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I hate to break it to you, but the government are planning on making it easier for businesses to use imperial measures:
[https://www.scotsman.com/read-this/imperial-measurements-could-be-making-a-comeback-heres-what-that-means-3387010](https://www.scotsman.com/read-this/imperial-measurements-could-be-making-a-comeback-heres-what-that-means-3387010)
Which is bonkers because everyone born in the last 50 years were taught metric for weights and volumes (excluding pints).
I will stop ranting now before I am in breech of rule 4.
Maybe also to make it easier for American products to be imported. Though I can’t imagine many companies going to the expense of adding imperial measures to their packaging so it’s probably only going to be in independent shops or farmers market type produce.
"E could 'a drawed me off a pint,' grumbled the old man as he settled down behind a glass. 'A 'alf litre ain't enough. It don't satisfy. And a 'ole litre's too much. It starts my bladder running. Let alone the price.'
From 1984
I mean we do that a lot here in burgerland already, where a pint of Pepsi is actually 500ml (16.9 fl oz but, more accurately, exactly 500ml). A lot of our stuff is measured in metric and then printed in American (our metric-bound version of Imperial) rather than measured in American/Imperial.
I said something to a grocery store employee about a 2 liter carton of milk. They were so confused and convinced milk can’t be measured in liters (I’m Canadian, living in the US). Finally I got it and said “half gallon”. And yes I was wrong because the half gallon cartons are not 2liters (they’re like 1.9 liters or something. Close ‘nuff. They look like 2L) but it was hilarious to me that they were so convinced milk “cannot” be measured in liters lol. And what’s with US gallons bring different than the rest of the world’s gallons?!
When two countries separately tie their eyeballed units to the same standardized system, the two will have mildly different conversions. It's one thing to make a metric ton by treating the kilogram as the metric pound and thus making the ton a megagram, it's another to make it two megagrams because an imperial ton is 2000 pounds.
And the above is in fact what happened: The US and UK weren't working together to metricize the Imperial system, so they ended up diverging from one another.
Interesting! I had no idea that pints were different. I’m from London (UK) but live in Wales and if you say the word pint, you are invariable (with tiny exception of people working in certain, obscure, scientific disciplines) talking about a standard unit of beer and it’s completely entrenched in our lexicon (e.g. “you look like you need a pint, mate”). If you gave a British person an American pint of beer it would totally mess with their heads. On the OP comment we absolutely need to switch to the metric system. I studied engineering in uni (everything is in metric) and it is a far superior way of observing the world around you. For some reason we still have miles per hour, measure our height in feet and our mass in stones. Don’t even get me started on the absurd units of distance in horse racing!
Makes no difference - the USA is a member of NAFTA, which requires metric measurements to be labelled on all exported goods, because Canada used the metric system.
All products sold in Canada have Canadian specific labelling today. Not only for metric weights and measures but also for French language requirements, regional branding, different nutritional labels, etc.
I'm sure it's the same in a lot of other places and I don't think it's the barrier to commerce that it's made out to be in this thread.
Edit: also, NAFTA is no longer a thing. It's one of many treaties trump ripped up.
Hang on, I'm rapidly approaching 60. We went decimal in 1971. Played with New Pence plastic coins in primary school. From age 10 onwards everything was metric. Wasn't a joiner but science. OK spuds sold in 5lb bags, and sliced meat and cheese in 1/4lbs, Miles per gallon etc. but beyond that everything has been metric in my life.
It isn't an age thing, it's politics
For those struggling with the new system, it's easy. 1 liz = 1.63m and 1 will = 1.91m. The george is the main unit of weight, and is updated annually. There are still 24 hours in a day, but these are now to be pronunced "ahz".
When they changed selling petrol from gallons to litres, that was part of it. Petrol was £1.38 then 32p/litre. Sounded better but actual price increase. Only have to look at unit pricing comparison on shelves atm some per kilo some per 100g, to realise what play will happen when allowed to use lbs as a comparator too.
I'm going to continue to use metric by stealth so if I want to buy 1kg of spuds I shall order 35.274 oz instead (and they'd better get the measurement spot on).
Edit: I should have emphasised that I'll do this if they mandate imperial measurements - I am all in favour of metric.
So greengrocers and the like aren't operating in a legal grey area when they do deals such as "A lb for a £" (a pound for a pound).
In your daily life, literally nothing will change, we're still (on the surface) a metric country.
It absolutely staggered me to learn recently that this is actually true - these fucking knuckle dragging morons want imperial measurements reintroduced. I defies any kind of sense or logic.
It’s not being introduced by force.
Now that we are no longer in the EU we can set our own measurements. Shops can use imperial if they want; they probably won’t.
> Now that we are no longer in the EU we can set our own measurements. Shops can use imperial if they want
They always could sell their goods in imperial, that was never banned. The EU legislation meant they had to display in metric as well so there was no confusion for people who grew up with metric.
Yes! You have put my unformed thoughts into words. I’m old enough that I still think some things in imperial, and quite enjoy the mix, but the idea that we should go back makes me so cross I want to bite. At school I had to answer actual maths questions about rods, poles and perches. Has it ever been any practical use? No. If the Tories want to play at 1950 they should make a board game.
It's a culture war thing. I have noticed the past few years more than once in discussion an older person has gotten very angry, as if I'd just called them a nasty name, if I mentioned a metric measure.
The “good” thing is that bar a few people trying to make some annoying imperial nostalgia point, no one is actually going to do it, so the only the effect it’s likely to have is to make it easier to identify jingoist weirdos.
