Pounds And Ounces Vs Kilograms.

[Atheist]

Who here thinks that reverting to Imperial measurements is a good idea, other than as a way of asserting our Britishness? Would it help our international standing in the scientific and fiscal world? Or is it just a finger up to the foreigners?

[bobbinwales]

Interesting link to 1908 Olympics TotaTora. But I notice it includes lots of reports like this "Heat 1- Duffy won this heat by three yards." and "Heat 4- Walker was four yards ahead of the field when he finished. "

[ToraToraTora]

yeah, but the events were metric.

[KARL]

If my recollection about working on a USA government project is correct, then the reference "...except for ...surveying..." refers to the fact that USA construction plans often have ten inches (further divided into decimals) to the foot ..... to make calculation easier ! Measures were/are thus stated in X.YZ.... feet (yards were not used, if I remember correctly).

[KARL]

bobbinwales 20.26 We need to bear in mind that at the time the British would generally have no grasp of metric units and that Wiki are almost certainly simply quoting British contemporary sources. The rest of the world (USA and UK possessions excepted) would have received reports in metric units.

[bobbinwales]

yes, realise that Karl (tho my memory was that the races were 110 yards, 440 yards etc), but it shows what happens when we mix two systems. Like we weigh things in g and kg but people weight themselves in stones, and car tyres use metric and inches.

[Atheist]

I seem to remember that an American space vehicle crashed on one of our planets or satelites because the USA were working in their silly old Imperial units.

[Atheist]

It's nice that we don't have the religious people chipping in.

[Theland]

Ten commandments?

[davebro]

cubits?

[KARL]

Atheist 20.48 Yes, it was one of the contractors involved in building/programming some unit or other that read NASA specs for a trajectory or some such thing and enacted the thing in Imperial (USA version). Set of quite a few bouts of the sniggers (plus embarrassment) at the time - and its not so long ago either.

[Atheist]

Karl; and I don't think GB and USA have the same Imperial measures. Their pints are not British, neither is their beer ( is it 2% abv over there?)

[barry1010]

The only 'new' measurement in life is money.
I still buy my meat and veg by the lb and oz (the butcher and greengrocer don't bat an eyelid). The supermarket sells my milk in 6pt bottles, the pub sells my beer in pints.
The GP and nurse measures my height in ft and inches and weighs me in stones and pounds.
I still adhere to the speed limit at mph and I know how many mpg I should be getting from my car. I buy fuel for it the same way I always have done - I fill it up.
When I'm aboard the boat I sail at knots per hour.
I buy my eggs by the dozen.
I see no good reason to change.

[barry1010]

Atheist, Bud Light and Miller Light are 4.2% ABV in the US, Coors Light is 4.15
You can buy much weaker beer in the US, just as you can in the UK - but you can also buy much, much stronger beer such as The Bruery's Chocolate Rain at 20%

[THECORBYLOON]

UK legislation defines imperial measures in terms of metric units.

[jourdain2]

Me - before reading anything else. It made us think and learn as children. I have experience of both. When I lived in Fance I worked in metric; here I have, more than happily, reverted to pounds and ounces (more precise and familiar).

When I was a kid in school questions such as 'Add 3 stones to 1 and a half stones of spuds' really made you think and sort things out. Then you got on to cwts. etc.. Mental agility resulted. Au contraire when I copped the occasional maths. cover lesson in the '90's. They hadn't a clue about sizes, decimal points etc.. They honestly didn't know that if you multiplied 56 x 100 all you had to do was add the noughts. The answers they came up with, using their calculators, were laughable and pitiable. They didn't know that it couldn't be 5,600,000. No flexibility of brain.

[jim360]

*laughs in natural units*

[New Judge]

//When I'm aboard the boat I sail at knots per hour.//

Aaargh! Barry, Barry, Barry!

You sail at knots. A knot is unit of speed. It is one nautical mile per hour (which is one minute of an arc at the Earth's equator, equal to 6,076 feet or 1.1508 statute miles).

It is illegal to post mileages on roads in the UK in anything other than miles.

The old 240 pence pound is interesting. It was far more useful than a 100 pence pound. It could be divided equally by 2,3,4,5,6,8,10,12,15,16,20,24,30,40,48,60,80 and 120. 100 pence can only be divided equally by 2,4,5,10,20,25 and 50. Many of the £sd divisions had their own coins: 1d, 3d, 6d, 12d (one shilling), 24d (two shillings) 30d (half-crown) and 60d (the less common crown). There was also a 120d note (ten shillings). These divisions were useful when things were cheaper but less so now as not much costs less than a pound.

[Zacs-Master]

Oooh, another classic old farts Answerbank thread.

[New Judge]

The thing is, Zacs, "Old Farts" had to cope with the transition - even the young ones. I don't know that many Young Farts would be able to. It doesn't bother me too much. I can cope with either Imperial or Metric. I can convert most units from one to the other in my head (near enough for most purposes anyway). I prefer Imperial for beer and still convert my litres of petrol (ridiculous measure for fuel) into gallons. Miles per gallon is useful; litres per 100km is not (especially as measurements in kilometres is illegal in the UK).

This is necessarily an Old Farts' thread because Young Farts have not been educated in Imperial units. But since there is a (almost uncontrolled) mixture of both which shows no sign of ending any time soon, they would do well to grasp the basics.

[Zacs-Master]

I was 7 / 8 when it all happened, NJ. I started school being taught imperial (should that word be banned?) but then, whoooosh, we all had to learn metric. So your preaching to the converted (geddit….converted?….ah please yerself).