The Mother of All Measurements

摘要

In September of 1939, the month thatwitnessed the birth of World War II, acomic strip made its inaugural DC Comicsappearance. It was called Supermanand was the work of Joe Shuster and JerrySiegel. And the city where Supermanworked under guise of a newspaper reporter? It was called Metropolis, a rathergeneric choice, and meaning, in Greek,mother city. It defined those mother citiesin Attica from whence satellite cities werespawned when metropolitan adventurersfounded distant Mediterranean colonies.The abbreviated word, Metro, has nowtaken on broader, more urbane meaningsas synonyms either for the subway system,the downtown shopping center of a largecity or, as the more abbreviated, Met,signifying an opera house or museum.