[alfa] The bait done ruz (was: Quarts, pints, litres, etc)

["John Hertzman" <johnhertzman@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

John Fielding, proving the truism that Anglo-American culture is united by one
ocean and divided by one language, got triggered by Russ Neely's direction to
"Pour half a quart in there", asked in effect "why not call it a pint?", and
without directly asking Russ wrote "John Hertzman ( a good German name?) - - -
will probably rise to the bait!". Well, how could I not?

Hertzman probably was a German name once, but reached me via Sweden (and Ellis
Island, of course). The only non-Swedish namesakes my family met were from
several Baltic-rim countries, leading to the guess of a counter-reformation
Diaspora. Who knows? The "half a quart" is an easier question; in this land of
plenty the "pint" is a practically unknown unit; oil is sold in quarts, and
Russ was effectively saying to dump in half a container. Elsewhere other units
prevail; I have distant recollections from pub-crawling in alien lands of
drinking pints, half-pints, and occasionally two pints, (or three or four) but
never quarts.

John F. progresses to the ole' engine/motor argument; "Most Americans use the
word "motor", when they refer to the thing under the bonnet (hood for our
colonial friends) that powers the car.  But the electric gizmo that turns the
engine/motor over to bring it to life, nobody calls it a "starter-engine" -
Why?" It is true that for some 'murrican pedants a "motor" is an electric
motor and an "engine' is an internal combustion suck-squish-bang thingy, but
the distinction is not that firm; indeed, Cassell's gives the Italian
'macchina' or 'motore' for the English 'engine" and the English 'motor' or
'engine' for the Italian 'motore'. It may be useful to go back to the roots,
both Latin: movere, to move, and ingenium, natural capacity. (Chaucer: "Man
hath sapiences three; memory, engine, and intellect.") There is no implicit
disagreement in the uses: the ancient British car magazine "The Motor" was not
taking sides among electrics, petrol automobiles, and steam carriages, and the
much older "Engineering" wasn't hung up on motive powers.

John F.'s objection to kilograms of torque, rather than foot-pounds or
Newton-metres, (or Newton-meters in American) is a point well taken (as the
others are, of course.) I wonder if, on the digest at least, this may have
resulted from a misreading of the power curves reproduced in Fusi, where the
speeds are giri/1', the powers are CV SAE or CV DIN, and the torques Kgm SAE
or Kgm DIN. Pound-people should be excused for reading Kgm as Kilogram if we
are at all charitable.

John's comments on the service problems of the Fiat-Alfa electronics are
interesting. Lovely cars, I'm sure (as he says), and probably great fun when
they are running well and well-supported by an effective local service
network. My own lack of interest in them is unimportant; I doubt that they
will be available here in the USA within my finite lifetime or finite budget.
I'm happy enough with the older ones I have. Those who are young enough may
yet enjoy son-of-Brera, debugged, at an affordable price. Good luck to them;
I'm glad I had mine. Enjoy yours,

John H.
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