In your letter to the CS Monitor, you neglected to mention the SI. You only used the term "metric." As you know, the SI is metric but not all metric is SI.
There are two reasons why I'd recommend the term 'metric' over the (abeit more accurate) term 'SI' in any promotion.
1. Familiarity. Most people will already have heard the term metric, but I doubt if there had heard of SI before (unless they are in Science, and they are probably already using it). Certainly people here who use metric in their everyday lives would be unfamiliar with the term 'SI', and I doubt if it would be that different in the US. By introducing yet another term, you run the risk of confusing people ("what's this SI thing ? Weren't we being asked to go to metric up to now ? Since they can't make up their mind, let's stick to what we've always used").
2. This one pertains only to the US. Which do you think will be more likely to be met with a hostile response, the word 'metric' or a term which is in French, and has the word 'international' in it ?
--------------------------------------------------------- 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
