• saltesc@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I don’t get US spelling of “meter” for the metric system they don’t even use. My car dashboard is two meters wide. Speedometer and tachometer. It’s probably about half a metre wide.

    I dunno what a kilometer would be. A device that can measure anything in thousands of something; weight, volume, speed, etc.

    “The scale says you weigh 0.07 metric tonnes.”

    “Oh my god, I’m so fat.”

    “No, that’s only 70kg, it’s this stupid kilometer. Makes everything seem bigger than it is.”

    • Nepenthe@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Because homonyms are the worst part of any language and Noah Webster agrees with me.

      for the metric system they don’t even use.

      British people will fund pirates to steal our measuring weights, only to convert themselves 200 years later and then act like the US doesn’t have a single STEM field. And then drive by the mile for a pint of milk.

    • UnverifiedAPK@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Well you have me- from proto-european which means to measure.

      Then you have metrical (metricus/metrikos from Latin/Greek) that means to measure rhythm in poetry.

      Mētrum/Metron again from Latin/Greek meaning “measure, length, size, limit, proportion”

      Then “metre” which is originally a unit of length. Then you have a “metre stick” which is a stick used to measure a metre. You can blame the French for basically calling it a “measurement stick” but it refers to a very specific measurement.

      Then you have the -or suffix in Latin which means “to have to do with” or “to pertain to”. Then that turns in to -re and -er in Old English.

      And like everything else - Brittan used both for centuries before deciding one was “right” and everyone else is at fault for the other way (just like how “Soccer” is a British term). Famously Shakespeare used both -re and -er.

      Lastly, the US uses the metric system for its professions. It’s layman’s terms that don’t use metric.