Wordsmith.org: the magic of words

Wordsmith Talk

About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us  

Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Page 1 of 3 1 2 3
#138501 02/02/05 09:37 AM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055
B
old hand
OP Offline
old hand
B
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055
I've just learned of this term but it is perhaps nothing new to many here. m-w.com turns up zip on this, dictionary.com too. The term is apparently fairly well known amongst publishers though. It is defined here www.gpcpapers.com/glossary.cfm as follows:

"The mass of a unit area of paper or board determined by the standard method of test: it is expressed in g/m2."

So is it etymologically related to 'grammar', and does this mean that correct writing carries more weight?


#138502 02/02/05 10:01 AM
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
P
veteran
Offline
veteran
P
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
does this mean that correct writing carries more weight?

Actually, correct writing carries less weight, B-Y, because there is less of it when it's done correctly. That's speaking volumetrically*, of course.

Have you noticed? The best writers can speak volumes without writing volumes. Publishers love that. It saves them a lot of grammage. [I wonder if there is a connection between "grammage" and "dunnage". Newspapers took their masthead from sailing ships so maybe they took their dunnage from that source as well. No-one wants to add ballast to a newspaper. It's just dead weight.]

* But qualitatively? Who could disagree with you? :)


#138503 02/02/05 11:05 AM
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
was this so obvious that it was deemed to be misleading?

Basis Weight: The weight in pounds of a ream of paper. Its metric counterpart is grammage, where mass per unit area is expressed in units of grams per square meter.

-ron o.

: )

edit: http://home.inter.net/eds/paper/grammage.html

#138504 02/02/05 11:10 AM
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
P
veteran
Offline
veteran
P
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385
Its metric counterpart is grammage, where mass per unit area is expressed in units of grams per square meter.

You just sunk my sailing ship theory, tsuwm. :(



#138505 02/02/05 11:28 AM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055
B
old hand
OP Offline
old hand
B
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055
> was this so obvious that it was deemed to be misleading?

Pardon me good man, I was merely looking to find out who uses or knows the word (and unit of m.) as it does seem thinly spread; and also to ascertain whether or not it is considered a useful coinage, rather than using 'basic weight' say. Sounds a little clunky to me and I don't know it, dat's all. [huff]


#138506 02/02/05 12:32 PM
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 389
enthusiast
Offline
enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 389
In some of the older versions of MS Word, when there was a big push for metrification in the US, the spell check function would display something like this:
< Tools, Spelling and Grammar >
Readability Statistics
Readability
Passive Sentences 6%
Flesch Reading Ease 67.1
Grammage 874.2 g/m2


What are the FRE units anyway?



#138507 02/02/05 02:23 PM
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,529
T
veteran
Offline
veteran
T
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,529
Grammage Spammage, mathcats, gimmie grammage on this...

Note: With deference to the quirks of the Faldage,
whose trap is tripped when the screen goes wideeeeeeee,
I'll defer this puzzle to a new thread. See
Grammage Spammage.


#138508 02/02/05 05:24 PM
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
sorry crispy-by, just reacting here to the notion that it's any more than it is. and for the record, gram is from the Greek word for for 'a small weight' (the L. gramma is the closest I can come), and grammar comes from classical L. and Gr. (grammatica in L.) denoting the methodical study of literature.

and so (misleadingly) it's not to be confused with grandmother/grandma/gramma/gram(s) either. : )


#138509 02/02/05 09:56 PM
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
Offline
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Grammage Spammage

A classic example of high cost/benefit ratio.


#138510 02/02/05 10:12 PM
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 33
M
newbie
Offline
newbie
M
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 33
Oh yes, Mister Faldage, you must one day tell me about the skin off your teeth.

Milum


Page 1 of 3 1 2 3

Moderated by  Jackie 

Link Copied to Clipboard
Forum Statistics
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,322
Members9,182
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
Newest Members
Ineffable, ddrinnan, TRIALNERRA, befuddledmind, KILL_YOUR_SUV
9,182 Registered Users
Who's Online Now
0 members (), 519 guests, and 4 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Top Posters(30 Days)
Top Posters
wwh 13,858
Faldage 13,803
Jackie 11,613
tsuwm 10,542
wofahulicodoc 10,535
LukeJavan8 9,916
AnnaStrophic 6,511
Wordwind 6,296
of troy 5,400
Disclaimer: Wordsmith.org is not responsible for views expressed on this site. Use of this forum is at your own risk and liability - you agree to hold Wordsmith.org and its associates harmless as a condition of using it.

Home | Today's Word | Yesterday's Word | Subscribe | FAQ | Archives | Search | Feedback
Wordsmith Talk | Wordsmith Chat

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith

Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5