Ton or tonne
- Thread starter Berlingot
- Start date
Same word, two different spellings. I expect "ton" is AE and "tonne" is BE
Edit; Actually, there could be a difference in weight. Ton represents the non metric weight of 2000 lbs (or 2240 lbs if it's a "long" ton)
Tonne is the metric version (1000kg)
Edit; Actually, there could be a difference in weight. Ton represents the non metric weight of 2000 lbs (or 2240 lbs if it's a "long" ton)
Tonne is the metric version (1000kg)
Ton is not the same as tonne.
A tonne is, as you say 1000kg - that is 2205 pounds (more or less).
That is also sometimes called a metric ton.
An imperial ton is 20 hundredweight, 160 stone, 2240 pounds.
A tonne is, as you say 1000kg - that is 2205 pounds (more or less).
That is also sometimes called a metric ton.
An imperial ton is 20 hundredweight, 160 stone, 2240 pounds.
When the meaning is "lots of", do we write "tons of" or "tonnes of"? For example:
This issue has drawn tons/tonnes of attention.
This issue has drawn tons/tonnes of attention.
In AE, we'd say tons of . . . (I can't speak for BE).
In BrE we'd also say tons of ... unless we wanted to appear extremely foolish, or to make a joke of it
At work I keep on finding people writing things like 'tonnes of experience'. At first I corrected it; it was obvious to me that the old words should be used in old expressions. But as it kept coming up, I googled it and found there's now plenty of it out there. People have apparently adjusted to tons now being called tonnes and are using the current spelling even in the figurative way. I suppose they pronounce them the same, so it makes no difference to them.