Proposal: Language code "de-DE-trad"

Mark Davis Mark Davis" <mark@macchiato.com
Mon, 18 Feb 2002 19:36:49 -0800


As to why the Americans would be resistant to making a change to
metric, with all of the logical advantages, just think about it for a
few centiseconds.

mark
—————

Γνῶθι σαυτόν — Θαλῆς
[For transliteration, see http://oss.software.ibm.com/cgi-bin/icu/tr]

http://www.macchiato.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "A. Vine" <andrea.vine@sun.com>
To: "Martin Duerst" <duerst@w3.org>
Cc: <ietf-languages@eikenes.alvestrand.no>
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2002 12:26
Subject: Re: Proposal: Language code "de-DE-trad"


> OK, folks, let's not turn this into a forum to pick on the US about
its lack of
> metric use.  It has no relevance to IETF language tags and their
acceptance, and
> it goes against the principles of internationalization.
>
> A lot of things would be easier if we all adopted the same currency,
the same
> numeric formats, the same writing system.  But we retain our
cultural
> differences, and that's what makes the world go around.  And for
some of us, it
> provides us with jobs :-)
>
> Vive la difference !
>
> Andrea
>
> Martin Duerst wrote:
> >
> > At 12:32 02/02/13 -0800, Mark Crispin wrote:
> >
> > >Don't be angry.  Governments, and their unilateral actions, are
the enemy.
> > >Not people.
> >
> > Well, yes and no. In most countries, women were given the right
> > to vote by parliament, not by a popular vote. In Switzerland,
> > popular vote was used, and it took considerably longer to get
> > it approved.
> >
> > >This isn't well known in Europe, but the US government officially
metrified
> > >the US in 1866.  That's right, 146 years ago.  Entire generations
of American
> > >schoolchildren have been indoctrinated about how wonderful metric
is, but it
> > >hasn't changed the fact that the American people are opposed to
metrification
> > >and will not allow it to happen.
> >
> > I have yet to meet an American who is actually opposed to the
metric
> > system. (I'm sure there must be some somewhere.) My impression is
that
> > it's much more an issue of lazyness.
> >
> > And in a very basic sense, the US is indeed metrified. The
definition of
> > inch is 2.54 cm (always wondered why they didn't make that 2.5cm,
but
> > then again with the /16 divisions, it wouldn't have helped that
much).
> > Before the metrification, it was 2.54 and something odd. So the
goverment
> > did the metrification, and kept the inch as a cover to not let
people
> > notice :-).
> >
> > >Not that metric confuses us: when we see a bolt that looks like a
5/16, but is
> > >too big for the wrench, yet is sloppy with a 3/8 wrench, we know
perfectly
> > >well that it's an 8mm and we get out our metric tools.  We know
that when
> > >we're in Canada, a 100 km/h speed limit sign means 60 MPH, a 40
km/h sign
> > >means 25 MPH, etc.
> >
> > Yes, and when you buy a package of food, it tells you how many
> > milligrams of this or that ingredient are in a serving. (I always
wondered
> > what system the unit 'serving' was in, imperial or metric :-)
> > And water bottles are sold as 1.5 liters or 2 liters, because it
would be
> > too expensive to make them in different sizes for different parts
of
> > the world, and pints or gallons would be unacceptable (and maybe
even
> > against the law in certain cases) in metric countries.
> >
> > On the other hand, sadly enough we have 12 inch screens for
notebooks,
> > and 1200/inch resolution printers in Europe and Japan.
> >
> > >The point being that governments can't get away with doing
something like this
> > >in a democracy unless the people let them.  I think that it's
quite important
> > >to this discussion to understand if this new orthography is going
to succeed,
> > >or if the people of the affected nations are going to render it
into an
> > >impotent joke (much like the metrification of the US).
> >
> > For me, the inconsistent mixture of units used in the US is a
joke.
> > I'm always looking out for new little details when traveling to
the US.
> > One area where I have seen quite a bit of improvement is
temperature.
> > Thermostats in many hotels now allow to switch between C and F.
> > And announcement in US airlines, at least on international
flights,
> > now mention both. A few years ago, I regularly had to call the
flight
> > attendant to ask what the temperature that the pilot announced was
> > supposed to mean.
> >
> > With most other countries than the US now firmly switched to the
> > metric system, my personal hope is that that will create enough
> > influence on the US to turn them around in practice.
> >
> > Regards,    Martin.
> >
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