Wait, what?
The term 3.5 inch floppy disc is in fact a misnomer. Whilst the specification for 5.25 inch floppy discs employs Imperial units, the later specification for the smaller floppy discs employs metric units.
The standards for these discs are […] all of which specify the measurements in metric, and only metric. These standards explicitly give the dimensions as 90.0mm by 94.0mm. It’s in clause 6 of all three.
↫ Jonathan de Boyne Pollard
Even the applicable standard in the US, ANSI X3.171-1989, specifies the size in metric. We could’ve been referring to these things using proper measurements instead of archaic ones based on the size of a monk’s left testicle at dawn at room temperature in 1375 or whatever nonsense imperial or customary used to be based on. I feel dirty for thinking I had to use “inches” for this.
If we ever need to talk about these discs on OSNews from here on out, I’ll be using proper units of measurement.
