APL\360

That would fit tradition. A lot of the Imperial unit names were at one time also used in the rest of Europe. But their definition varied randomly, often from town to town. I have a book about sailing ships that gives the dimensions in "Amsterdam feet", which by the way have 11 inches per foot, not 12. My father, a metrologist, had a history book discussing the pre-metric systems of units of Europe. The units were often set by the ruler of the day (e.g., the "ell" might match the arm of the prince in charge at that time). Sometimes not, though. The book had a lovely picture showing the way the standard "foot" was estabished in one German principality: officials gathered outside the town church in some town, stopped the first 12 adult males leaving Mass, and had them line up their feet. They captured that measurement, divided by 12, presto, the standard foot. For that place and time, anyway. So don't be surprised that there are lots of pounds, ounces, etc. -- that's just how it's always been done. Much later, there were three different inches: the UK one, the US one, and the Canadian one. At least in theory. In reality they were so close that it's unlikely any instrument could tell the difference. And precision calibration was done with Johansson blocks, which followed the Canadian definition (25.4 mm exactly). paul