KitemanSA wrote:That is odd since it was the French who insisted on the "tonne" spelling. Don't usually have good things to say about the French, but in this case (if those who are SUPPOSED to be SI users would ACTUALLY use SI) there would be a pleasant reduction in confusion.
Why not start now. When you mean 1000kg, write tonne. When you mean 2000 lb, write ton. When you mean 20 cwt, write Long ton (I'd accept l-ton).
As betruger says here in Europe if you are under 50 than you have no other definitions for a ton than 1000 Kg. You get to learn this since elementary school.
I did meet quite a lot of UK and pre SI engineers that used to jump from SI to more obscure units, but that's just something that is disappearing (thank goodness).
KitemanSA wrote:That is odd since it was the French who insisted on the "tonne" spelling. Don't usually have good things to say about the French, but in this case (if those who are SUPPOSED to be SI users would ACTUALLY use SI) there would be a pleasant reduction in confusion.
Why not start now. When you mean 1000kg, write tonne. When you mean 2000 lb, write ton. When you mean 20 cwt, write Long ton (I'd accept l-ton).
seconded.
(also in deference to Giorgio's lineage, we might also give the 'acino', the 'trappesso' and the 'rotolo' a mention - part of the old Neapolitan system of weights )
To make the confusion complete and maybe also more understandable (especially the position of us non native English speakers): http://www.dict.cc/?s=Tonne
Skipjack wrote:To make the confusion complete and maybe also more understandable (especially the position of us non native English speakers): http://www.dict.cc/?s=Tonne
Betruger wrote:Sure. But the point is that anytime you heard ton it was almost negligible chance it meant anything but 1000 kg. I can't recall the last time, if ever, that I saw Mg meaning million kg.
I don't mind it myself but it's not intuitive at first glance for probably most people.
Um ... you got that wrong. 1 Mg is not 1 million kg, it is 1 Million grams. I figured Mg would be pretty intuitive for anyone familiar with the metric system.
Betruger wrote: I can't recall the last time, if ever, that I saw Mg meaning million kg.
Never, I hope. Mg is 1000kg, not a million kg.
Oops, that's what I meant.
krenshala wrote:
Betruger wrote:Sure. But the point is that anytime you heard ton it was almost negligible chance it meant anything but 1000 kg. I can't recall the last time, if ever, that I saw Mg meaning million kg.
I don't mind it myself but it's not intuitive at first glance for probably most people.
Um ... you got that wrong.
Yes
I figured Mg would be pretty intuitive for anyone familiar with the metric system.
No it's not. "Familiar" isn't even close to how carved into our heads the metric system was by age 15. Almost no one has heard of hecto or decameters. Mg is at least that obscure. Stick it into a formal document out of the blue, without a discussion like the one we've had here, and it'll just come off as noise till people figure it out.
It just doesnt seem like a realistic idea unless it's done in major way, IE whatever org's in charge of nomenclature standards adopts it.
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