Re: Weekly Vocab #2.1.8 (repost #1)

Henrik Theiling wrote:
> Last posted: May 18th, 2003
>
>
>> From: Christopher Wright <faceloran@...>
>>
>> 1. kilogram (appropriate unit of weight or mass for you and your
>> conculture)
>> I need a kilogram of flour.
>>
Even if I never get around to translating these, I do like thinking
through the exercises in the context of a conlang/culture I'm working
on.  So I came across this entry, for the kilogram, or an appropriate
unit of weight for your conculture, and all I could think was that I
should pick a unit of weight from a different conculture, one foreign to
this particular language; close enough that they've heard of the unit
their merchants use, but not close enough that any of them have any real
idea how much weight that unit really is.

All kidding about transoceanic differences aside, how are metric units
used in the languages of metric countries?  Specifically, are idioms
using units of measure translated to the new system?  In English we say
things like "an ounce of prevention is a pound of cure", or "crawling
along inch by inch", or "I don't trust him an inch", things like that.

Thanks,

Joe Fatula

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