manxfamily

On another post, we briefly touched base on the old imperial vs metric problems.

Does anyone have any opinions worth airing on getting used to metric measures when in their new country.

The obvious one being beer, no pints, that must take some getting used to. Of course driving will also be different when miles don’t exist, and all of a sudden you don’t weigh yourself in stones and or measure your height in foot.

How long before those imperial days are forgotten about? (better be careful with the word imperial, the online extremists may think i’m an imperial infidel crusader! but that’s another kettle of fish (Do they have kettles of fish in Australia?)).

CheekyWeetus

Your right, beer isnt measured in pints down under. Your choice (assuming your not a stubbie or tinnie man) is a "mini", a "pot", or a "schooner". All you need to know is that a schooner is the biggest

I had never heard the term "stones" for weight until i moved to the UK, and it is still a weird concept to me (I mean, what if one stone is bigger than the other stone? How do i ensure that the stones I am using arent rocks?). Strangely however I have always measured height in feet and have no idea how tall I am in centimetres, metres or kilometres.

For as long as there are americans on this earth, the concept of imperial measures will never be gone

zx10r_aus

I thought a jug of beer was bigger than a schooner?

Scossie

Who told you there's no pints??

Every pub in Perth sells pints...

worzel

Out of interest, does anyone know why a country that got most of its influences from the UK has metric measurements? I assume they must have switched at some time in the past?

I know they moved from the Pound to the Dollar for money but even that is a US term and they still use imperial measures.

CheekyWeetus

Not in Qld

We always used a "jug" as a measure for how much bundy rum to put in your coke

brian0

The same thing happened in Canada back in the 70's. Talk about confusing - try switching measurement systems as a child growing up (as I did) and see how that affects people. I still prefer tempurature measurements in Fahrenheit but like distance measurements in meters/kilometers. I can't figure my weight in anything but pounds (don't even want to think about that weird "stone" concept!), but prefer kilograms for stuff like weighing stuff at the grocery store! Talk about screwed up!

As far as beer goes, I don't care what size they are as long as there are enough of them!

Cheers,
Brian

manxfamily

As I suspected it always comes down to beer and drinking.

zx10r_aus

Yeah well beer drinking is always a good way to try out new measurements. It is also behind many science experiments. In a way beer drinking is an educational tool. Maybe teachers should try this approach with their students. Behave the whole day and you'll get a six pack at the end of the day.......

manxfamily

Yes cant wait to try out a KM of beer!!

Megalania

"Low German daler, taler, from German Taler, short for Joachimstaler, afterJoachimstal (Jáchymov), a town of northwest Czech Republic where similar coins were first minted."

The Spanish Peso was legal tender throughout the USofA for many years after the American War of Independance from the British Crown.

Dollar

Taler

Metrification and currency decimalization: what a relief from calculating the price of a piece of timber measured in feet and inches and pounds, shillings and pence.

cresta57

You can buy pints in a lot of pubs in QLD.
Australia adopted the metric system in the late 60's early 70's about the same time the U.K started teaching kids in cm and m. Australia however went in feet first excuse the pun and changed the road signs to K's and fully embraced the metric system. South Africa did the same thing and even made the importation of imperial tape measures and rules illegal for a short time.
The U.K dragged its feet and still hasn't bit the bullet and changed the road signs.
Take a look at this site for an official take on the issue.
http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/internat.htm

manxfamily

A pretty concise reply, no more questions.

ABCDiamond

They even have pints in SA, although its only 3/4 of a UK pint

brisnick

in brisbane there's been an explosion of pubs selling pints (probably because of the explosion of brits coming here) in the last few years. i rarely find myself at a pub that doesn't sell pints - except maybe some of the up-market bars.