MartinLuther

I was with what you were saying

Different measures for different things. Acres works for small plots and hectares works for big plots.

The square mile of London will always be the square mile as the square 2.6 kms doesn't have the same ring.

THR

I guess that everyone in Australia knows how tall they are or how much they weigh in the metric system because that is the official system and those questions are often asked on bureacratic forms.

A different issue is whether some people still prefer the old system. People coming from Britain should also be familiar with the metric, in theory, but in practice it is often a futile hope.

jackhigh

It is illegal in the UK to show road signs in metric only. Must be imperial or a mix of the two.

jackhigh

Because this metric system has systematically been introduced against the wishes of the majority of the UK population and 45 years after the government started this policy the removal of Britain's traditional measures are still nowhere in sight. Why? Because most folk still use and understand imperial far better than metric and see no reason why we should give up these measurements because some bureaucrat in Brussels (and their lapdogs in the house of commons) feel that for whatever reasons the continued use of imperial measurements in the UK somehow threaten the entire economic future of Europe. What the hell does selling 2lb of bananas at the local market got to do with the economics of europe?

MartinLuther

I always thought the drive for metrication was a papist plot (just like the Gregorian calendar)

Swerv-o

This is a good point. Interesting how job advirtisements are always given as $87k, yet nobody ever says "I earn 87 kilodollars"

It's also interesting how the measures have changed, yet the parlance that comes with them hasn't caught up - a friend was looking at a motorcycle a couple of weeks back, and he asked what the mileage was. The sales guy looked pretty perplexed until he re-phrased the question and asked how many kilometres were on the clock. Strange that this hasn't become the kilometerage.

Personally, I think the metric system is a much more manageable system than the Imperial one, and is far simpler to understand.


S

MartinLuther

Metric is definitely easier. I wonder how many people in the UK actually know the Imperial system apart from the common ones like pint and pound. I've not met many who know how many yards in a chain or how many chains in a furlong.

Lord Kelvin once said "I look upon our English system as a wickedly, brain-destroying system of bondage under which we suffer".

Swerv-o

Couldn't agree with him more. At least the metric system is all in the same base.



I don't understand why people are so resolutely against the metric system. Based in the fundamental SI units, it's a system that is standardaised across the world, and can only make international trade and comerce easier. Only a handful of countries don't use it. Is it because it was started by the French, and it's just the British way to naturally hate anything frog like?


S

BadgeIsBack

Metric is easier unless you're talking about one or two everyday measures like height or weight I suppose...where you have a feel for the measure - and even then it depends on who you are having the conversation with. I'd mich rather follow a recipe in metric unless it uses cups in which case I have a measured cup to hand....

I feel sorry for the Yanks dealing with imperial in Physics texts - give me SI anyday...

Taffaroo

All the convicts I work with will give height in feet and Inches and weight in Kilo's or KGeeees as they call them.

Bladdy natives are restless.

homewardbound

and of course when it comes to baking the aussies love their CUPS

EvannTel

Interesting, not once heard of a baby weight here given in lbs and oz once, always grams. Regional difference maybe?



Would that be the same Lord Kelvin of the Kelvin temperature scale? Which is in fact the SI unit for temperature - not celsius?
So today we can expect a high of 291K!
Not that would make the weather much more fun!

MartinLuther

Yes that would. But there's the SI scale and the metric scale. Actually there's several metric scales. There's nothing to say that we should use the SI scale for every day life. Who'd want to know the distance to the next town in metres?

Lord Kelvin wasn't actually suggesting that the UK use his scale, he was hoping that the UK would adopt the metric system (which does include Celsius) and had even more hope that the US, being a newer country, would more readily adopt it. He wasn't always a good predictor of the future but his hopes (in this case) were still valid.

Did you know that Celsius was adjusted to fit in with the Kelvin scale? (And that the Fahrenheit scale was adjusted to fit in with the Celsius/Kelvin scales?) The Celsius scale make more sense for everyday use especially since they reversed Celsius' original designation of 100 = freezing point of water and 0= boiling point of water.

THR

How about shoe-sizes? Do you use the British 10,11,12 etc or the European 40,41,42,43 etc?

Btw what does 0F( -20C) mean? It must mean something because it is the beginning of the scale.

MartinLuther

I use which ever is appropriate. I'm size 14 UK and Aus, size 15 US and 49 European. I'd be happy if the whole world went European.

I find I have to be careful in Aus as some of the sizes are Aus and some are US.

0F is the lowest freezing point of water if you add salts (ammonium chloride I think).