Re: OT: Units (was Re: Numbers in Qthen|gai (and in Tyl Sjok) [long])

From:    Tristan McLeay <conlang@...>
> (I approximate 'pound' with 500 g, but I wouldn't say a pound *is* 500g.
In America, a pound is defined as precisely equal to 453.59237g.
(This convention is actually an international agreement among the United
States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand,
all but the first of which having actually gotten rid of the Customary
system of measurement.)

> For sufficiently large degrees fahrenheit I divide by two to get sensible
> temperatures, but it's a pity the conversion is so complicated for
> everyday temps. Can't Americans at least use 0 fahrenheit to mean the
> freezing point of water?)
What would be the point?  If we're going to use Fahrenheit at all,
as opposed to metric with some local color, what use is there in
changing what we already have?

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Thomas Wier	       "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics    because our secret police don't get it right
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