Re: Different Formats for Different Countries -- Variable Density

Chris Hills spake thus:

> In message <45451005$0$13804$822641b3@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>, David 
> Nebenzahl <nobody@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes
> 
>> Jean-David Beyer spake thus:
>>
>>> Now ordinary printing paper, in USA, came from the size of the frame
>>> commonly used for making paper by hand that turned out 17 by 22 inch 
>>> sheets
>>> after the deckle edge was trimmed off. This was about the largest 
>>> they could
>>> make sheets for a long time. These where cut in half both ways making 
>>> 8½ by
>>> 11 sheets as standard for printing (and later, typewriting).
>>
>> OK, so where did that Yurpeen standard, A4, come from?
> 
> A4 is NOT European  It is International and is used EVERYWHERE except 
> the USA.
> 
> see http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/iso-paper.html
> 
> Some points from the link:
> 
> "The United States, Canada, and in part Mexico, are today the only 
> industrialized nations in which the ISO standard paper sizes are not yet

> widely used."
> 
> "If you live in the U.S. and have never been abroad, you might not be 
> aware that paper and accessories in the North-American sizes are not 
> commonly available outside the U.S. or Canada. They are very difficult 
> to obtain in any other country"
> 
> Interestingly:-
> "Although it is rarely advertised, ISO A4 laser printer and copying 
> paper, as well as suitable files and folders, are available today from 
> many U.S. office supply companies. A4 paper and supplies are regularly 
> ordered in the U.S. today, especially by companies and organizations 
> with a lot of international correspondence, including patent lawyers, 
> diplomats, universities, and some government agencies. It seems that in 
> the U.S., at the moment, only higher-quality paper brands are easily 
> available in A4, i.e. the types of paper preferred for im****tant 
> documents, such as international patent applications. Many of the larger

> stationery chains do offer at least one type of A4 paper in their 
> catalogues, but not all shops keep it on stock routinely and might have 
> to order it first."
> 
> So eventually the US might start using standard paper sizes that fit in 
> with the rest of the world.

And why, pray tell, would I want to do that? Just as I may ask why we 
(the U.S., and even, for that matter, parts of the UK) should abandon 
our venerable measurement system in favor of the metric system? (Don't 
know if you're aware of it, but there's *trememdous* oppostion to 
metrificiation both here in the U.S. and abroad.)

Why should I embrace a system that's cold and based on some abstract 
notions, such as an aspect ratio based on the square root of two, where 
the primary size (A0) from which the others are derived is defined, 
arbitrarily, as having an area of one square meter? It's all neat and 
consistent--and totally arbitrary, having nothing to do with real-world 
historical pro****tions and dimensions.

No thanks. I'll stick to *my* "letter" and "legal" and "tabloid" sizes 
any day. Which is what appears to be the case for the forseeable future 
here, despite the urgent wishes of the Internationalizers and the 
Yurpeenizers.


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