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by rypskar
2820 days ago
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>It avoids any ambiguity My first language is not English and I am using metric, and to me using metric ton or metric tonne removes ambiguity. I know Americans have a ton that is different from a normal ton, but have no idea about how much it is, and it is not used often enough for me to even consider it exist. I would assume 5 tonnes if it was written as 5 ton, 5 metric tons, 5 tonnes or 5 metric tonnes |
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I recently saw (online) a North American try to use a date format of:
yyyy-dd-mm .... I don't know why, but it was done in earnest, and it's the sort of thing that could (if it gained any kind of widespread usage) destroy much of the great work done by the ISO 8601 date/time standard.
A small thing for people who never have to deal with date formats outside their own country -- but a significant concern for people who do.
Similarly, the word tonne means a metric unit of 1000kg.
Trying to dilute the meaning by introducing phrasing such as 'metric ton' or 'metric tonne' or 'imperial tonne' (perish the thought!) is a similar regression. Journals - as the curators of common usage - have an important role to play here.
I think we can either surrender, weaken the language, give up, and defer to the confused minority, or we can stick with the sensible, previously agreed definitions and hope they catch up to us in the next lifetime or two.