I very much enjoyed the letter from Robert English (Forum, Jan. 17) on metrics. It's nice to know that there are two of us who think alike. Mr. English brings some valid points to the exchange.
For those who haven't had time to look up the definitions of "stere" and "are," the first is equal to one cubic meter and the second is equal to 100 square meters. By definition then, a dekastere is 10 cubic meters and a hectare is 100 ares, or 10,000 square meters. We can thank the ancient Greeks for the prefixes: "deka" being 10 and "hekaton" being 100.As a practical matter, I have not heard the term "stere" used. "Cubic meters" seems to be the more commonly used term. "Hectare," of course, if used throughout Europe for land area.
Temperature is fun, too. In the centigrade system, pure water freezes at zero and boils at 100 degrees. There are some qualifications to this regarding the exact conditions, but for general purposes, this is a workable definition. That means that 20 degrees is a chilly room temperature, about 68 degree F. 25 degrees C, about 77 degrees F, is nicer. Hugging a 37-degree person is even nicer.
Back to the American (English) system for fun examples. Chicken wire comes in rolls of 165 feet because that is 10 rods, or one thirty-second of a mile. We don't drink too many drams or gills anymore, but what one brewery billed as the GIP, or giant imperial pint, seemed to draw favorable attention. The english imperial pint is about 20 percent bigger than the puny American pint. And, if one buys an avoirdupois pound of potatoes, the sack is heavier than a troy pound of gold.
I suppose the lesson in all this is that the rational metric system is gaining worldwide use, and to compete, we have to adjust. It isn't so bad. I like weighing only 100 kilograms after Christmas.
C.J. Welle
Sandy