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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004Translation of approximate metric quantities
The following news story appeared today. "Officials: World's Largest Snake Caught D "Dec 29, 6:28 AM (ET) "JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesian villagers claim to have captured a python that is almost 49.21 feet long and weighs nearly 992.07 pounds, a local official said Monday. "If confirmed, it would be the largest snake ever kept in captivity. "Hundreds of people have flocked to see the snake at a primitive zoo in Curugsewu village on the country's main island of Java, Republika daily reported. It splashed two large pictures of the reptile across its back page. Local government official Rachmat said the reticulated python measured 14.85 meters (49 feet) and weighed in at 447 kilograms (985 pounds). ..." Does anyone else feel that something is awry? > The following news story appeared today. > [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > Does anyone else feel that something is awry? My paper obviously did not bother to translate into old fashioned measures, but they quote the Guinness Book of Records that lists the longest captured snake as 9.75 m and the heaviest, a Burmese python kept in Gurnee, Illinois, at 182.76 kg. The newly captured python, my paper has weighing in at 4470 kg, so that's even more! I wonder what it really was - 147, 247?  SignatureRob Bannister > > The following news story appeared today. > > [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > in Gurnee, Illinois, at 182.76 kg. The newly captured python, my paper > has weighing in at 4470 kg, so that's even more! This new weight was after it ate those who captured it and their Humvee. Signature"Throw me that lipstick, darling, I wanna redo my stigmata." +-Jennifer Saunders, "Absolutely Fabulous" In alt.usage.english, David Sachs wrote: >The following news story appeared today. > [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > >Does anyone else feel that something is awry? Sure. Media people have a tendency to use dramatic terms such as "over", "nearly", "almost", etc, rather than more precise but blander terms such as "about", "approximately", etc. And they just can't get out of the habit, even when it makes them look ridiculous. *about* 50 feet *about* 1000 pounds SignatureMike Barnes Cheshire, England > In alt.usage.english, David Sachs wrote: > >The following news story appeared today. [quoted text clipped - 24 lines] > And they just can't get out of the habit, even when it makes them look > ridiculous. Blame the editors of the wire story as it got transmitted around the world... Version #1: http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEW20031229064326 Indonesian villagers claim to have captured a python that is almost 15 meters long and weighs nearly 450 kg, a local official said on Monday. [...] Local government official Rachmat said the reticulated python measured 14.85 meters and weighed in at 447 kg. Version #2: http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/tue/dec30w10.htm Indonesian villagers claim to have captured a python that is almost 15 metres (49.21 feet) long and weighs nearly 450 kilogrammes (992.07 pounds), a local official said Monday. [...] Local government official Rachmat said the reticulated python measured 14.85 metres (49 feet) and weighed in at 447 kilogrammes (985 pounds). Take out the metric measurements from the lede and you're left with the ridiculous version above. > "JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesian villagers claim to have captured a > python that is almost 49.21 feet long and weighs nearly 992.07 pounds, a [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Does anyone else feel that something is awry? I used to occasionally travel to Ferrybridge C Power Station to work. The four large bay doors to the Turbine Hall, at that time, each had a notice "Speed limit 3 mph. = 4.828 km/h" The person who devised this notice must have been a stickler for accuracy, since he used the precise conversion 1 mile = 1.6093 km, in preference to the popular approximation 1 mile ~ 1.6 km. Richard Chambers Leeds UK. Richard Chambers: > I used to occasionally travel to Ferrybridge C Power Station to work. The > four large bay doors to the Turbine Hall, at that time, each had a notice > "Speed limit 3 mph. = 4.828 km/h" (Giggle) > The person who devised this notice must have been a stickler for accuracy, > since he used the precise conversion 1 mile = 1.6093 km... Whaddayamean precise? A mile is 1.609344 km -- everybody knows that! SignatureMark Brader "...most mistakes are made the last thing before Toronto you go to bed. So go to bed before you do msb@vex.net the last thing." -- David Jacques Way > > he used the precise conversion 1 mile = 1.6093 km... > > Whaddayamean precise? A mile is 1.609344 km Hey, if Google says it, it must be so. http://www.google.com/search?q=mi Note the lack of squiggly lines. Michael Hamm Since mid-September of 2003, AM, Math, Wash. U. St. Louis I've been erasing too much UBE. msh210@math.wustl.edu Of a reply, then, if you have been cheated, http://math.wustl.edu/~msh210/ Likely your mail's by mistake been deleted. > > > he used the precise conversion 1 mile = 1.6093 km... > > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > Note the lack of squiggly lines. That's because it's precise. An inch is defined as 2.54 cm, and a mile is 12*5,280 = 63,360 inches, so a mile is 160,934.4 cm. Exactly. SignatureEvan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------ HP Laboratories |ActiveX is pretty harmless anyway. 1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |It can't affect you unless you Palo Alto, CA 94304 |install Windows, and who would be |foolish enough to do that? kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com | Peter Moylan (650)857-7572 http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ > > > A mile is 1.609344 km > > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > That's because it's precise. No, it's not. Google uses '=' even when it approximates. http://www.google.com/search?q=2%2F3 Michael Hamm Since mid-September of 2003, AM, Math, Wash. U. St. Louis I've been erasing too much UBE. msh210@math.wustl.edu Of a reply, then, if you have been cheated, http://math.wustl.edu/~msh210/ Likely your mail's by mistake been deleted. > "JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Indonesian villagers claim to have captured a > python that is almost 49.21 feet long and weighs nearly 992.07 pounds, a > local official said Monday. [ ..... ] > Does anyone else feel that something is awry? Yes. The journalist who wrote that should be beaten with a yardstick for gross malpractice and sent to a remedial-arithmetic-for-the-mentally-infirm course, where, after a few decades of hard study, he or she may learn to count to 10 and could then be trusted to work on an assembly line for minimum wage. Treating numbers that way is exceedingly uncouth. -- Mike Hardy |
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