>While everybody else East of Boston has adopted the metric system, only
>Americans (and some South American tribals) haven't

The Canadians seem reluctant to take up the metric system too. For
instance, supermarkets use a hodgepodge mix of metric & nonmetric
labels. And of course the English (industry apart) don't use the
metric system at all. Fortunately scientists everywhere have
generally accepted the metric system, and were often a long way ahead
of everyone else at making the changeover long before metrication
becams the norm.

Funny how, despite the metric system having started there, most
Europeans (the Brisish excepted) still are unable to write currency
figures correctly! Ever notice how they use a comma instead of the
correct decimal point? A comma is NOT a decimal point. 500,00¤ does
NOT mean five hundred euro; instead it is a meaningless nonnumber. I
have had embarrassing experiences with European shell dealers because
of this. The way to write five hundred euro in symbols is ¤500.00. I
hope European dealers reading this take note.

Um, actually the English STILL don't use correct notation...
essentially the "pound" when decimalized became a dollar. The euro
likewise. To snooty to adopt a "foreign" name for their currency? (I
was born in England)

>So you're still pushing for Fosfor, while the rest of the world is quite
>happy with Phosphorous.

The element is phosphorus, often misspelled -ous.

:)

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