[SOLVED] Tonnage in ... what??

[Availle]

I am reading a cute solo on the construction of the Suez Canal , and already in the preface the problems begin...

There is a table (on page 19 (preface page x) here ) talking about the tonnage of the ships going through the canal:

Gross tonnage: 654,915 069/1000

Does anybody have an idea what that unit 069/1000 is and/or how to actually say this?

I guess it is either a measure for weight or for volume, and it might have something to do with British units (you know, inches, gallons, shillings, that sort of thing). But beyond that, I have no idea.

Anybody?

[GrayHouse]

Looking at the source text, I don't think it's a special unit related to tonnage; I think it's just an old way of expressing a fraction. We'd now write it as 654,915.069 (using UK/North American notation).

I may be wrong, so maybe wait for others' opinions before reading it.
-Ian

ETA: Thousandths are often pronounced as 'thou' in English speaking countries. So you could say: <Big Number> and sixty-nine thou.

[Availle]

Oh, I didn't have that association at all!

Thank you very much, that makes perfect sense! And thank you for the hint with the "thou", didn't know that either...

Learning by LibriVoxing - how I love this place!

[TriciaG]

Thank you very much, that makes perfect sense! And thank you for the hint with the "thou", didn't know that either...

Having lived in 2 English-speaking countries, I've never heard of the "thou" thing. I think you'd be safer to stick with "thousandths" so there's no confusion. I'd be confused if I heard "thou."

[Availle]

I have a friend who lived in the UK for a number of years - she does say "thou", but as abbreviation for "thousand".

[TriciaG]

Yes, I've heard that before. I think it's slang/colloquial as opposed to proper English.

[annise]

thousandths is a hard word to say for an English speaker so is often simplified when spoken but I've never seen it written. And since we went metric it doesn't come up often

Anne

[GrayHouse]

This article suggests that 'thou' is a usual way to refer to a thousandth of an inch. Thinking about it, that's probably the context in which I've most often used it. So in this case, 'thousandths' is probably more appropriate. Also thinking about it, I think the author of the book is being spuriously accurate given the size of the numbers involved. But that's a different matter....
-Ian