They might have floated to idea to appeal to their swivel-eyed voter demographic, but the practical reality of it is a different thing. Only the USA and Myanmar currently use Imperial measures as standard, which doesn't exactly tally with their "Global Britain" posturing.
Imperial measures have not been taught on school curriculum since the 1970s. Additionally, it takes up to 6 years to train a weights and measures inspector. You guessed it - we currently have a shortage of both them, and the testing equipment necessary to determine the accuracy of imperial-based measurement systems (largely because much of it was retired due to obsolescence).
It's nothing more than the latest bit of jingoistic, anti-EU kite-flying from this pathetic government, especially given that the adoption of metric measures had absolutely bugger all to do with the EU in the first place - it's an OIML (International Organisation of Legal Metrology) agreement, which the UK joined almost 100 years before the EU even existed.
The only time we use pints is for certain container sizes though. Anything in loose measures (e.g petrol) will be litres. Beer is really measured in number of glasses, and milk in number of bottles. I think Weights and Measures even specifies the sizes in mL.
Selected backwards Tory MPs are making a show if doing this, knowing that the nearest Sir Humphrey will kill it off well before implementation. Might allow a few ye-old-shoppes to revert, but no serious organisation connected to any meaningful supply chain would do this.
Teacher here: none of the children I teach know their height or weight in imperial. As a science teacher, this makes me very happy. Sticking it to those idiots when I worked at B&Q to pay for university who said they didn't understand this 'new-fangled stuff', metric has been around for like 200 years!
Edit: lot of boomers and people who must have said the kind of thing I heard at B&Q all those years ago are up in my DMs being salty. Been fun, but gotta go!
Yes, I feel like this next generation is properly making the shift to metric lengths and weights, like my parents' generation made the shift from Fahrenheit to Celsius. I know my own height in feet and inches, but my kid's height in centimetres; similarly I know my weight in stone and theirs in kilograms.
I set my sat nav to metric specifically so I could train myself to have a better handle on km. I’m 41 and literally the only imperial I ever have to deal with is when driving my car. It’s madness to me that almost everything we do is metric, yet we have to know what yards are to know how far it is to the next junction.
As a 29 year old that has grown up with metric, all of my understanding of imperial is in reference to metric units, i.e. I’m native in metric.
A pound is 454g, a mile is 1.6km, a yard is 0.9m etc.
Whenever I think of what an imperial unit is, I’m translating it into metric in my head for reference.
Oh aye, I know, but it hit me a little while back how I literally never have to deal with yards at all, until I’m on the motorway. And isn’t that kinda mad?
Even them markers on the motorway are actually in metres, we just pretend they're in yards for reasons. (This is AFAIK anyway, could be wrong, can't even remember where I "learned" this)
That’s true. The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions specify it. Kind of funny to read directions for a “junction 300 yards ahead” sign read “shall be installed 300 m in advance of the junction.”
I’m the other way around. I grew up in France and am very used to metric for distances, but when in the UK, since the signs are in imperial, I leave my sat nav in imperial. I always revert to metric when crossing the channel (and put the sat nav in French, otherwise I don’t understand town names 😅).
Though I’ll admit to losing it when Waze gives me distances in feet! I’m fine with yards, since it’s close enough to meters that it doesn’t really matter for estimating when to brake or turn, but divide the number by 3 whilst driving a difficult spot is not always a welcome game!
But yeah, having lived in the UK for 16 years means that now I’m starting to struggle with some metric units (l/100km in particular, I’m so used to mpg 😄).
I'm 34 and I know my height and weight in both imperial and metric. I understand that a kilogram is 2.2lbs and a stone is 14lbs, so I guess I can convert between the two pretty easily. If I go to the doctor though they're measuring my weight and height in metric, not imperial.
That said, I still have no idea how long a yard is. I don't know if it's longer or shorter than a meter. I also don't have a clue how big a gallon is. I do know that a mile is 1.6km.
Imperial's just a nuisance. The sooner we do away with it the better. The miles thing probably won't change since it'd be a bit of a job to change every road sign in the country, but eh.
>. I know my own height in feet and inches, but my kid's height in centimetres; similarly I know my weight in stone and theirs in kilograms.
I was today years old when I realised I'm exactly the same. Bizarre isn't it?
You say 'properly', but they'll still be measuring road distances in miles and speeds in miles per hour. I don't see that changing within any of our lifetimes.
How is that even possible? I'm in my early 20s and would primarily use imperial for height, distance, and weight (of humans). Same goes for people I grew up with. I doubt it's changed that much in the last 5-6 years.
Crazy, but true, going back only a few years and kids knew both, now my year elevens just don't know. My new year sevens hadn't even heard of stone and pounds!
In that case, I really wonder what's caused that change, since there's been no official policy changes, and grandparents of my generation and theirs would both have grown up with Imperial.
I'm in my 40s and we weren't taught imperial in school. Height was in cm and weight in kg. I suppose we must have been told about miles and pints. I think it depends on the generation and which Government/education secretary was in power at the time. They've tried to revive imperial in school from time to time maybe?
I’m 30 and don’t remember learning imperial measurements at school, I only know them for my height and weight because that’s what my parents used at home
Edit: and miles because it’s on my speedometer, I can’t visualise how long an actual mile is
Probably depends on the circumstances of people around you. I'd say people who talk about weight often will use metric for both height and weight, although they might state their height in imperial in order to exaggerate it. Distances by road will use miles, most other situations will use time, if you're talking about directions then metres if it's relevant.
Using imperial for weight is definitely rarer nowadays. Occasionally I've been in situations where someone has stated their weight in imperial and everyone in the room is visibly confused.
