• Hyperrealism@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      17 days ago

      Potassium (K) is called Kalium in New Latin and a variation thereof in plenty of languages. It makes far more sense. The symbol’s K in the periodic table an the eymological link with alkali is in the word. The Brits don’t have a leg to stand on.

      Then again, Americans are stupid about the metric system. Think they can’t visualize what 1 meter is, but almost every American can visualize the length of an M16A4 just fine.

      • infinitesunrise@slrpnk.net
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        17 days ago

        Most Americans aren’t actually too biased against metric, I’d say that’s a stereotype boosted by an extremely vocal minority. The real problem is that most of us can’t visualize the length of a yard or mile any better than we can a meter or kilometer. It’s more an across the board lack of education.