Russell McMahon wrote:

> The French have naming rights. All others are impostors. =


I disagree. I'd say they took up on the concept and improved and refined it
and developed it further. The SI meter of today has its roots in the m=E8tre
from 1790, but it's not the same; neither in concept nor in size.


> I surprised that you don't side with me on this. When it comes to
> "standards" or proper names or similar the owner has bragging, and
> naming, rights. =


I'm not sure why you think I'd side with you on this. IMO language is
different from engineering standards, for one. Then there's the question
whether le m=E8tre is a "proper name or similar" or a concept (that has
different names in different languages). And then there is of course the
question of consistency (in your argument); if you really mean it, both the
Brits and the Yanks (and of course most if not all others) got it wrong: in
original French it's "m=E8tre", neither "metre" nor "meter". (Or are you
trying to make a case for the use of "m=E8tre" and just didn't find the rig=
ht
key on your keyboard? :)

While I'm for common standards in many cases -- and certainly would not
like a French meter, a NewZealandish meter, a British meter and a Swedish
meter to be different in size, nor would I think it makes sense to use
different symbols for it in different countries --, I don't have a problem
with different spellings of the unit names. The spelling has no place in an
otherwise language-neutral engineering document anyway. And if the
engineering document needs elements of a written language, the language
context is already settled for other reasons, and the adequate (for the
language context) spelling of the unit names is simply settled by
association.

So... IMO there is only a correct (or incorrect) spelling of a unit name
inside the context of a language, which then conveniently also provides the
correct spelling. Especially the French are with me on this, FWIW.


> What would Napoleon have said?

Not sure what he'd have said, but here is what without doubt is considered
a proper name by most (which is not so clear in the case of the m=E8tre), a=
nd
if you're talking about the one who I think you're talking about, his name
was Napol=E9on (or Napoleone, but definitely not Napoleon). So, you left me
confused... are you or are you not in favor of using correct proper names?
(FWIW, the Latin word from which both AE "favor" and BE "favour" are
derived is spelt "favor". Not yet sure about the relevancy of this in our
context, but I just thought I'd mention it... Could it be that "favor" is
something like going back to the original roots, back to the proper
spelling? If so, shouldn't BE follow the move? Just some food for
thought... :)


It seems that you have much fewer problems accepting adaptations of "proper
names and similar" into BE than into other languages (when was the last
time you spelled/spelt Ampere "Amp=E8re"?). Could it be that you have a
BE-centric viewpoint? :)

Gerhard

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