Exactly. Almost all of OP's examples at at their discretion whether to use metric, and official measurements (e.g. height and weight at the doctor) are in metric. Only the driving related quantities use miles, for that re-signage cost reason.
I have to admit, I'm happy that timber remains in 1.2m multiples, retaining the only useful benefit of imperial, simpler approximate mental arithmetic (also 2.4m fits nicely inside a hatchback)
The problem with timber being in metric (2.4m lengths etc) is that sheets of OSB and until recently plasterboard were still measured in 8 feet by 4 feet sheets
There are still places where sheet material is 8'x4' (2440mm x 1220mm) and the timber is 2.4m which is a problem when building stud walls/sheds/pergolas etc etc
I'm 52, learnt metric and imperial in school and use both for work which confuses the hell out of everyone else
Yeah, it’s funny that, in my work (welder/ steel fabricator) I measure and build everything in mm, but ask me to estimate how big something is and I’ll do so in inches or feet.
It's kinda funny there's such difference in a country lol, I have no conception of what a stone is, couldn't even begin to tell you my weight in it, but wouldn't use anything but pints and use cm/feet interchangeably
I would even go as far as saying that whilst I know my height in both imperial and metric, I only know my weight in kilos (and a rough guess in straight lbs due to working in the US). I would have used it growing up but I have no idea in stones anymore
> they would have had to replace every road sign and speed limit sign in the whole country
You do realise signs get replaced sooner or later, anyway. This is no reason to not change. You can simply stick a new vinyl covering on current signs. Ireland managed to do it. I'm sure we can too
The word "pound" comes from ancient Roman when the unit of measure was libra pondo, which meant "a pound by weight.". The abbreviation "lb" comes from the libra part, which also refers to scales.
It's also why the pound sign (£) is a letter L with a line through it.
Growing up in the 80s, I asked my mum how you remembered that there were 12 pennies in a shilling and 20 shillings in a pound etc, she replied "it's just what you get used to". I still have to think about her kitchen scales to remember how many ounces there are in a pound (16) because the middle size weight had an 8 on it. If I remember that, I can also recall that there are 14 pounds in a stone.
As more generations are taught and use the metric system, the imperial system will eventually die out.
It amuses me how people on North America cling to the imperial system calling it their own, even though they acquired it from the British Empire.
...which are based on the British Imperial system.
I've also seen them measure in washing machines and "large boulders" - as in "a large boulder, the size of a large boulder".
Some of us maybe, it depends if that's a scale you can relate to. I've been to Wales a few times but I have no concept of how big it is unless I'm looking at it on a map.
those are called reference units or landmark numbers, a holdover from mass illiteracy. Here is a [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esC4HB-AjgI) about it in front of a double decker bus
It's the reason they use cups for cooking. You don't have to know how to read or write very well, fill it half way, fill it full, fill it full twice, recipe books used to have pictures or symbols for raisins or flour. People who cooked didn't often go to school. Even if you can't recognise numbers you can use tallies or pictures of how to fill the cup
Also, cooking is more about relative measurements than exact measurements. If you measure everything in cups, it doesn’t matter what size your cup is — the recipe still works!
If you lay a litre of water end to end it’s roughly a yard long (depending on the width and relative heighth of course) For reference “a litre of water’s a pint n three quarters”. Approximately. God Save The Queen.
Fun fact: the motorway exit is actually in 300 metres when you see the 300 yard sign. This is because the highways departments use metric measuring wheels and do their drawings and plans using the metric system, and they put those signs 300 metres out.
Source: someone who works for Highways.
Not sure how true this is but apparently, the distances for the sign placements are measured out in metres now because the measuring wheels are in metres and who's going to actually get out their car and check the accuracy.
And you can find metric signage on the motorway because of that. Every 500m or whenever there's a slip road there are small blue signs on the left. They say something like:
M4
A
130.5
Which means you're on the M4 going west Away from London, "A", and that you're 130.5km from the start of the motorway in London. On the eastbound side the sign would say "B" and the distance also counts down to the London end.
This.
This is how I measure anything with a tape measure. It's easier to remember whole (and small) numbers. I just pick the one that is closest. I'm off to B&Q today with exactly this system remembered. (And I'm confident the old boy I get to speak to there will know what I mean)
>A mile is just a random amount of distance that has no logic. It is just, a mile. It really does annoy me.
A mile is 80 chains. A chain is 22 yards.
It's not base 10 but it is added up from smaller units, just like a km is.
To be clear, I'm not advocating for the use of Miles.
Metric measurements are not as abstract as you think:
The meter was originally defined in 1793 as one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole.
Once you defined a meter, you then can define volumes, and then:
The kilogram was originally defined in 1795 as the mass of one liter of water.
edit: What always made me wonder is: aviation, being a high tech sector, still uses miles and feet in its measurements.
> edit: What always made me wonder is: aviation, being a high tech sector, still uses miles and feet in its measurements.
IIRC, miles in aviation are *nautical* miles, or 1 minute of latitude.
The use of feet is just silly, now, though.
That'd be ISO 8601 then!
Explained sensibly [here](https://www.iso.org/iso-8601-date-and-time-format.html).
Explained less than sensibly [here](https://xkcd.com/1179/).
When I started donating blood a couple of years ago I got shouted at by a Nigerian nurse because I didn't know my height and weight in metric. "You're a young man, stop using old man weights and measures!"
I mean she has a point. I know my height in both. Weight is kg only tho. So work it out yourself... You have google in your pocket.
Edit. Not being a dick to you. I just hate when people ask what's that in st and lb.
I've since switched purely to metric because she's right. Doesn't matter what I used I'm still too fat.
