I think I didn't get the joke because it seems completely plausible that a localization application that did unit conversion would work in both directions, depending on what it found in the text. (I still think, based on what I've seen of publishing, that it was probably done by hand, mind you; Just that given the premise that some sort of algorithm beyond simple search-and-replace was being used -- one that did unit conversions -- I don't think it unlikely that it would work as described.)