The Hortlak, by Kelly Link
This is a completely random and/or insane idea I just had as I was taking the bus back to lab.
It's always bugged me that there is a convenient abbreviation of "milliliters" (i.e. mL = mills) and "milligrams" (i.e. mg = migs), But not for "microliters" or "micrograms", which come up almost if not just as often as "mills" or "migs,".
Since the first letter of the abbreviation "micro" (10^-6) is the greek letter mu (pronounced "mew") "microliters" and "micrograms" should be phonologically abbreviated as "mewls"(= mules) and "mewgs".
If we extend this out a bit farther, "nanograms" and "nanoliters" (10^-9) also come up quite frquently. We can call nanograms "nags" and nanoliters "nals". If you prefer, we could also take the second syllable of nano, "no" to call nanograms "nohgs" and nanoliters "knolls/gnolls".
Finally, picograms and picoliters (10^-12) become "Pigs" and "Pills" respectively.
This is pretty much the nerdiest thing ever. Yay for solving problems that don't really exist!
It's always bugged me that there is a convenient abbreviation of "milliliters" (i.e. mL = mills) and "milligrams" (i.e. mg = migs), But not for "microliters" or "micrograms", which come up almost if not just as often as "mills" or "migs,".
Since the first letter of the abbreviation "micro" (10^-6) is the greek letter mu (pronounced "mew") "microliters" and "micrograms" should be phonologically abbreviated as "mewls"(= mules) and "mewgs".
If we extend this out a bit farther, "nanograms" and "nanoliters" (10^-9) also come up quite frquently. We can call nanograms "nags" and nanoliters "nals". If you prefer, we could also take the second syllable of nano, "no" to call nanograms "nohgs" and nanoliters "knolls/gnolls".
Finally, picograms and picoliters (10^-12) become "Pigs" and "Pills" respectively.
This is pretty much the nerdiest thing ever. Yay for solving problems that don't really exist!