Olin Lathrop wrote:

>>> An attentive reader (engineer or not) will find differences between
>>> seconds and siemens. "My clock is delayed with 3S". Nobody will think
>>> to siemens.
>> 
>> and also that a phrase like "you need a resistor of 3k" is profoundly
>> ambiguous because the unit ("ohm" for the ISO-challenged) is missing.
> 
> But that would be like saying "my clock is delayed by 3", ...

Not quite the same, IMO. In terms of clock delay, there are at least three
common and reasonable units: seconds, minutes, hours. (That is, if we're
talking about common clocks like wrist watches. If we're talking about
system clocks, this could be any other common multiplier like milli, micro,
nano...) The statement doesn't give any indication which one this is.

In terms of resistors, there is only one reasonable and typical unit (ohm)
-- if the multiplier is given (which it is). This is why I tend to see that
statement as less ambiguous. 

But in the end, my argument was in favor of the correct and consistent use
of units and their symbols. Do you disagree with this purpose? That would
be surprising, now, after all this...

> ... which is very different from saying "3S" or "3s". 

Are you trying to make a point that "S" should mean "seconds"? Or that
using "3S" to mean "3 seconds" is "somewhat correct" or only "somewhat
wrong"?

Note that I'm not really arguing anything here. I'm just citing facts. One
fact is that "S" is /not/ the correct symbol for "seconds"; it's not "a bit
correct" or only "somewhat incorrect", it's simply not the correct symbol.
Another is that you said that "That sort of sloppiness must never be
tolerated. The best way to do this is to jump on it whenever it pops up."
I'm trying to see how this advice works out in practice -- things are /not/
going well with this, I can tell you :)

Gerhard

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