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From: Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: [OT] Is English just badly pronounced French?
Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2024 16:04:37 -0400
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On Sun, 31 Mar 2024 18:51:48 -0000 (UTC)
"Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com> wrote:

> suzeeq <suzee@imbris.com> wrote:
> >On 3/31/2024 10:56 AM, Rhino wrote:  
> >>Sun, 31 Mar 2024 06:35:33 -0700 suzeeq <suzee@imbris.com>:  
> 
> >>>>. . .   
> 
> >>>While GB officially went metric, many people still use the Imperial
> >>>measurements, at least for linear measures, not so much for
> >>>weight.  
> 
> >>The Brits weigh themselves in "stones" not pounds or kilograms. (I
> >>believe a stone is 14 pounds.) These stones are definitely not
> >>metric but I'm not sure they can truly be called Imperial either
> >>since they aren't used anywhere outside the UK, as far as I know.  
> 
> >Yeah, I don't know where stone comes from. I was thinking smaller,
> >like pounds and ounces.  
> 
> These were literal stones of a uniform weight used in trade, and
> depending on the trade good, varied from 6 pounds to 21 pounds. They
> would have been used on a balance scale.
> 
I did not know that there were several different standard stones used
for different trades. Did I remember correctly that the one used to
weigh people is 14 pounds?

> Yes, they are part of the Imperial system. 

I stand corrected. 

> Various acts of Parliament
> starting in 1835 were intended to phase them out but that obviously
> never happened.
> 
> As a matter of trivia, yes the British Imperial System and U.S.
> Customary System use a unit of mass. It's called the slug. It's
> derived from a hypthetical 1 pound force accelerating a mass by 1
> ft/second squared.

I've never heard of anyone actually using the slug in this way. There
is, of course, the garden creature called the slug and the round, flat, 
coin-sized parts punched out of the boxes where you mount electrical
switches and outlets are sometimes called slugs (at least around here)
but those are the only two uses as a noun that I can think of, except
perhaps a rough unit of liquid, as in "take a slug of this whiskey". 

I suppose the metric equivalent of a slug is what scientists actually
use.


-- 
Rhino