Quite so, Pat. Once in awhile antagonists in my presentations will rant
that they will hew to the "inch and pound" because they are "natural
units", unlike those "man-made" metric units. I string them along as
follows.
I ask them what the "natural" basis is for the inch and they cite the
foot, often showing me one of theirs. I then point out that in 1893 in
the U.S. the inch and foot and their parent, the yard, were defined as
certain fractions of a meter.* I also point out that those attachments
to folks' legs vary considerably in size and very few are 1 ft in
length; most are shorter. While they are reeling, I point out that the
specified fraction of a meter was changed in 1959 so the inch, foot, and
yard they are rallying around are not the same ones their grandfather
rallied around.
I then ask them what the "natural" basis is for the pound and there most
of them falter. Occasionally one will cite the "pint's a pound the whole
world 'round" and they try to convince me that a pound is defined as the
"weight of a pint of water" (they never say "mass", it seems, and I
don't bother getting into the varying density of water with
temperature).** First, I tell them that the U.S. never used that
definition but that it used to have a lump of metal that was defined as
the troy pound mass and that the pound avoirdupois was defined as a
certain multiple of that troy pound. As they puzzle this, I nail them by
saying that in 1893 the pound was defined as a certain fraction of a
kilogram. To put icing on the cake I tell them that in 1959 the pint,
quart, and gallon changed in size when the inch, foot, and yard did
because the U.S. gallon is defined as being 231 in3. As they stagger
back, gasping for breath, I ask them "by the way, which pound were you
referring to--troy or avoirdupois?" They rarely know which one it is
that they encounter in the grocery store or on their bathroom scales. In
fact, precious few Americans these days know that we use two different
sizes of pound masses. Nor do they know that we use two different sizes
of quarts (dry and liquid).
Jim
* The yard in the U.S. was first defined as the distance between the
27th and 63rd inch marks on the 82 inch scale prepared for the Coast
Survey by Troughton of London, brought to the U.S. by Ferdinand Hassler
in 1815. It was presumed to be identical with the English yard (the one
preceding the Parliament fire) but that apparently was not checked by
direct comparison. A new scale was brought to the U.S. and in 1856 it
became the new standard for the yard, with a slight change in size noted
by comparison of the new to the old. In 1893 the yard was defined by
Mendenhall as being 3600/3937 m and in 1959 it was defined as being
0.9144 m. Thus, the U.S. yard (and hence the foot and inch) was changed
in size in 1856, 1893, and 1959.
** The U.S. first defined the troy pound, based on a troy pound mass
purchased by Hassler in 1827 in London as "an exact copy of the imperial
troy pound of Great Britain", and adopted for use as the basis for our
new coinage on 1828 May 19. It was defined as 5760 grains, and in 1832
the pound avoirdupois was defined as a 7000 grains, thus being 7000/5760
troy pounds. Standards representing units of length, capacity, and mass
(troy and avoirdupois) were then manufactured and delivered to the
states, starting in 1838.
Metrication matters wrote:
On 2007/11/26, at 6:32 AM, James Frysinger wrote:
Pat Naughtin has seen them here quite often as well, but he's a
"metric tourist" over here, so his eye gravitates to units with which
he's familiar. Non-metric people who live here rarely "see" what we
see. Actually they do see those metric units, but they don't notice
them and the experience does not register.
Dear Jim,
What you say about my biased eye is quite true but it does not tell the
complete story.
I am also aware that the old pre-metric measuring words are only a thin
veneer that hides the overwhelming use of the metric system in the USA.
As we both know it has not been possible to use the words such
the 'inch' and the 'ounce' without using the metric system since Thomas
C. Mendenhall (the Superintendent of Weights and Measures for the USA)
declared that a prototype metre and a prototype kilogram were the
nation's 'fundamental standards'. Since 1893, all measures — let me
repeat that with emphasis — */all/* */measures/* in the USA have been —
and still are — fully metric. The USA Secretary of the Treasury legally
declared that the metre and the kilogram were the 'fundamental standards
of length and mass' for the USA sometime in the 1890s.
While it is true that I see metric measurements all over the place in
the USA because of my biased eye; it is also true that I see many, many,
examples of old fashioned pre-metric measuring words that are all really
metric measures in disguise.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
Pat Naughtin helps people understand how to go about their metrication
upgrade– quickly and easily – by helping them avoid mistakes that he has
made himself, or that he has seen made by others during his more than 35
years of involvement with metrication matters. Contact Pat at
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Pat specialises in the modern metric system based on the International
System of Units (SI), but he is mostly concerned with the processes that
people use for themselves, their groups, their businesses, their
industries, and their nations as they go about their inevitable
metrication process. See: http://www.metricationmatters.com/
Pat Naughtin is a highly knowledgeable metric enthusiast, who is also a
writer, professional speaker, editor, and publisher. He spoke in many
places in the USA in 2005 and his most recent speaking tour, in 2007,
included Singapore, Paris, London, Toronto, Washington, Tennessee,
Colorado, Idaho, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Recent clients have
been the United Kingdom Metric Association, The Canadian Metric
Association, the United States Metric Association, NIST in Washington,
Google in San Francisco, and NASA in Los Angeles.
--
James R. Frysinger
632 Stony Point Mountain Road
Doyle, TN 38559-3030
(H) 931.657.3107
(C) 931.212.0267
