Posted by Mogli on September 30, 2001 at 01:01:48:
In Reply to: Re: Forgotten weights and measures some of us were reared with......... posted by Murrisk on September 29, 2001 at 23:45:41:
Quire Choir no wonder foreigners find it hard to learn English!
The 8.25"x 11.75" (or even 8.27"x 11.69" according to Mr Gates) is the imperial translation of A4 210mm x 297mm which is the European standard size - it's a neat system because A5 was half A4 and A3 was twice the area of A4 and A2 was twice A3.. etc. to A1 and A0. I think the proportions of the European A sizes are based on some ideal golden mean proportion - 1:square root of two or sumpin' can't remember it now but it has a certain artistically pleasing proportion to it - the sort of proportions that arhitects used to use for windows, etc., before bungalow blitz arrived.
Of course then the weight of paper is important too. 64 grams as in g/m2 was lightweight - too light for a photocopier or printer nowadays - 85g reasonable - but paper that weighs over a 100g per square metre now you are talking good quality paper. "Bank" for typists carbon copies was like toilet paper - 45g/m2 or so?
And then you have the annoying american sizes that every piece of printing or word processing software you use is set up to expect as default - "please load Letter now" says the printer half an hour after you asked it to print your 100 page novel! There's plenty of letters in my document you say. Letter? What's Letter? 8.5" x 11" and "Legal" is 8.5" x 14" bah!