Re: OT: Rant about degres Celsius (was: introduction)

Christophe Grandsire wrote:
> > Does anyone know why degrees Celsius is such an irregular measurement?
> > It's the only measurement capitalised, it's formed from two parts,
> > it's
> > the part of a limited group of (two) measurements (angle and degrees
> > Celsius) that should be written with the symbol attached to it, it's
> > obeys different rules in Dutch Grammar... Maybe we should just abandon
> > degrees Celsius and convert to kelvin. So everything becomes higher,
> > but
> > what's wrong with the hectokelvin? After all, air pressure is commonly
> > measured in hectopascals.
> >
>
>Which just happens to be identical to the millibar used earlier, which is
>probably why it caught on. But in France for instance, while the
>hectopascal
>was commonly used still 15 years, it has gradually fallen out of use and
>we're
>using back the good ol' millibar.
>
>As for the strangeness of the degree Celsius, I agree, for the scientific
>use
>(a unit that you cannot multiply or divide is quite useless in science).
>But
>for the layman, it is very evocative. Putting the 0 at melting ice and the
>100
>at boiling water is probably the best thing it could have done :)) .
If I may wager a guess why we use the two word phrase "degrees Celsius",
maybe it's copied from expressions like "32 degrees North" seen in geography
and astronomy?

                                                 Andreas

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