Path: csiph.com!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: "Carlos E.R." Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,alt.usage.english Subject: Re: GNU Date: Sun, 29 Mar 2026 14:25:37 +0200 Lines: 57 Message-ID: <1bin9mx3hc.ln2@Telcontar.valinor> References: <10pe83m$3rg2l$1@dont-email.me> <1rs7tqn.ajozxp1gi29boN%nospam@de-ster.demon.nl> <10phnao$113u1$6@dont-email.me> <1rsaf5i.1nrmqo3vtna18N%nospam@de-ster.demon.nl> <1rsaj4d.rtb8ajbdoy69N%snipeco.2@gmail.com> <10pkqka$22prd$1@dont-email.me> <10ppr5m$3m2br$1@dont-email.me> <10pr6gg$2t5v$1@dont-email.me> <10pv2af$1eb4h$2@dont-email.me> <87zf3wx1jt.fsf@parhasard.net> <10pvhqb$1j2vg$1@dont-email.me> <1rsjtwr.9h8wo7a6jjujN%nospam@de-ster.demon.nl> <10q2o7j$nr7l$1@news1.tnib.de> <1rsostx.1fumdje1pdrftiN%nospam@de-ster.demon.nl> <1rsoqz0.19zzbh71ebfb7bN%snipeco.2@gmail.com> <18a11176d0ed8bfb$1717$2710841$802601b3@news.usenetexpress.com> <10qat4h$1fq2k$1@dont-email.me> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: individual.net ty8wofb08IRsMDc1akC7jwfk73KuETRLajovfpdUoazUWrgWg6 X-Orig-Path: Telcontar.valinor!not-for-mail Cancel-Lock: sha1:HyiNCguzi9v3jvzW1A1AqghQzdg= sha256:2YCz2uk3i0AaN43eVp1zCjBTU/2lwulKlokS+3WFDNM= User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Content-Language: en-GB In-Reply-To: X-Leafnode-NNTP-Posting-Host: 127.0.0.1 Xref: csiph.com comp.os.linux.misc:84373 alt.usage.english:1141311 On 2026-03-29 12:18, Hibou wrote: > Le 29/03/2026 à 10:58, Peter Moylan a écrit : >> On 29/03/26 18:01, Hibou wrote: >>> >>> The street in Edinburgh is the Royal Mile, not the Royal One Thousand >>> Six Hundred Metres. The one is human, the other inappropriate, and in >>> this context silly. >> >> Place names tend to hang on for many generations after the meaning has >> become obscure. Consider the Dutch city called the Count's Hedge. I've >> never >> been to look, but I suspect that there's no Count and no hedge. > > > /Soit/ (I'm reminded of Hob's End in 'Quatermass and the Pit'). My > comment about the Royal Mile was a wee bit tongue in cheek, and not the > core of my argument - which is that Imperial and metric units are suited > to different things. > > In everyday life, metric is just clumsy, and stumbles off the tongue: > >   Five hundred millilitres of milk >   A pint of milk Half a litre of milk. > >   An eight-kilometre hike >   A five-mile hike So? I don't see the issue. > >   A sixty-four-kilogramme weakling >   A ten-stone weakling A sixty-kilogramme weakling > >   He's a hundred and eighty-three centimetres tall >   He's six-foot tall He is one eighty three tall. Or rounding, one eighty tall. > (Speak not to me of half-litres; 'half' is all right with Imperial > units, but has no place in SI (but then, neither does the litre). Half a > cubic decimetre of milk, anyone?) As I live in a metric only country, I can tell you with authority that we speak of half a litre of milk with total ease and naturality. Or that a person is one eighty tall (short for one coma eighty tall) -- Cheers, Carlos. ES🇪🇸, EU🇪🇺;