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Ask HN: Why is 100K singular but 20Megs plural?

1 points by JoeAltmaier ↗ HN
Got mentioned today in passing, we might say "That file is forty megs" but never "This flash capacity is five hundred twelve K's".

Why is that, do you think? What other singular-plural mismatches are there? Is this unique?

4 comments

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UmYeahNo
Because "kilos" already had a meaning outside of computer file size, but "megs" did not. So we understand "megs" to be megabytes, but "kilos" is usually a measure of weight. So there was a different shorthand for "kilobytes".

Now, maybe I'm the minority here, but I've not heard many people use the shorthand "K's" for kilobytes, but I have heard "kb's" as a shorthand, and "kb" would be pluralized in the same way as "megs". "Forty kb's" is definitely something I've heard before.

Similarly, we would not say "The file is forty Ms", which would be parallel to forty "K's".

solardev
For clarity, maybe we should just start saying "that file is thirty-nine point oh six two five kibs". Soon followed by "I have zero point zero friends".
Suppafly
The s. If you write 20meg, people will say the singular.
smidgeon
To avoid confusion with really big angry sharks