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spot;1506102 wrote: If you're being accurate and that's your unit of measure then it's tonnes. If you're giving a rough figure in English then it's still tons. The use of tonnes in an approximation has annoyed me for decades.


You can approximate in metric tonnes just as easily as you can approximate in imperial tons - the UoM does not dictate

I agree entirely. Ton is an English word going back to pre-Tudor times, tonne is a unit of mass.

For example, My head stuck a considerable time in a ton of mud. (from 1770) - that's the approximation, not a mark on a weighbridge. Tonne in that context should be incomprehensible regardless of the century in which it was written.

From Peter Pan, similarly: ‘I say! Do you kill many [pirates]?’ ‘Tons.’

I feel tons better for being in the wonderful air.

Darts has its own esoteric terminology... A hundred is a ‘ton’, of course, all over England.

The old man would charge three ton for this but me and the boys will do it for half-price.

spot;1506117 wrote: I agree entirely. Ton is an English word going back to pre-Tudor times, tonne is a unit of mass.

For example, My head stuck a considerable time in a ton of mud. (from 1770) - that's the approximation, not a mark on a weighbridge. Tonne in that context should be incomprehensible regardless of the century in which it was written.

From Peter Pan, similarly: ‘I say! Do you kill many [pirates]?’ ‘Tons.’

I feel tons better for being in the wonderful air.

Darts has its own esoteric terminology... A hundred is a ‘ton’, of course, all over England.

The old man would charge three ton for this but me and the boys will do it for half-price.


The ton is a unit of mass equal to twenty hundredweight - they are exactly equivalent in terms of usage of the word and nearly equivalent in terms of mass.

That slang makes use of the older word only shows that slang generally predates the introduction of metrication to this country, to draw such a distinction because one is imperial and the other metric is nonsensical.

Leaving aside it's use in idiomatic speech is quite clear

https://blog.harwardcommunications.com/ ... and-tonne/



Both “ton and “tonne are units of weight, but a “ton is a British and American measure, while a “tonne is a metric measure.


posted by bryn mawr

That slang makes use of the older word only shows that slang generally predates the introduction of metrication to this country, to draw such a distinction because one is imperial and the other metric is nonsensical.


No it's not nonsense in correct usage one is imperial the other metric. We adapted our system to facilitate trade with europe making weight conversions simpler ands have made amendments with that end in mind since medeival times. Knowing that the metric tonne is roughly equivalent to a british ton actually matters a great deal as does knowing the differences if you are doing businesss with the states we export liquids by the gallon (e.g whisky) and foodstuffs by the pound there is a lot of scope for getting it wrong.

gmc;1506127 wrote: Leaving aside it's use in idiomatic speech is quite clear

https://blog.harwardcommunications.com/ ... and-tonne/





posted by bryn mawr



No it's not nonsense in correct usage one is imperial the other metric. We adapted our system to facilitate trade with europe making weight conversions simpler ands have made amendments with that end in mind since medeival times. Knowing that the metric tonne is roughly equivalent to a british ton actually matters a great deal as does knowing the differences if you are doing businesss with the states we export liquids by the gallon (e.g whisky) and foodstuffs by the pound there is a lot of scope for getting it wrong.


I agree with all of that, what I disagree with is the concept that the metric tonne is sacrosanct and must only be used for accurate measurements - approximations in tonnes are verboten.