• yA3xAKQMbq@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    14
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    They didn’t mimic existing units, an imperial ton is close to a metric ton, and the spelling tonne is just an alternative spelling of ton. In some parts ton means imperial ton, and tonne means metric ton, but it’s not standardized. In German, where the word originally comes from, it’s Tonne (btw the e is not silent, it’s [ɛ] as in let. Or in Porsche (no, it’s not pronounced porsh…).)

    • someguy3@lemmy.caOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      They mimicked existing terms, otherwise we wouldn’t have ever had the term metric tonne. It would have been called a megagram.