# Metric "mileage"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 22, 2005, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-mileage/318086 "2005-08-22T07:44:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-mileage/318086/21 "2005-08-29T11:16:20Z")
> [@Fish Cheer](#): > > Sorry for the slight hijack, but how widely used is that ‘mil’? Will one e. g. find it on road signs, too? It’s used by everyone in informal communication, but you won’t find it on road signs. (You might find it on the occasional ski track sign and such though.) ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-mileage/318086/22 "2005-08-29T11:21:43Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > So, really, you kind of agree with me. I’d have no problem with 0.112L/km, either. Why bother expressing it as 100km? 11.2 is easier to communicate than 0.112, it’s even easier than 1.12. As long as everyone uses the same scale you don’t have to write L/100km everywhere either, and then 11.2 takes less space (not less than 1.12, but us Norwegians have that 10km bias that other Europeans lack and we don’t get a say in Eu decisions) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-mileage/318086/23 "2005-08-29T11:25:02Z")
> [@tschild](#): > > Related to the “mileage” term: I don’t know how it is in other ‘metric’ countries but the English-language (esp. American, it seems) habit of referring to physical quantities as “_unit_age” looks somewhat unusual to me (and always makes me uneasy when translating documentation into English - “voltage” just doesn’t look _adult_ to me even if I know it is correct.). In Germany we get told in school physics at an early point (5th form IIRRC) to always keep **physical quantity** and **unit** separate, conceptually and terminologically… > > The physics teachers always corrected us at once if we were talking about “how many units” rather than “how much physical quantity”. Interesting - and I can see the point. However, I suspect there’s simply too many such words with long histories in the English language (footage, yardage, tonnage, acreage) to be able to impose a subsequent scientific criteria. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-mileage/318086/24 "2005-08-29T11:26:37Z")
> [@naita](#): > > 11.2 is easier to communicate than 0.112, it’s even easier than 1.12. As long as everyone uses the same scale you don’t have to write L/100km everywhere either, and then 11.2 takes less space It also simply makes sense in the context - nobody really needs to know how much fuel a car burns over one km, but they need to know how much it burns over a 100km journey. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-mileage/318086/25 "2005-08-29T13:51:01Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Here in Israel it’s kilometrage (pronounced “keelometRAZH”). I’m pretty sure it’s a loan from the French. I don’t know if it’s a loanword, but it’s definitely used in France too. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-mileage/318086/26 "2005-08-29T13:52:08Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > I always ask myself how the heck this type of ratio as a means of measurement came about. It’s certainly much harder to visualize, at least for me. Why not km/L? What’s wrong with saying that you get 12km of use out of 1 liter of gasoline? That’s useful information that you can talk about in every day situations. But to say that you get 11.2L/100km isn’t intuitive, unless you’re driving 100km all the time. It isn’t intuitive to you because you’re not accustomed to it, in all likehood. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-mileage/318086/27 "2005-08-29T14:10:31Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > I don’t know if it’s a loanword, but it’s definitely used in France too. A French origin makes sense. Remember, Israel was very much part of the French sphere of influence until 1967. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-mileage/318086.md?page=1)