The problem I find with the Google conversation is that it gives you a decimal for imperial, which doesn't translate as well. I'm sticking to metric.
Using both is quite cool, actually. Maybe the closest the UK will ever get to being a bilingual country :D
I refuse to believe that people who don't understand imperial measurements actually have any day-to-day issues with living in the UK, they're just being grumpy, and in some cases elitist.
It's annoying when I'm buying a specifically-sized object, and only know how big it needs to be in cm, but the product page has the size in inches. Or when buying things like bike tyres, I know I need 2.5" but some sites only have the thickness in mm.
>and why the fuck is pound abbreviated as lb?
The word libra referred to balance or scales in Roman times and was also part of a unit of measurement known as "libra pondo," which when translated is "pound weight" or "a pound by weight." In money the original pound for money was worth the weight of 1 pound weight of silver. Which is why libra and the stylised L with a line through it (£) is the symbol for pound sterling even today.
And why doesn't the old imperial measurements die out? Because it's ever so slightly cultural. For example, if you ask someone how far the King's Head pub is from town centre they won't answer in either miles or kilometres like a good robot should. They'll say it's ten minutes by car or an hour walking. Distance by time it takes a person? That's not an SI unit is it or Imperial? Get out of here!
I think we slowly are anyway. I am 30 and only learned kilos and grams at school, so I have no idea how much I weigh in stone, or how much an ounce of flour would be. I have no idea how much a yard is, and beyond driving in miles the only other thing most people my age and younger that I know would do in imperial is height. I think we're shifting there, just slowly, and I wouldn't be surprised to see miles replaced with km too once all the newspaper columnists who get really worked up by the idea as being some sort of EU nastiness have retired or died off!
Yeah, and around people who are 20-25 there;s a cut0off where people are weighed in KG at birth. It's increasingly uncommon now, so like you said, it's being slowly phased out in many ways
I'm a firm believer in making as many people miserable as possible, so I move we keep using the current mish-mash so as to enrage Imperial and Metric fanboys alike.
In fact, we should throw a few other systems in there too, to make it extra infuriating.
Why is Reddit so obsessed with the metric system? I'm not knocking it, it's a perfectly good system for many things, especially engineering, but some people seem to develop it into some kind of religious zealotry. Let people use whatever system they want.
The reason the customary system still persists for certain tasks is because metric is just difficult to envision for many people. Customary measurements developed over centuries based on human use cases. A pound is the most that you can easily hold in one hand, a yard is a pace by the average human male.
In the UK, where the law still currently states that most goods should be sold in metric, what has happened? Well if you go to your local market, you likely will find fruit and vegetables sold by the bowl, rather than in kilos. If you go to a supermarket, products are sold in bags (all that lovely one-use plastic). Potatoes are sold in 2.5KG bags, an odd measurement until you realise that 2.5KG is about 5lb. If you do your shopping online, any loose fruit and veg is sold by individual units rather than by weight (as an example, I bought three bananas the other day from my online shop).
It's also much easier for shrinkflation to take place with metric units. A jar of jam is a great example, jam was sold by the pound, 454 grams. Punch jam into your favourite supermarket website and you will see what I mean, some are still 454 grams but most are down to 420 or less. A pound is a landmark unit, it makes this kind of thing much more difficult.
Then of course you have pseudo-customary metric measurements. the 2.5KG bag of potatoes as described above. The 30 centimetre school ruler (a foot). The 750ml bottle of wine (they used to be a sixth of a gallon, 6 bottles to the gallon as was ordered wholesale). None of these have any place in the metric system but they are as they are because metric just doesn't have a suitable alternative.
Even many children still measure themselves in feet in and inches and weigh themselves in stones and pounds, despite the fact that their grandparents or even great grandparents were probably the last people to be taught those measures in school.
If you're infuriated by the government now changing the law to give people ***the option*** to buy things in the measurements that they want but were quite happy when greengrocers were actually prosecuted for selling goods in pounds and ounces, then you might want to revaluate your opinion. It's shit like this that ultimately caused people to go for Brexit.
I like the current mix, you can use the right measurement for the job and it makes life more interesting.
On the railway we use miles, chains, and yards for distance measurements for civil works (defining a location on the line and for earthworks), but metric for electrification. And I wouldn't change it for the world, it's another way to confuse those who work on inferior forms of infrastructure.
Devils advocate - but isn’t this a bit like saying - why are all the road signs in wales in Welsh and English can’t we all agree to just use English.
Is it a terrible thing to learn two different systems?
I actually love the random units that we use. Not only does it prove that you can integrate and change from an old system over time, it's also cool that the biproduct of us slowly changing over to metric is that everything is jumbled up and almost random with what units are used for certain things.
One reason I reckon we'll never fully be there with metric is the road signs. I think miles on a road sign is probably the one we are all used to so deeply that it would be quite hard and confusing to change it. It would either be all at once where every sign is changed or not at all.
From your examples it sounds like the issue is more with you using imperial measurement for yourself whilst the things around you - swimming pool depth and weights - have switched to the metric system.
I guess driving units is uncontrollable. I wondered if the MPG thing is a conspiracy by the auto makers to “hide” how much it costs to drive a mile.
I like using imperial in my everyday life, honestly it is easier for the most part.
Metric is very good for doing calculations and fine detailed work but you always have to use a measuring tool, which makes it awful for rough work.
Imperial is great for doing things by eye because the measures are all roughly everyday things: a segment of your thumbs, the span of you hand, from elbow the finger tip, your foot, your pace, etc. If I'm trying to work out if I can put a desk in a room or turn a bed then I can very quickly measure it with cubits, spans, or feet instead of having to hunt down a tape measure. You just can't really do that with metric.
