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Either form is acceptable as you will see if you look.

I presume this is another case of evolution of language by democracy.


'Mega' means or stands for 'Million'; 'Meg' does not.



I could argue that I wrote "Are you sure it wasn't 999 Mega ohms?" for emphasis but there is no point.

Do you know why the 'a' is omitted?
 
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I agree that the SI unit (at least in Britain) is stated as Megohm and they even say "note the 'a' is omitted" but don't say why.
Google has no results for "why is there no a in Megohm" (with " ") so I can only assume no one has thought to ask before.
Just evolution for no reason, I presume.

I am not averse to a nice semantic or spelling discussion and I accept that Megohm is (at least in Britain) the "norm" but there is not much point in you being too forceful in emphasizing an illogical and seemingly unnecessary abbreviation.
If I continue to write Mega ohm (no red underline for spell check; Megaohm does get a red underline) instead of Megohm then I don't think it too much of a crime. Can I (or do you?) use Megvolts and Megamps?

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/megaohm
http://www.convertunits.com/info/megaohm
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=megaohm

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=mega
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=meg
 
Oh, that reminds me, they had said GREATER than 999 OHM, though as said there helpdesk do tend to translate things wrong before it reaches us
 
Can't be bothered to look back but that is what I thought you said.

That's why I asked if it was Mega ohms - because if using a IR tester it would not read OL on >999 ohms; only >999MΩ.

If using a multimeter, it's unlikely to stop at 999Ω. I think.
 
I agree that the SI unit (at least in Britain) is stated as Megohm and they even say "note the 'a' is omitted" but don't say why.
Perhaps because, unless one uses diaresis, "ao" in the middle of a word is not really pronounceable in English??

I see that you haven't yet suggested that we should use use "kiloohm" (which is pronounceable, albeit not in the manner one would want!)

Kind Regards, John
 
Perhaps because, unless one uses diaresis, "ao" in the middle of a word is not really pronounceable in English??
I have no trouble pronouncing Megaohm beit one word or two.
I would suggest we use two words which is what they are. What result does omitting the space achieve?
If people think it is a diphthong then so be it.

I see that you haven't yet suggested that we should use use "kiloohm" (which is pronounceable, albeit not in the manner one would want!)
To be honest, I hadn't realised kilohm was the word.

If we always used two words then people would pronounce kilo metre correctly.
They are all foreign words so English rules don't really apply.

I don't expect the rules to be changed but, as I said, I don't consider writing Mega ohm a big deal.
We could write million; it doesn't take that much longer. The letters are better grouped than mega.
 
I have no trouble pronouncing Megaohm beit one word or two.
Presumably because you pronounce it as two words (i.e. as if there were a diaresis over the "o")?
I don't expect the rules to be changed but, as I said, I don't consider writing Mega ohm a big deal.
Agreed - the meaning is clear, either way. However, terms of 'sloppy' colloquial language, I would normally speak of, say "a 1 meg resistor", never a "one mega resistor".

Kind Regards, John
 
Of course, in English with there being only one G, it should be pronounced "meegohm"; also only one L in kilo, so (don't know how to write this) "k-eye-lohm" or, if sticking to foreign, "keelohm".

I shall write MΩ and kΩ in future.
 

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