gb/groceries/sparkling-water/perrier-sparkling-mineral-water-750ml Netherlands: http://www.ah.nl/producten/product/wi198722/perrier-mineraalwater-koolzuurhoudend Germany: http://www.amazon.de/PERRIER-nat%C3%BCrliches-kohlens%C3%A4urehaltiges-Mineralwasser-Frankreich/dp/B0051BLCCI http://german.alibaba.com/product-tp/perrier-mineral-water-for-export-fob-europe-117971051.html http://www.kaufen.com/Preisvergleich/result.jsp?ga=g37&q=mineralwasser+perrier France: http://www.carrefour.fr/search/site/--perrier/15 http://www.auchandirect.fr/boissons/eaux/eaux-gazeuses/id0/663 It should be remembered that in Continental Europe, the hand-written number 1 usually has a long leading stroke – see for example the picture at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FM_IMG_2024.JPG<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__commons.wikimedia.org_wiki_File-3AFM-5FIMG-5F2024.JPG&d=AwMFaQ&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=BpxbfWo0gcPQHL0R58p0D96tVlzZlsjR_iWGK6ETi80&m=sOg077__2SoziT2D6rMe_Mp9fMHkenze5ohZNL-PNiA&s=MlvlrexBixwB4ACIZZVyfjuQbaDnIibsAVbRxzccDAk&e=>. Martin From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Stanislav Jakuba Sent: 02 July 2015 00:03 To: U.S. Metric Association Cc: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:54762] Re: labeling 1-liter bottles of Perrier Paul: The European bottles-filling plant had never seen L as symbol for dm3. Always the l (lower case "el"). You might have a better success with that. On Wed, Jul 1, 2015 at 2:13 PM, mechtly, eugene a <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Paul, Let us know when Perrier labels one liter bottles as 1 L. I drink all my water from a tap, not from a bottle, so I will not detect this improvement by Perrier. Eugene Mechtly > On Jun 29, 2015, at 10:47 PM, Paul Trusten > <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > > > Dear Perrier makers, > > Please place the "1 L" in large type on your one-liter bottles! I suppose you > have to include the fluid ounces for auld lang syne, but I want to be able to > tell the difference between the 1 L and the 750 mL sizes AT A GLANCE, and > can't do that with ounces and quarts cluttering up tge field. If, as you say > on your Web site, your 1 L size is popular, then please reflect this > popularity on your label design. > > > Thanks, > > Paul Trusten > Midland TX USA >