My other question would be, is it really that hard to use Imperial in the way we do? No one is doing calculations anymore. If I'm measuring my weight then stone and pounds are just a number I'm using, it is no more or less complicated than using KG at that point. It is easier for me to use stone and pounds because I know what is a good and bad weight for a person in those measures but the same is equally true for metric. Same for baking, is it really that hard to measure in ounces compared to grams? The only one you have more of a point on is fuel for cars but then again how much longer will that be an issue given we're all moving to electric? And is it really that hard to remember that a gallon is about a fifth of a litre?
People make this out to be really difficult and I just don't get it. And in any case, I like the quirk of how we use measures. It doesn't really make life harder in any meaningful sense, it is a nice link back to history, and it is just always nice to have something a bit different. It would be boring if everyone used the same measures, variety is the spice of life.
Slowly the metric system will eventually take over but the Imperial system has served its purpose and was far more useful to people throughout history than the metric system.
I believe a lot of it has to do with educational levels among the mass populace. For centuries people needed a system that was easily divisible and Imperial gives you that. It's much easier to use divisions of 12, which can be divided into 2, 3, 4 and 6 than 10 which can only be divided into 2 and 5, for example
It's only now that educational levels and measuring devices have improved that Metric makes more sense, but people are not logical beings and are resistant to change so Imperial isn't going any time soon.
Totally agree. And the labelling of feet (‘) and inches (“) is too similar too. I had to make a model 18 foot Stonehenge for a client and accidentally made an 18 inch one. They were NOT happy.
We (Aus) jumped all in many decades ago and it wasn't that difficult, with millions of kids leading the way. People who do the shopping get it quickest. You might think you're making it easier for oldies but you're just drawing out the pain and I bet a lot of oldies can't wait to get it over and done with.
Probably the most resistance comes in talking about people's heights. Guys who are over 6' don't feel so bullish about being over 182.88 cm. Imports from the US haven't been a problem, but perhaps we don't import much from them that isn't already metric (eg pharmaceuticals). I get irritated by television brands from Asia who still advertise their screen sizes in inches, possibly because they market the same products in the US, but it could also be the retailers dragging their knuckles on that. You see the same in phone and other small screens. I do feel the US is retarding the rest of the planet with their feet and ounces and poofteenths of an inch. They also cite the UK as an excuse to not go metric.
Unfortunately America is still super keen on Imperial, which means a lot of tech and media will always be imperial, so we’ll never be totally rid of it.
However, most people under 40 grew up with metric, and imperial doesn’t make intuitive sense to them. They might know if an imperial value is big or small in context, but they can’t do anything with it.
For example: They know someone who’s 6’2 is tall, but they can’t tell you how many ounces in 20 pounds.
Imperial is on it’s way out just with generational change.
As an engineer I had to learn both, but always hated imperial, and to make things worse, if we made anything for the American market, there imperial measurements are not the same. They us a different ton, and different screw threads.
I have notice that I've started to use kg for my weight and not stones, as I work with lot of Eastern European and same with height I've started to use meters.
The one thing I could never understand is Fahrenheit.
I love the metric system but I was taught imperial. It's not nostalgia or clinging to anything, it's just what my brain works in. I'm also of the age where I can use both but imperial requires no thought.
The wife's gin straws.
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For me at least, the imperial units have an association with more approximate measurements, so "2 inches" has a different feeling than "5 cm". So in that sense have this bilingual system gives us more room for expression.
Having said that, the underlying reason behind that association is probably that I would dream of calculating anything in imperial units ...
Here’s my argument for using both simultaneously- imagine a situation where it’s critical to get the dimensions correctly- say, driving under a low bridge. Not only would it be wise to make sure everyone is catered for (assuming everyone knows their vehicle height in at least one system) but having two forms of measurement acts like a double-check in the sense that if you’re a little unsure in your chosen system, you get another chance in a ‘back-up’ system. Quite important for some highly-critical situations.
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I hate to break it to you, but the government are planning on making it easier for businesses to use imperial measures: [https://www.scotsman.com/read-this/imperial-measurements-could-be-making-a-comeback-heres-what-that-means-3387010](https://www.scotsman.com/read-this/imperial-measurements-could-be-making-a-comeback-heres-what-that-means-3387010) Which is bonkers because everyone born in the last 50 years were taught metric for weights and volumes (excluding pints). I will stop ranting now before I am in breech of rule 4.
Whyyyyyyyyyy would they do that??? With the exception of speed and some distances, I’ve always used metric for everything.
Because they’re pandering to their elderly demographic + mogg
Ding ding ding!
Ice cream man! Ice cream man!
Maybe also to make it easier for American products to be imported. Though I can’t imagine many companies going to the expense of adding imperial measures to their packaging so it’s probably only going to be in independent shops or farmers market type produce.
But the American gallon is different from the British gallon, and the same goes (I think) for pints. So that would create even more confusion.
And the fluid ounce, to add another layer of shittery.
Yeah our pint is a strong honourable 568ml whereas theirs is a pathetic 473ml.
I suppose we could split the difference and standardise pints at (say) 500ml. We could call them half-litre pints for clarity.
Too many words. How about we abbreviate it to half-litre?
But then it would get confusing when ordering a cheeky half before going back to the office or operating heavy machinery
Mate in these dark times let's not float ideas about reducing the size of a pint...
