Re: Weekly Vocab #2.1.8 (repost #1)

Den 16. feb. 2007 kl. 10.51 skrev Joseph Fatula:
>
> 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.
Norwegian has much the same forms as the Swedish ones Benct posted.
It seems to be mostly the biggest and particularly the smallest units
that are used idiomatically. Nowadays it's almost exclusively metric,
but we have some survivals, like the "vike en tomme" (yield an inch),
"forvalte sitt pund" (mind your pound). "Lysår" (light year) has
become quite popular when referring to great distances, between
people, ideas, positions or whatever.

LEF