Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Metric Conversions

This was going around as an e-mail many years ago, and I decided to see if I could track it down. The metric system is an elegant, easy to learn and easy to use system that Americans are profoundly unable to deal with. The site where I found this has some of its examples incorrect, so take them with a grain of salt.

2000 mockingbirds = two kilomockingbirds (correct)

1 million microphones = 1 megaphone (incorrect)
1 million microphones = 1 phone
1 million phones = 1 megaphone (corrected)

1 millionth of a fish = 1 microfiche (correct)

1 million bicycles = 2 megacycles (this is correct, but there's an additional unit conversion assumed)

1 million billion picolos = 1 gigolo (incorrect; it would take 1000 billion billion picolos to make one gigolo)

There's quite a few more at the linked site, and one more I remember that isn't on the list:
1 millionth of a mouthwash = 1 microscope

So I hope that clarifies everything and we can switch from this silly English system now.

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