November 01, 2005

• From AP: Celsius Use this term rather than centigrade for the temperature scale that is part of the metric system. The Celsius scale is named for Anders Celsius, a Swedish astronomer who designed it. In it, zero represents the freezing point of water, and 100 degrees is the boiling point at sea level. To convert to Fahrenheit, multiply a Celsius temperature by 9, divide by 5 and add 32 (25 x 9 equals 225, divided by 5 equals 45, plus 32 equals 77 degrees Fahrenheit). When giving a Celsius temperature, use these forms: 40 degrees Celsius or 40 C (note the space and no period after the capital C) if degrees and Celsius are clear from the context.
• Wow, they recommend 40 C rather than 40 °C? Is that correct?
• Yep, definitely no degree sign. Although I'd argue no space - 40C.
• No degree sign, as C is a symbol for degrees centigrade, not an abbreviation. The degrees are implicit within that symbol C.
• From The Times (London) Style Guide: celcius, centigrade: use either term. In news stories, use both centigrade and fahrenheit, eg, "The temperature rose to 16C (61F)"; do not use degree sign any longer
• (link to AP Stylebook, for subscribers: http://www.apstylebook.com/online/index.php?do=entry&id=509)
• 40 C? It's almost winter! -40 C will be there soon (if you live north enough, that is.) Southerhemisperics are excused.
• /mare should re-read what mare writes north -> northern Southerhemisperics -> Southernhemisperics
• There are many kinds of space. Personally, I like to use a hair space before units. Unfortunately, hardly any common fonts actually contain it, despite the fact that it's one of the easiest glyphs to draw. In the case of the degree symbol, however, I don't use a space: I feel that there's enough whitespace under the degree, and that it is visually and semantically better when attached to the number. Dropping the degree symbol altogether strikes me as computer-induced laziness: I suspect that it has been edged out of common usage by its absence from English keyboards. But those are just my opinions. It's all a matter of opinion. As for style guides: unless you are writing for a publication where it's appropriate to follow the house style, you don't have to follow them. You might as well make up your own style and try to stick to it. Of course, if you happen to like a particular style guide, then feel free to adopt it as your own. Ultimately, there's more than one right way to do it. Accusations on Wikipedia that a particular usage 'contravenes the practice of every major publisher in the English language', or assertions that 'British English [...] doesn't use a space between the unit and the number', should be salted to taste. Generalisations are always wrong! In fact, most of my textbooks from studying an engineering degree at a British university do use a space before the unit. Using straight quotes in place of apostrophes, as I've done here, is also laziness. But there's a difference between a comment on a website and a properly typeset and printed document. And Unicode doesn't have any differentiation between right quotes and apostrophes. Should it? That's another discussion.
• whitespace? Look at the sources . *splits hairspaces*
• Wolof: Argh! You're right. I could lie and blame it on a typo, but the reality is that I've spent too much time writing about programming. This is what proofreaders are for.
• I only looked it up because I'd never seen it before.