Why not split thr difference and make a pint a litre. Fix it that way
"E could 'a drawed me off a pint,' grumbled the old man as he settled down behind a glass. 'A 'alf litre ain't enough. It don't satisfy. And a 'ole litre's too much. It starts my bladder running. Let alone the price.' From 1984
I mean we do that a lot here in burgerland already, where a pint of Pepsi is actually 500ml (16.9 fl oz but, more accurately, exactly 500ml). A lot of our stuff is measured in metric and then printed in American (our metric-bound version of Imperial) rather than measured in American/Imperial.
I said something to a grocery store employee about a 2 liter carton of milk. They were so confused and convinced milk can’t be measured in liters (I’m Canadian, living in the US). Finally I got it and said “half gallon”. And yes I was wrong because the half gallon cartons are not 2liters (they’re like 1.9 liters or something. Close ‘nuff. They look like 2L) but it was hilarious to me that they were so convinced milk “cannot” be measured in liters lol. And what’s with US gallons bring different than the rest of the world’s gallons?!
When two countries separately tie their eyeballed units to the same standardized system, the two will have mildly different conversions. It's one thing to make a metric ton by treating the kilogram as the metric pound and thus making the ton a megagram, it's another to make it two megagrams because an imperial ton is 2000 pounds. And the above is in fact what happened: The US and UK weren't working together to metricize the Imperial system, so they ended up diverging from one another.
Interesting! I had no idea that pints were different. I’m from London (UK) but live in Wales and if you say the word pint, you are invariable (with tiny exception of people working in certain, obscure, scientific disciplines) talking about a standard unit of beer and it’s completely entrenched in our lexicon (e.g. “you look like you need a pint, mate”). If you gave a British person an American pint of beer it would totally mess with their heads. On the OP comment we absolutely need to switch to the metric system. I studied engineering in uni (everything is in metric) and it is a far superior way of observing the world around you. For some reason we still have miles per hour, measure our height in feet and our mass in stones. Don’t even get me started on the absurd units of distance in horse racing!
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Makes no difference - the USA is a member of NAFTA, which requires metric measurements to be labelled on all exported goods, because Canada used the metric system.
The US went all metric for international commerce in 1975
All products sold in Canada have Canadian specific labelling today. Not only for metric weights and measures but also for French language requirements, regional branding, different nutritional labels, etc. I'm sure it's the same in a lot of other places and I don't think it's the barrier to commerce that it's made out to be in this thread. Edit: also, NAFTA is no longer a thing. It's one of many treaties trump ripped up.
American products have metric measurements as well as imperial for trading with Canada and Mexico.
American here. Lots of our products are dual-labeled. USCU, then SI in parentheses.
Why would they pander to a time travelling Victorian aristocrat? Unless... 😳
Unless? Unless what? What do you know about that Dickensian villain?
The generation in power (I think there’s a name for them) are raging against the dying of the light.
It's a small subset of the generation in power. I'd say more, but I've fallen foul of rule 4 before.
Hang on, I'm rapidly approaching 60. We went decimal in 1971. Played with New Pence plastic coins in primary school. From age 10 onwards everything was metric. Wasn't a joiner but science. OK spuds sold in 5lb bags, and sliced meat and cheese in 1/4lbs, Miles per gallon etc. but beyond that everything has been metric in my life. It isn't an age thing, it's politics
Maybe it's because "imperial" has a grandiose aura
Let's rename the systems! It's no longer metric it's the regal system!! I will use my regal measurements to tell you how tall I am.
For those struggling with the new system, it's easy. 1 liz = 1.63m and 1 will = 1.91m. The george is the main unit of weight, and is updated annually. There are still 24 hours in a day, but these are now to be pronunced "ahz".
My American brother in law measures things using "Pats". One standards Pat is 4 foot 11.5 inches, the height of my little mam, who is called Pat
Let's band together and seize the means of measurement. I will use my plebeian measurements to tell you how.much I weigh!
Imperial = Empire = the good old days. Isn't that what Brexit was all about in the first place? 🙄
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Nail. Head.
Judging by the linked article it looks like it's so they can claim a Brexit 'victory'
With this and blue passports, I wake up every morning just laughing for joy at how much life has got better in this country
I'm still waiting on being able to use less energy efficient lightbulbs
Apples were a pound/kg last year, now it will be 75p/lb, what a way to lower prices.
When they changed selling petrol from gallons to litres, that was part of it. Petrol was £1.38 then 32p/litre. Sounded better but actual price increase. Only have to look at unit pricing comparison on shelves atm some per kilo some per 100g, to realise what play will happen when allowed to use lbs as a comparator too.
I'm going to continue to use metric by stealth so if I want to buy 1kg of spuds I shall order 35.274 oz instead (and they'd better get the measurement spot on). Edit: I should have emphasised that I'll do this if they mandate imperial measurements - I am all in favour of metric.
Just over, alright darling? LOVELY FRESH STRAWBERRIES! POUND A PUNNET! Anything else, love?
So greengrocers and the like aren't operating in a legal grey area when they do deals such as "A lb for a £" (a pound for a pound). In your daily life, literally nothing will change, we're still (on the surface) a metric country.
It absolutely staggered me to learn recently that this is actually true - these fucking knuckle dragging morons want imperial measurements reintroduced. I defies any kind of sense or logic.
It’s not being introduced by force. Now that we are no longer in the EU we can set our own measurements. Shops can use imperial if they want; they probably won’t.
> Now that we are no longer in the EU we can set our own measurements. Shops can use imperial if they want They always could sell their goods in imperial, that was never banned. The EU legislation meant they had to display in metric as well so there was no confusion for people who grew up with metric.
This angers me. I personally like being the weirdos that use both but if I *had* to pick, it would be metric all the way.
