Owell&#x27;s complaint that it&#x27;s hard to estimate sizes in cm is debatable.<p>As a tourist in Europe, I had plenty of people quote cm for various things that I would measure in feet and inches. It didn&#x27;t seem hard for them.<p>His argument around literary value is interesting.  There are many languages which may be superior in those respects.<p>English excels at being precise and scientific.