Kill-om-itters?

[stackdump]

For you metric folks out there, what is the correct pronunciation for kilometres? Is it;

Kill-om-itters or
Killa-meeters or
Key-low-meeters

And when you say "kilogram", do you say it the same way?

I hear people mix these up and they seem to say kill-om-itters, killa-gram and key-low. Seems odd that there are three ways of saying the same "kilo" part.

Also, for giga is it gigga or jigga?, and for nano is it nanno or nayno?

 

[Thadeus]

Kliks of kourse...

~Thadeus

 

[ESquared]

It's "klicks."

Heh.

 

[Thadeus]

ESquared -
Jinx you owe me a soda!

As my sons would say...

 

[rjoubert]

Poh-tay-toe, poh-tah-toe, toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe. Which one is the correct proununciation depends on who you ask.

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
Reminds me of the person who wondered if it was
Ha-wah-ii or Ha-Vah-ii , so he flew there to ask a resident

The first one he met said it was Ha-Vah-ii -

He thanked him for clearing that up, and the resident said "You're Velcome"!





To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[SantaMufasa]

Stack,

Our friends at Merriam-Webster offer an accommodating resolution to your inquiry:

Main Entry: ki·lo·me·ter
Pronunciation: k&-'lä-m&-t&r, ki-; 'ki-l&-"mE-t&r
Function: noun
Etymology: French kilomètre, from kilo- + mètre meter
: a metric unit or length equal to 1000 meters -- see METRIC SYSTEM table
usage In North American speech kilometer is most often pronounced with primary stress on the second syllable. This pronunciation is also heard frequently in British speech. Those who object to second syllable stress say that the first syllable should be stressed in accord with the stress patterns of centimeter, millimeter, etc. However, the pronunciation of kilometer does not parallel that of other metric compounds. From 1828 to 1841 Noah Webster indicated only second syllable stress, and his successor added a first syllable stress variant in the first Merriam-Webster dictionary of 1847. Thus, both pronunciations are venerable. Most scientists use second syllable stress, although first syllable stress seems to occur with a higher rate of frequency among scientists than among nonscientists.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[ascotta]

Kill-om(as in bomb)-etr not eetr

[blue] A perspective from the other side!![/blue]

Cheers
Scott

 

[Welshbird]

I don't understand KM's - so I'd go with miles...

Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]

 

[SantaMufasa]

I don't understand KM's - so I'd go with miles

Fee, are you old enough to remember 15 February 1971 when "we" went from 240 pence per pound sterling to 100 pence per pound? Hasn't life become simpler using decimal money?

Haven't you "had it" with 12 inches per foot; 3 feet per yard; 1,720 yards per mile?...8 ounces per cup; 2 cups per pint; 2 pints per quart, 4 quarts per gallon. What a crock...and I've grown up with our (stupid) length/volume system.

I can't wait until we (US/UK) make the "Leap of Faith" to a decimal/metric measurement/weight/volume system.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[Olaf Doschke]

swatch even made decimal time measurement: 1 day = 100 beats, see swatch internet time.

Regarding Kilometers: Isn't it Kyle-e-Minogue?

Bye, Olaf.

 

[SantaMufasa]

1 day = 100 beats

...which means that a beatnik (1/10 of a beat) is 86.4 seconds (~ 1 minute). Cool! (beatnik is SantaMufasa's suggestion since we need something more granular that 864-second integral increments in a day, IMHO.)

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[Olaf Doschke]

sorry, 1 day = 1000 beats. But I doubt it will ever be adopted.

Bye, Olaf.

 

[Welshbird]

Dave - my school made us to sums in 'old money' even though we didn't need to, as they thought it would improve our maths ability.

I can still reduce stuff to pounds, shillings and pence failry quickly!

Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]

 

[SantaMufasa]

I dunno, Olaf. I rather like the sound of:

Amazing ! She just ran 1500 meters in 2.5 beats!

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[SantaMufasa]

Yes, Fee, my wife is very skilled at reducing pounds to mere pence virtually instantly.

Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[Welshbird]

Heheee. Good on 'er then!

Fee

The question should be [red]Is it worth trying to do?[/red] not [blue] Can it be done?[/blue]

 

[SantaMufasa]

I'm sorry that this portion of your question was lost in the (iPod) shuffle:

...for giga is it gigga or jigga?, and for nano is it nanno or nayno?

Correct English pronunciation rules suggest that "giga-" (having no double letters) should have a "long-I" (thus rhyming with the British pronunciation of "tiger"..."tigah"). But predominant common usage sounds like the word "gig" combined with a trailing "uh" sound. (Although Doctor Emmett Brown in the "Back to the Future" movies pronounced it as "jig" + "uh").

Our Merriam-Webster buddies declare that both are accepted pronunciations:

Main Entry: giga-
Pronunciation: 'ji-g&, 'gi-
Function: combining form
Etymology: International Scientific Vocabulary, from Greek gigas giant
: billion (109) <gigahertz> <gigawatt>

"Nano-" pronunciation, following correct English-pronunciation rules, again, suggests that it should rhyme with the town in Texas, "Plano", but again, common usage disobeys the rule and rhymes with "Tan" + "oh".

Although Merriam-Webster does not offer a pronunciation guide for "nano-", other sources suggest that either the "Long-A" or "Short-A" pronunciation is acceptable, although most people will chuckle at you if you if you say:

The instruction took 12 nayno-seconds to execute.

I guess that Mork from Ork's ability to imprint upon the American psyche was just too strong when he bid adieu with the Orkan good-bye, "Nanu, nanu".


Mufasa
(aka Dave of Sandy, Utah, USA)
[I provide low-cost, remote Database Administration services: www.dasages.com]

 

[Rofeu]

from the title of this thread, I was wondering if this was a call to eradicate everyone who fails to include something.

Cheers,

Roel

 

[Olaf Doschke]

...which means that a beatnik (1/10 of a beat) is 86.4 seconds (~ 1 minute). Cool! (beatnik is SantaMufasa's suggestion since we need something more granular that 864-second integral increments in a day, IMHO.)

Yes, true. You already had it right with 86.4 seconds per beat. To replace the second by the time swatch made their Internet watches I thought about centibeats.

But the more important part of internet time in swatchs definition was to make it the same time worldwide, so you could meet @xyz beats and wouldn't have to find out local time. In fact you would, as you are not used to internet time. But swatch made it that way that the swiss (and therfore also the german) day would begin @000, rather than keeping in sync with GMT or better UTC.

I would even suggest to make internet time in sync with the IDL (international date line). 0:00 am there should be @000.

Bye, Olaf.