Path: csiph.com!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail From: Hibou Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,alt.usage.english Subject: Re: GNU Date: Sun, 29 Mar 2026 11:18:47 +0100 Lines: 36 Message-ID: References: <10pe83m$3rg2l$1@dont-email.me> <10pg2u5$f0nq$5@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 spy5ylGWe0cT5eSe+fmJogCpz+ro2j0zN5a4hMO3QuvSxRl0// Cancel-Lock: sha1:YTENX1ChqDRplMz52iNcIUUOk+Y= sha256:YplQpmimMvXMYb9WCNF9ZI4a8BiReA/94cMXIPc3EwU= User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Content-Language: en-GB, fr In-Reply-To: <10qat4h$1fq2k$1@dont-email.me> Xref: csiph.com comp.os.linux.misc:84337 alt.usage.english:1141268 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 An eight-kilometre hike A five-mile hike A sixty-four-kilogramme weakling A ten-stone weakling He's a hundred and eighty-three centimetres tall He's six-foot 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?)