[Dixonary] [OT] Blue Moon and metric feet

[Dodi Schultz]

Tony writes,

>> I remember a discussion about the metric martyrs in the UK Current
>> Affairs forum before the forum was pushed out onto the web and I lost
>> track of it. As I recall, the law only required that prices be
>> posted most prominently in metric units AND that the shop have a
>> scale (or whatever device) capable of reading out in metric units.
>> As long as those two conditions were met, a merchant could sell by
>> pounds or pints and post prices in those units (in smaller letters
>> than the metric). I think they were usually busted for not having
>> metric scales on the premises.

Some of the hospitals here in NY have metric scales. I recall being quite
shocked--having forgotten that--at one point when my weight was pronounced
something like 56. Some fast calculation was reassuring.

--Dodi

[France International]

Sounds like the rules for the signs in Quebec - they must be bilingual but
the French version must be larger than the English one.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dodi Schultz" <SCHULTZ (AT) compuserve (DOT) com>
To: <Dixonary (AT) googlegroups (DOT) com>
Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2007 7:52 PM
Subject: [Dixonary] [OT] Blue Moon and metric feet


>
> Tony writes,
>
> >> I remember a discussion about the metric martyrs in the UK Current
> >> Affairs forum before the forum was pushed out onto the web and I lost
> >> track of it. As I recall, the law only required that prices be
> >> posted most prominently in metric units AND that the shop have a
> >> scale (or whatever device) capable of reading out in metric units.
> >> As long as those two conditions were met, a merchant could sell by
> >> pounds or pints and post prices in those units (in smaller letters
> >> than the metric). I think they were usually busted for not having
> >> metric scales on the premises.
>
> Some of the hospitals here in NY have metric scales. I recall being quite
> shocked--having forgotten that--at one point when my weight was pronounced
> something like 56. Some fast calculation was reassuring.
>
> --Dodi
>

[Paul Keating]

The UK proposes to make "bilingual" scales illegal for trade at the end of
2009. So traders will still be able to yell "a paaand for a paaand" but
they'll have to weigh out the veggies in kilos.

Maybe they'll do like the Dutch and take the pragmatic line of adjusting the
old word to the new system. It's happened often enough before, and not just
in English. Dutch today uses the word _pond_ to mean 500g.

> Sounds like the rules for the signs in Quebec - they must be bilingual but
> the French version must be larger than the English one.

> > >> As I recall, the law only required that prices be
> > >> posted most prominently in metric units AND that the shop have a
> > >> scale (or whatever device) capable of reading out in metric units.

--
Paul Keating
The Hague