I recently read how we got the name mile from a thousand Roman paces, where each pace was 5 feet. Then the English based their mile on the nearby length of 8 furlongs, which were each 10 chains, giving us the headache of 5280 feet apparently largely for tax purposes.
Here in the US, I see the word micrometer used more often to describe devices for measuring small distances than as a unit of measure; for that instead I usually see micron (μm, often rendered um).
Another fun bit of confusion seems to come with the financial suffix MM (million, explicitly "thousand thousand", used to minimize confusion internationally), which of course has nothing to do with mm. So, I try to make sure that these are correctly capitalized (or not).
@johnlogic
That's a cultural thing, because "mil" is very much slang for millimetre in the UK, and is widely used in building and related trades. 1/1000 of an inch would be "thou", although it's not needed so much these days. @Binder
@johnlogic@Binder how we got this far in the world of electronics where the inch is still entertained as a unit of measurement is quite amazing. We need to let it go. The transition to lead free was possible. I don't see any benefits other than "it's legacy". PCB design is mess. Either metric or "imperial" components must live off grid
@Binder I worked for a company who started having to send a dedicated engineer with their sales team to avoid having any more contacts fully negotiated for parts that can't physically exist.
@gooba42@Binder@troublewithwords
I had a role like this—to be a scientific/technical SME during client discussions. My job was to sit in meetings and say what we could and couldn't do. It was an absolutely miserable job: the clients hated me, sales hated me, and everyone told my manager that I was a know-nothing jerk. I barely made it two years there.
@gooba42@eamon@Binder The short story of why my partner is now looking for work: she was the compliance officer (National laws in two countries). Everyone was tired of her telling folks their ideas were illegal, so they got rid of her.
I had better luck dealing with this as a outside consultant because the dynamics are different. But I still remember people shouting at meetings.
@gooba42@eamon@Binder Anyway, if anyone is looking for compliance/analyst who will completely throw her whole effort and extensive expertise behind a company as long as they're not doing completely sketchy shit (and will try to clean up the sketchy shit if they are) then lmk and I'll hook you up. It is nonsense out there for a middle-aged woman in tech, and unemployment payments have run out.
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