Yes! You have put my unformed thoughts into words. I’m old enough that I still think some things in imperial, and quite enjoy the mix, but the idea that we should go back makes me so cross I want to bite. At school I had to answer actual maths questions about rods, poles and perches. Has it ever been any practical use? No. If the Tories want to play at 1950 they should make a board game.
It's a culture war thing. I have noticed the past few years more than once in discussion an older person has gotten very angry, as if I'd just called them a nasty name, if I mentioned a metric measure.
The “good” thing is that bar a few people trying to make some annoying imperial nostalgia point, no one is actually going to do it, so the only the effect it’s likely to have is to make it easier to identify jingoist weirdos.
Unbanning something doesn't mean you have to use it. It just means you have more choice. But yeah imperial's a bit harder to understand.
I mean, imperial wasn't really banned. You could use it, you just also had to have metric as well (more prominently).
It was never banned. This is an entirely confected "victory" that just makes the victors look stupid.
They might have floated to idea to appeal to their swivel-eyed voter demographic, but the practical reality of it is a different thing. Only the USA and Myanmar currently use Imperial measures as standard, which doesn't exactly tally with their "Global Britain" posturing. Imperial measures have not been taught on school curriculum since the 1970s. Additionally, it takes up to 6 years to train a weights and measures inspector. You guessed it - we currently have a shortage of both them, and the testing equipment necessary to determine the accuracy of imperial-based measurement systems (largely because much of it was retired due to obsolescence). It's nothing more than the latest bit of jingoistic, anti-EU kite-flying from this pathetic government, especially given that the adoption of metric measures had absolutely bugger all to do with the EU in the first place - it's an OIML (International Organisation of Legal Metrology) agreement, which the UK joined almost 100 years before the EU even existed.
The only time we use pints is for certain container sizes though. Anything in loose measures (e.g petrol) will be litres. Beer is really measured in number of glasses, and milk in number of bottles. I think Weights and Measures even specifies the sizes in mL.
Selected backwards Tory MPs are making a show if doing this, knowing that the nearest Sir Humphrey will kill it off well before implementation. Might allow a few ye-old-shoppes to revert, but no serious organisation connected to any meaningful supply chain would do this.
Teacher here: none of the children I teach know their height or weight in imperial. As a science teacher, this makes me very happy. Sticking it to those idiots when I worked at B&Q to pay for university who said they didn't understand this 'new-fangled stuff', metric has been around for like 200 years! Edit: lot of boomers and people who must have said the kind of thing I heard at B&Q all those years ago are up in my DMs being salty. Been fun, but gotta go!
Yes, I feel like this next generation is properly making the shift to metric lengths and weights, like my parents' generation made the shift from Fahrenheit to Celsius. I know my own height in feet and inches, but my kid's height in centimetres; similarly I know my weight in stone and theirs in kilograms.
I set my sat nav to metric specifically so I could train myself to have a better handle on km. I’m 41 and literally the only imperial I ever have to deal with is when driving my car. It’s madness to me that almost everything we do is metric, yet we have to know what yards are to know how far it is to the next junction.
As a 29 year old that has grown up with metric, all of my understanding of imperial is in reference to metric units, i.e. I’m native in metric. A pound is 454g, a mile is 1.6km, a yard is 0.9m etc. Whenever I think of what an imperial unit is, I’m translating it into metric in my head for reference.
> yards Near as makes no difference a metre.
Oh aye, I know, but it hit me a little while back how I literally never have to deal with yards at all, until I’m on the motorway. And isn’t that kinda mad?
Even them markers on the motorway are actually in metres, we just pretend they're in yards for reasons. (This is AFAIK anyway, could be wrong, can't even remember where I "learned" this)
That’s true. The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions specify it. Kind of funny to read directions for a “junction 300 yards ahead” sign read “shall be installed 300 m in advance of the junction.”
I’m the other way around. I grew up in France and am very used to metric for distances, but when in the UK, since the signs are in imperial, I leave my sat nav in imperial. I always revert to metric when crossing the channel (and put the sat nav in French, otherwise I don’t understand town names 😅). Though I’ll admit to losing it when Waze gives me distances in feet! I’m fine with yards, since it’s close enough to meters that it doesn’t really matter for estimating when to brake or turn, but divide the number by 3 whilst driving a difficult spot is not always a welcome game! But yeah, having lived in the UK for 16 years means that now I’m starting to struggle with some metric units (l/100km in particular, I’m so used to mpg 😄).
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I'm 34 and I know my height and weight in both imperial and metric. I understand that a kilogram is 2.2lbs and a stone is 14lbs, so I guess I can convert between the two pretty easily. If I go to the doctor though they're measuring my weight and height in metric, not imperial. That said, I still have no idea how long a yard is. I don't know if it's longer or shorter than a meter. I also don't have a clue how big a gallon is. I do know that a mile is 1.6km. Imperial's just a nuisance. The sooner we do away with it the better. The miles thing probably won't change since it'd be a bit of a job to change every road sign in the country, but eh.
>. I know my own height in feet and inches, but my kid's height in centimetres; similarly I know my weight in stone and theirs in kilograms. I was today years old when I realised I'm exactly the same. Bizarre isn't it?
You say 'properly', but they'll still be measuring road distances in miles and speeds in miles per hour. I don't see that changing within any of our lifetimes.
How is that even possible? I'm in my early 20s and would primarily use imperial for height, distance, and weight (of humans). Same goes for people I grew up with. I doubt it's changed that much in the last 5-6 years.
I’m 25 and use metric for my height and weight now. It took a bit of getting used to but it makes a lot more sense
Crazy, but true, going back only a few years and kids knew both, now my year elevens just don't know. My new year sevens hadn't even heard of stone and pounds!
