LL-L "Phonology" 2008.06.16 (04) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  - 16 June 2008 - Volume 04
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From: Sandy Fleming <sandy at scotstext.org>
Subject: LL-L "Phonology" 2008.06.07 (04) [E]

> From: Danette & John Howland <dan_how at msn.com>
> Subject: LL-L "Phonology" 2008.06.07 (01) [E]
>
> Hello, everyone.
>
> Fred van Brederode brought up an interesting point when he wrote:
>
>
> "... what everyone does is not necessarily the right thing.
>
> The pronunciation of kilometer as kilometer is completely analogous
> with the pronunciation of words like barometer and thermometer. The
> analogy may be the very reason for it. Most words ending on …ometer
> however are instruments of measurement. For that reason one might
> rather think that a kilometer is an instrument for measuring kilo's,
> than a measure of distance.
> When indicating the distance of a thousand meters, a more proper
> pronunciation would probably be: kilometer, stressing the first
> syllable. We do the same thing with kilobytes when a thousand bytes
> are meant. Why change it when it comes to meters?

I consistently say "micrOmeter" for the engineering instrument for
measuring small widths, but would say "mIcrometre" if I were talking
about a millionth of a metre.

Similarly, I would say "kilOmetre" for a distance that you might
visualise in studying a map or figuring out how far we still have to
walk to reach a destination, but "kIlometres" for engineering
measurements where the distance is seen as being built up from metres.

The idea that the emphasis is different depending on whether the
qualifiers increase or decrease the units doesn't seem to me to work.
KIlograms, tEraflops etc.

However, I'd still say mIcroscope, tElescope, mIcrowave and so on, so
not much consistency with micrOmeter. Perhaps the pronunciation of
micrometer is such as to avoid confusion with micrometre?

I'm not sure what the significance of my way of spelling the word
sometimes as "meter" and sometimes as "metre" is! Is a metre the unit of
measurement and a meter a measuring device?

Sandy Fleming
http://scotstext.org/
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