>My point was not that I am advocating that all Americans should change to >the 'metre' spelling but rather the use of two different spellings comes to >us all at a considerable cost.
But is this cost really necessary ? The most important point about the differences between American and British spelling is that the words are still mutually intelligible. We can see the spelling differences, but we know exactly what is being meant. In all the discussion forums I take part in which contain a mix of English speaking Americans & non-Americans, I have never seen a case where spelling causing confusion (apart from the occasional idiot who will try to insist that one is 'right' and the other 'wrong'). A far greater impediment is where totally different words are used, e.g. car parts trunk [boot], hood [bonnet], muffler [silencer], fender [bumper], or where the same word means something entirely different e.g. biscuit, chips. This has by far the potential to cause genuine confusion, and requires much more editorial effort to protect against. In comparison, trying to standardize (or even standardise) on spelling would make little or no difference. As for the metric issue, the spelling and pronunciation of the unit words (not the symbols) vary between languages and dialects. Thus if confusion is to be avoided, the symbols should be used in articles rather than the names. Finally, the object of this group is to promote the greater use of metric worldwide, particularly in the US. One of the main obstacles is the perception that metric is something 'foreign' being pushed on them. Trying to push British or French spelling conventions on metric units will simply reinforce this perception, and make metric conversion harder. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences ----------------------------------------------------------------- Tom Wade | EMail: tee dot wade at eurokom dot ie EuroKom | Tel: +353 (1) 296-9696 A2, Nutgrove Office Park | Fax: +353 (1) 296-9697 Rathfarnham | Disclaimer: This is not a disclaimer Dublin 14 | Tip: "Friends don't let friends do Unix !" Ireland
