Re: Internationalization--Standard Conventions

From: Alain LaBont\i\ (alb@sct.gouv.qc.ca)
Date: Sun May 30 1999 - 10:53:53 EDT


A 05:29 99-05-30 -0700, Michael Everson a écrit :
>Some other things in Ireland are also still not metric. Legacy roadsigns
>tell how far to the next town in miles (the ones in km are a different
>colour!), and my local butchers still sell meat in pounds. I'm not sure
>whether their scales (digital) are set up to switch between kg and lbs or
>not.

[Alain] In France butter is still sold in pounds (« livres ») after more
than 2 centuries using the metric system. However the « livre » there is
now defined as exactly half a kilo (500 g). That is more logical than in
Canada where those persisting to sell by the pound (the legal and mandatory
way is in kg, but due to English Canada's pressures most country-wide
grocers came back with alternative price/lb display even in Québec) sell
454 g/pound. It allows them to display smaller prices by the pound... A
pity...

Alain LaBonté
Québec



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