What is a kil'ometer?

[Barry]

KILometer = a distance of 1000 meters
kiLOmeter = a (theoretical) device used to measure kilometers

As a mileometer in my old car measured miles then the new fangled device for km surely should be a kilometerometer. The KilOmeter sounds like some gory battlefield device

[Ian.MacAllan]

Here in the States we have no time for sensible measurement systems! None of this Mamby Pamby divide by ten and get a quick and simple answer stuff. . . .

Actual entry to a "My Pop's Tops" contest, by a fifth grader: "My Pop's Tops not only on Fathers Day but on all the other 5,280 days of the year!"

. . . No doing dangerous math going down the highway!

Pvt: How do you convert klicks to miles?
Sgt: Multiply klicks by 5 and divide by 8, then subtract 2.
Pvt: Why subtract 2?
Sgt: Because by the time I have multiplied by 5 and divided by 8 we've gone two miles. (At motor convoy speed: 20 mph.)

. . . Does that help?

Not at all, but thanks for trying.

. . . Metric is SO much easier than imperial. But the US has been doing things that way for a long time, and we're a stubborn lot! . . .
T.

A large part of the silliness of this situation is that the USA is officially on the metric syatem. All other units are, by statute, defined in terms of metric units. But, to 99.44% of Americans, that is incredible news.

And a kilobyte is ...

1000 bytes to a hardware engineer and 1024 bytes to a software engineer. What could be simpler?

.

[Macman]

A large part of the silliness of this situation is that the USA is officially on the metric syatem. All other units are, by statute, defined in terms of metric units. But, to 99.44% of Americans, that is incredible news.

Ian, I understood that although the metric system was legal in the USA, it wasn't the "official" system. I'd like to find out more, if you or anyone else knows for sure.

Where I'm located, "kilometre" is pronounced both ways. I even pronounce it both ways myself!

[vmac3205]

Just remember
6.2 kiltometers = a kilted mile

[Jock Scot]

As the arch Ludite,we should have stuck to the Imprerial system! I still use yards,chains and furlongs as well as rods, poles and perches as measurements!

[vmac3205]

As the arch Ludite,we should have stuck to the Imprerial system! I still use yards,chains and furlongs as well as rods, poles and perches as measurements!

The one I can't figure out is a "stone" weight.

[starbkjrus]

Besides, anyone who has spent time in the military knows that neither pronunciation is correct. The proper term is "klick."

Dave beat me to it.

Amen to that. 16 ounces in a pound and 14 pounds in a stone and however many stone in a tonne.... what a palaver!


But it IS a kilo of something, it is a kilo of metres, same as a kilobyte is a kilo of bytes (almost!), a kiloHertz is a kilo of Hertz and a kilogram is a kilo of grams
T.

Ahhh, but does that automatically make you a member of the #1 Gold Club?

As a mileometer in my old car measured miles then the new fangled device for km surely should be a kilometerometer. The KilOmeter sounds like some gory battlefield device

Perhaps for Dr. Doofenshmirtz it would be a kilometerometer -inator?

[Jock Scot]

The one I can't figure out is a "stone" weight.

16 ounces(oz.) to the pound(lb.)--------14 pounds(lbs.) to the stone(st.).

[Nervous Jock]

As the arch Ludite,we should have stuck to the Imprerial system! I still use yards,chains and furlongs as well as rods, poles and perches as measurements!

IIRC is a cricket pitch a chain long?

[Bugbear]

In American Conversational English, the vowels are somewhat interchangeable; it is a form of schwa. The Americans speak using the back of the throat much more than the English who tend to pronounce words more with the front of the mouth. That makes it easier to do this vowel swopping etc.