Talk:Unit of Measurement

I think the major US measurements US gallon, fluid ounce, pound, ounce, mile, US foot, inch, etc., should all be redirected here, so the issues and metric standards can be explained. All simple conversions should be in this article since the most common case is a person encountering a strange unit of measuremen, but dealing entirely in metric the rest of the time. Any other unusual measurement specific to a country should be dealt with here as a case of conversion.

We should be encouraging conversion of all US units into metric in all articles, but, should be clear about the relation between US units, so someone can work in them in the US easily. But this should be confined to a short article on American units of measurement.

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I've only done the length measurements. Weight, volume, area, etc. all need to be listed as well. As should the differences between US, UK, Europe, and anywhere else anyone knows. -- Tango

Area isn't done yet. Go ahead. But these "differences" are all just differences from the single global Metric System.

Just been looking at some more changes. Foot, inch, pound, etc. are used a lot in the UK too, so shouldn't be refered to as US Foot, etc. Of course, the gallon and pint need to be refered to as either UK pint or US pint etc. because they are difference sizes. -- Tango

Yes, but, the "foot" is only an official measure now in the USA. Its British origins are of no more interest for practical use than the Roman origins of the standard railroad bed (same as an old Roman cart). And foot is much more commonly used to refer to the feet on your body. Brits know better than to talk about a "foot" abroad and expect it to be understood as meaning a unit of measure. This is now an Americanism.

And NO, do NOT create a lot of small entries on imperial gallon, imperial cup, imperial pint, etc.. These are obsolete and the only gallon in use is the US gallon which is the basis of the global barrel of oil. It's insistence on outlining all this stuff as if it were still relevant, that keeps these damn units in use.  ;-) They are second-class measures now, and must be treated as such.

The differences are adequately explained in US units of measurement.

Referring everything to either Metric System or US units of measurement drastically simplifies the whole Simple English Reading in Measures which we'll eventually have to write. There's a tradeoff, as the old imperial system's origins won't be fully explained. But who cares? We aren't explaining the ancient Roman or Chinese imperial systems either... save that for Full language wikis.

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A more common measure is the kilogram?. This weighs the same as a liter? of water? - exactly 1000 grams because 10x10x10=1000. The metric tonne? is 1000 kilograms, a million? grams.

not because 10x10x10. Just because the water was defined by having per default a density of 1.

It was trying to be a reference to the paragraph above where the fact that one gram was 1x1x1 cm of water was explained, thus 1000 of these is created by 10x10x10 of these in a 10 larger linear cube.

The fact it weight 1 kg is not a surprise, it is how the standard was defined.

Yes, of course, density itself should be explained. I was trying to avoid that, but you can't, if you want to use both mass and weight in the same sentence. We would all be extremely grateful if a French scientist were to do the good work of finishing off a Simple English Reading in Measures with all underlying articles.

Will try to attract a physicist :-)

No, please, a biologist is better. It is after all only biological beings that use these measures!  ;-)

"It's insistence on outlining all this stuff as if it were still relevant, that keeps these damn units in use. ... They are second-class measures now, and must be treated as such." -- My vote in agreement with this, *unless* we think that the U.S. culture and units is/are going to be frequently encountered by Simple English Users (i.e., in literature or media produced in the U.S.) (or for that matter old British [[[Commonwealth]]?] lit and media), and that therefore SEUsers will have much use for this. I do NOT have an opinion on this, just mentioning -- RJ092191.user.veloxzone.com.br

We should certainly only use metric units on this wiki, i don't think that is in dispute. However, we should explain what all the other units are, because they are used a lot, both in the US and in the UK. I know it isn't official in the UK, but when has that stopped us brits doing whatever we like? Ask anyone in the UK their height, they will give it in feet and inches (unless prehaps they are pretty young), as them their weight, you will get it in stones and pounds. Ask a greengrocer how heavy those carrots are, you will get it in kilograms, though, because it is illegal to get it in anything else. On a different note, it should probably be mentioned that the SI unit of mass is the kilogram, despite the gram being the more obvious choice. SI units and prefixes also need to be explained somewhere, if they haven't already. I can do a quick article on prefixes tomorrow (GMT) if no-ones done one by then. -- Tango

They definitely need to be explained in their own article, but there's probably no great reason to list both in an article. Interesting to note that someone has just mentioned the use of inserting imperial measures before metric ones as a complaint against someone on the Vandalism in progress page at the English Wikipedia. Angela

Vandalism in progress page at the English Wikipedia is at [[1]] -- RJ208033.user.veloxzone.com.br

Outrageous

This article is MUCH too complicated!!! This is NOT simple English!!--Filll 16:04, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

I tried to organize it a bit and change some of the complicated words to simpler words in the Basic English 850 list. I think that the introduction is crucial.--Filll 15:13, 8 November 2006 (UTC)