It's worse than that, Mike.

Consider "metric ton Equal to approximately 2,204.62 pounds," which is the
entry in the online Stylebook (of which I'm a subscriber) that follows the
one you cited.

Approximately? Sheesh!

I've always considered 2200 pounds to be close enough (i.e., 10% heavier
than a US "short ton").

By the way, my hard copy of the Stylebook is identified as the 2002 first
printing, so I rely one the online edition, especially as I'm regularly
informed of updates. If something positive happens with respect to SI, I'll
post it here. However, I'm not holding my breath.

Bill
________________________________
Bill Potts
Roseville, CA
http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] 


-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf
Of Michael Palumbo
Sent: Monday, June 16, 2008 15:20
To: U.S. Metric Association
Subject: [USMA:41135] Associated Press Style Guide is working against us.

I met a nice young lady over the weekend who is a reporter for the
Burlington County Times in southern New Jersey.  She informed me, during the
course of our discussion, that she must write in English/Customary units, as
metric is not allowed by the AP style guides.

I asked if she could send me some text of it, here's what I just received
from her.

"Hey Mike,

This is from the 2007 AP stylebook, you have to be a member to search the
online version:

For U.S. members, use metric terms only in situations where they are
universally accepted forms of measurement (16 mm film) or where the metric
distance is an important number in itself: "He vowed to walk 100 kilometers
(62 miles) in a week."



Seems even if reporters wanted to write in metric, they couldn't, or their
editors would have to change it to get it run by the AP.

Ideas?

-Mike

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