Colloquial Names

In addition to systematic quantitel names, Primel proposes "colloquial" names, or "nicknames", for some of the coherent units, as well as for some useful multiples and dozenal powers of the coherent units. Some of these proposed nicknames will be purely fanciful. For instance:

  • Because the ⚀timel is rather short and fleeting, Primel proposes the colloquial name vibe·time for this. 
  • Because the unqua·timel is about the time to blink an eye, Primel proposes nicknaming this the twinkling·time
  • Because the lengthel is about the size of a bit of food pinched between thumb and forefinger, Primel proposes nicknaming it the morsel·length.

But in many cases a nickname will be proposed because a unit closely approximates a customary or SI unit. For instance:

  • Because the trina·lengthel approximates the customary inch (which in other languages is called a "thumb", e.g. Latin pollex), Primel proposes to nickname this the thumb·length (or pollical·length). 
  • Because the unqua·lengthel approximates the customary "hand" measure, Primel proposes to nickname this the hand·length (or manual·length).
  • Because the trina·unqua·lengthel approximates the customary foot, Primel proposes to nickname this the foot·length (or podial·length).
  • And so forth.

Primel colloquial names often follow a pattern that concatenates the thematic "prime" prefix, plus a "colloquial" adjective (often of Classical origin ending in -al or -ar), plus the plain English word for the physical quantity being measured. For instance:

  • The colloquial adjective hand·, concatenated with the physical quantity length, yields the colloquial name hand·length for the unqua·lengthel.

Primel leverages this pattern to name related units for derivative physical quantities, by reusing these colloquial adjectives with different physical quantity names. For instance:

  • The biqua·areanel, an area of one square hand·length, is nicknamed a hand·area.
  • The triqua·volumel, a volume of one cubic hand·length, is nicknamed the hand·volume.
  • The triqua·massel, a mass of one hand-volume of water, is nicknamed the hand·mass.
  • The ⚀triqua·forcel or ⚀triqua·weightel, the force or weight of one ⚀hand·mass in Earth's gravity, is nicknamed a ⚀hand·force or ⚀hand·weight.
  • The ⚀quadqua·energel or ⚀quadqua·workel or ⚀quadqua·heatel, the energy or work or heat needed to lift a ⚀hand·mass by one ⚀hand·length against Earth's gravity, or to heat a ⚀hand·mass of water by one ⚀hand·temperature, is nicknamed a ⚀hand·energy or ⚀hand·work or ⚀hand·heat.
  • The ⚀unqua·temperaturel, the temperature change imparted to a ⚀hand·mass of water by one ⚀hand·heat, is nickenamed a ⚀hand·temperature.
  • The ⚀unqua·timel, the time to traverse one ⚀hand·length at one ⚀velocitel, is nicknamed the ⚀hand·time.
  • The ⚀triqua·powerel, a rate of power which applies one ⚀hand·energy per each ⚀hand·time, is nicknamed a ⚀hand·power.
  • The ⚀unqua·pressurel, a pressure which applies one ⚀hand·weight per each ⚀hand·area, is nicknamed a ⚀hand·pressure.
  • And so forth.

Primel's length units have a robust set of colloquial names running up and down the magnitude scale, from the microscopic to the macroscopic, associating these lengths with certain objects that exist at those scales. Because of this, and because of the above naming pattern, Primel can construct colloquial names for many derivative units at all these scales.

See Also: