Pronunciations of SI prefixes: kilo and giga -Reply

[FRAMEP@ORAU.GOV]

Dan: What a neat topic and what a great bunch of info! I was so intrigued
that I contacted our local expert - who happens to be on the ASTM
committee that cranked out E 380. He had some additional info of interest.

Apparently the pronounciation of giga was a real bone of contention
among the committee members.  The ASTM comments wrt pronounciation
were recommendations, not requirements and so it was merely
recommended that giga be pronounced jiga. 

Times have changed and I was told the new ASTM, which is close to
completion, apparently will make no recommendations wrt pronunciation.
And as I understand it, if there is a consensus now, it is that giga be
pronounced with a hard g!  The dictionaries I've looked at say that both
pronunciations are acceptable in any event. But my contact emphasized
that a big deal should not be made about pronunciation.

He pointed out that at the international level there are no required
spellings or pronunciations for SI units for a couple of reasons. Different
countries use different alphabets and some languages don't even include
certain sounds i.e. pronunciations.

He also said that they had some nice arguments at one time about
whether joule should be pronounced jewel or jowel!  And I once asked
him how they could use a kilo of anything as a basic unit (i.e. kilogram)
He admitted that that was embarrassing and told me that as a way out,
some of the guys involved suggested that kg is not a kilogram but a  keg.
I wonder where they were when they came up with that one ;-)

Neat stuff!

Paul Frame
Professional Training Programs
ORISE
framep@orau.gov