G'day Bill,

Interestingly, I always pronounced "kilometres" as (~) kil-om-metters - approximating the pronunciations from my high school French. It was only when 'metrication' was seriously adopted in Australia - and the long term Liberal (ultra-conservative) Party government temporarily ousted by the Labor Party - that the Official pronunciation became "kill-O-meters" ... And that was claimed to be because that was the "International" (read "American") pronunciation ... and even then, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam - a classicist (and Graecist) of note always preferred the pronuciation with which i was familiar!

Regards,

Bob Bolton