[Milsurplus] was French...

[C Whitaker]

de WB2CPN

French was chosen because that's where most of the
world standards organizations are headquartered.
At one time French was the language of diplomacy,
and still may be.  "The Society of the Hour" which
maintains the standards for time, and "System International"
which maintains the standards for just about everything
else, are in the French language.  WWV uses UTC which is
part of the SI standards.  The official "meter stick" resides
in a laboratory outside Paris.  There are notable exceptions
such as DIN which is German, and now the Chinese say
they're going to develop their own national standards.

Turn over another rock and there'll be something under it.

73  Clete