Date: 17 Mar 2000 09:12:29 +0100 From: Dag-Erling Smorgrav <des@flood.ping.uio.no> To: Will Andrews <andrews@technologist.com> Cc: Mark Ovens <mark@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org>, Paul Richards <paul@originative.co.uk>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Useful Metric Conversions Message-ID: <xzpem9a3thu.fsf@flood.ping.uio.no> In-Reply-To: Will Andrews's message of "Thu, 16 Mar 2000 14:39:25 -0500" References: <20000315214713.H244@parish> <38D042B3.8B07AA4C@originative.co.uk> <20000316182207.C235@parish> <xzpn1ny4tv3.fsf@flood.ping.uio.no> <20000316143925.A393@argon.blackdawn.com>
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Will Andrews <andrews@technologist.com> writes: > On Thu, Mar 16, 2000 at 08:06:56PM +0100, Dag-Erling Smorgrav wrote: > > 453.6 g (gram) = 1 lb (pound) > > > > Geez, isn't it scary when furriners who've spent a grand total of one > > week in an English-speaking country in their entire lives get jokes > > the natives don't? > You should be aware that this is a universal conversion method, not an > English/American-only thing. Which isn't relevant. What's relevant is that the jokes Mark posted are puns *in English* which require of the reader a) a good grasp of English (particularly US English) semantics and pronunciation and b) familiarity with American culture and idiom. For instance, understanding the "8 nickels = 2 paradigms" joke requires not only knowledge of how US natives pronounce "paradigm" but also knowledge of the fact that "nickel" is a common name for the US five-cent piece (which is usually made of a nickel-copper alloy) and "dime" (from the latin word for "one tenth") is a common name for the US ten-cent piece. DES -- Dag-Erling Smorgrav - des@flood.ping.uio.no To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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