Metric 'thou'?

What on earth is this all about? Isn't it time that somebody said where this meter bit of the English language originated?

In fact, much of the language has French roots- Norman French from near a1000 years ago but French nevertheless. In that, I submit that we couldn't spell and we still cannot but meter and metre are the same.

And Nick, Why should we use Eau de Cologne when Cologne is in Germany but 'eau' is French? And 'Eau' isn't really water but an alcoholic distillate/

But if we are having fun- English measurements are probably Middle Eastern anyway.

So that is me putting my foot in

Norman- but not French but a French landowner If you know what I mean- Harry?

I suspect Neil is referring to the spelling of the metal not the measurement. In which case wiki makes interesting reading.

Henry

In article , David Littlewood in uk.rec.models.engineering writ:

If you use "meter" in Quebec, then it's off by the first available tumbril to see Madame Guillotine tout de suite.

I can just about accept "meter", but "liter" is beyond the pail. How do the 'Merkins spell "hectare"? (or acre?) Regards,

David P.

Nah, but my Dad was ;-)

In article , Dragon writes

Interesting, thanks. If Neil was indeed referring to the metal and not the measure then my remarks were of course somewhat otiose (though still heart-felt!).

David

Nobody's mentioned the 'International metric timber unit' of 300mm or a short foot - granted, bulk timber is dealt in m3, but it's retailed in 300mm. Just short enough that anytime you think you can get away with 6' a 1.8m won't quite do so you can throw away 11.25", still at least the 11.25" waste grew to grab some CO2 - ho hummmm.

Richard