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Le Forgeron <jgr### [at] free fr> wrote:
> And you did not even talk about time & liquid & weight...
> A gallon, a ton or just a fortnight ?
> In Montreal or Los angeles... or Sydney!
Yeah, I love it that "ounce" means different things depending on whether
you are talking about solids or fluids, "mile" means different things on
land than on sea, and "gallon" means different things depending on whether
you are in the US or the UK, not to talk that it also means different things
depending on whether we are measuring solids or liquids...
--
- Warp
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On Tue, 20 May 2008 17:24:17 -0400, Warp wrote:
> Le Forgeron <jgr### [at] freefr> wrote:
>> And you did not even talk about time & liquid & weight... A gallon, a
>> ton or just a fortnight ?
>
>> In Montreal or Los angeles... or Sydney!
>
> Yeah, I love it that "ounce" means different things depending on
> whether
> you are talking about solids or fluids, "mile" means different things on
> land than on sea, and "gallon" means different things depending on
> whether you are in the US or the UK, not to talk that it also means
> different things depending on whether we are measuring solids or
> liquids...
Well the difference between a US and an imperial gallon is anecdotally
easy to explain - evaporation over long sea voyages. How much truth
there is in that, though, I don't know.
But a funny story - had a friend come over to the US from the UK several
years ago for a show in Atlanta. Found a nice English-style pub (at
least the closest he could find in walking distance of the conference
center) and ordered a pint of Guinness. The waitress asked him if he'd
like a "big pint or a small pint". He said, "a pint" with a look of
"what are you, crazy?" (and you'd have to know the guy to know how funny
that is). She figured out from his accent that he meant an imperial
pint. ;-)
Jim
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>> Have different speed limits depending on how much pollution your car
>> produces. Allow the most fuel efficient cars to go slightly faster than
>> they can today, and make other cars go slower. In the centre of cities
>
> That would require more lanes. On a normal 2-lane (1 per direction) road
> different limits on same-class cars only generates angry drivers, while
> the traffic ain't smooth and easy anymore, but there's lots and lots of
> overtakes going on all the time.
Yeh I was thinking of just on the multi-lane-per-direction roads, as they
are the ones mostly used for long distances where a higher speed limit might
be an incentive for people to buy greener cars.
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On 20 May 2008 18:11:06 -0400, Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom>
wrote:
>
>Well the difference between a US and an imperial gallon is anecdotally
>easy to explain - evaporation over long sea voyages. How much truth
>there is in that, though, I don't know.
>
LOL My pet theory is that in the US you have 16 fluid oz in a pint the
same as 16 oz in a pound. While we have 20 fluid oz in a pint to make
a pint of water weigh a pound.
--
Regards
Stephen
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Warp wrote:
> Yeah, I love it that "ounce" means different things depending on whether
> you are talking about solids or fluids, "mile" means different things on
> land than on sea, and "gallon" means different things depending on whether
> you are in the US or the UK, not to talk that it also means different things
> depending on whether we are measuring solids or liquids...
Well, even if you try to be metric, the Americans have a different idea
about what constitutes a "billion"...
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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> Well, even if you try to be metric, the Americans have a different idea
> about what constitutes a "billion"...
Dude, you're so out of date, were you even born when the UK officially
abandoned the idea that a million million is a billion?
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scott wrote:
>> Well, even if you try to be metric, the Americans have a different
>> idea about what constitutes a "billion"...
>
> Dude, you're so out of date, were you even born when the UK officially
> abandoned the idea that a million million is a billion?
It's new to me that it was *ever* abandoned. (Why would you do such a
thing?)
At any rate, I guess Word's "don't use that word" suggestion is the best
advice. [Oh, the irony of an M$ product producing good advice...]
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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>>> Well, even if you try to be metric, the Americans have a different idea
>>> about what constitutes a "billion"...
>>
>> Dude, you're so out of date, were you even born when the UK officially
>> abandoned the idea that a million million is a billion?
>
> It's new to me that it was *ever* abandoned. (Why would you do such a
> thing?)
To avoid confusion? IIRC back in the 80s (or maybe even earlier) the UK
officially stopped using "billion" to mean 1e12, and since then it has
always meant 1e9. Did you really think all those figures in the financial
part of the paper that say $6bn mean $6000000000000 and not $6000000000?
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>> It's new to me that it was *ever* abandoned. (Why would you do such a
>> thing?)
>
> To avoid confusion?
You mean "because America says so"? [Why don't *they* just change to the
correct way?]
> Did you really think all those figures in the
> financial part of the paper that say $6bn mean $6000000000000 and not
> $6000000000?
Yes.
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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>> To avoid confusion?
>
> You mean "because America says so"? [Why don't *they* just change to the
> correct way?]
I don't think either way is correct or incorrect, after all it's just
assigning a word to an amount. Does it matter who changed?
>> Did you really think all those figures in the financial part of the paper
>> that say $6bn mean $6000000000000 and not $6000000000?
>
> Yes.
And you were never curious as to why you never saw any amounts between $999m
and $999999m written anywhere? Anyway, you know now :-)
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