Spending the weekend at the 35th Annual General Meeting and Conference of the Guild of One-Name Studies, is a kilo of fun! I know…. doesn’t quite fit but with a bit of lateral thinking….?
It would seem a little obvious to talk about the metric system and thousands today, so last night I was informed of a submarine connection with the word kilo – thanks Colin! Kilo class is the NATO reporting name for a naval diesel-electric submarine made in Russia. Wikipedia states that ‘the original version of the vessels were designated Project 877 Paltus (Halibut) in Russia. There is also a more advanced version, designated as Improved Kilo in the west, and Project 636 Varshavyanka in Russia.’
I never expected to learn so much from doing the phonetic alphabet for the A to Z blog this month! Intrigued about how kilo actually means thousand, I also learnt that the prefix kilo is derived from the Greek word χίλιοι (chilioi) which means thousand. It was originally adopted by Antoine Lavoisier‘s research group in 1795 and introduced into the metric system in France with its establishment in 1799.
Why did it take us such a time to turn to metric in the UK? And why do we still measure longer distances in miles for heaven’s sake?