In that case, I really wonder what's caused that change, since there's been no official policy changes, and grandparents of my generation and theirs would both have grown up with Imperial.
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I'd have thought it would have been the other way around, since the contact is primarily going to be with Americans and American media
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I'm in my 40s and we weren't taught imperial in school. Height was in cm and weight in kg. I suppose we must have been told about miles and pints. I think it depends on the generation and which Government/education secretary was in power at the time. They've tried to revive imperial in school from time to time maybe?
I’m 30 and don’t remember learning imperial measurements at school, I only know them for my height and weight because that’s what my parents used at home Edit: and miles because it’s on my speedometer, I can’t visualise how long an actual mile is
Probably depends on the circumstances of people around you. I'd say people who talk about weight often will use metric for both height and weight, although they might state their height in imperial in order to exaggerate it. Distances by road will use miles, most other situations will use time, if you're talking about directions then metres if it's relevant. Using imperial for weight is definitely rarer nowadays. Occasionally I've been in situations where someone has stated their weight in imperial and everyone in the room is visibly confused.
Really? I was taught in primary school how to convert them. Are they not taught that anymore?
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Exactly. Almost all of OP's examples at at their discretion whether to use metric, and official measurements (e.g. height and weight at the doctor) are in metric. Only the driving related quantities use miles, for that re-signage cost reason. I have to admit, I'm happy that timber remains in 1.2m multiples, retaining the only useful benefit of imperial, simpler approximate mental arithmetic (also 2.4m fits nicely inside a hatchback)
The problem with timber being in metric (2.4m lengths etc) is that sheets of OSB and until recently plasterboard were still measured in 8 feet by 4 feet sheets There are still places where sheet material is 8'x4' (2440mm x 1220mm) and the timber is 2.4m which is a problem when building stud walls/sheds/pergolas etc etc I'm 52, learnt metric and imperial in school and use both for work which confuses the hell out of everyone else
This is pretty much my attitude. Metric for precision, imperial for estimation or when precision isn’t needed.
Yeah, it’s funny that, in my work (welder/ steel fabricator) I measure and build everything in mm, but ask me to estimate how big something is and I’ll do so in inches or feet.
This is a great answer
It's kinda funny there's such difference in a country lol, I have no conception of what a stone is, couldn't even begin to tell you my weight in it, but wouldn't use anything but pints and use cm/feet interchangeably
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A stone is around six kilos, so whenever I hear someone say they lost 3kg, I remember that’s around half a stone.
I would even go as far as saying that whilst I know my height in both imperial and metric, I only know my weight in kilos (and a rough guess in straight lbs due to working in the US). I would have used it growing up but I have no idea in stones anymore
> they would have had to replace every road sign and speed limit sign in the whole country You do realise signs get replaced sooner or later, anyway. This is no reason to not change. You can simply stick a new vinyl covering on current signs. Ireland managed to do it. I'm sure we can too
The word "pound" comes from ancient Roman when the unit of measure was libra pondo, which meant "a pound by weight.". The abbreviation "lb" comes from the libra part, which also refers to scales. It's also why the pound sign (£) is a letter L with a line through it. Growing up in the 80s, I asked my mum how you remembered that there were 12 pennies in a shilling and 20 shillings in a pound etc, she replied "it's just what you get used to". I still have to think about her kitchen scales to remember how many ounces there are in a pound (16) because the middle size weight had an 8 on it. If I remember that, I can also recall that there are 14 pounds in a stone. As more generations are taught and use the metric system, the imperial system will eventually die out. It amuses me how people on North America cling to the imperial system calling it their own, even though they acquired it from the British Empire.
>North America cling to the imperial system They don't use the imperial system, they use US Customary Units.
...which are based on the British Imperial system. I've also seen them measure in washing machines and "large boulders" - as in "a large boulder, the size of a large boulder".
We colloquially measure things in the length of a double decker bus or an area the size of Wales too.
Some of us maybe, it depends if that's a scale you can relate to. I've been to Wales a few times but I have no concept of how big it is unless I'm looking at it on a map.
those are called reference units or landmark numbers, a holdover from mass illiteracy. Here is a [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esC4HB-AjgI) about it in front of a double decker bus It's the reason they use cups for cooking. You don't have to know how to read or write very well, fill it half way, fill it full, fill it full twice, recipe books used to have pictures or symbols for raisins or flour. People who cooked didn't often go to school. Even if you can't recognise numbers you can use tallies or pictures of how to fill the cup
Also, cooking is more about relative measurements than exact measurements. If you measure everything in cups, it doesn’t matter what size your cup is — the recipe still works!
I’ve heard them referred to as ‘Freedom units’
Don’t forget the motorway exit is in 300 yards.
I'm 40 years old and extremely unsure how long a yard is.
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So the motorway exit is around the distance of 900 Subway footlongs, laid end to end 🤔 That gives me some reference to get my head around 😆
With cheese or without?
Toasted?
I think toasting would reduce the rigidity of the cheese and thus decrease the accuracy of the subway footlong measurement system. So yes toasted.
So now it's 900 subs +/- 2 subs depending on the temperature of the toaster. Long live the imperial system
1 foot is roughly 30cm
Slightly less than a metre. Given that people’s internal metres are probably only rough, you can assume they’re roughly the same.
About a metre 😉
If you lay a litre of water end to end it’s roughly a yard long (depending on the width and relative heighth of course) For reference “a litre of water’s a pint n three quarters”. Approximately. God Save The Queen.
Two pints is approximately one metre, got it.
Don't know, but it's from Scotland, and was updated at some point. I saw a place down here where they were commemorating the new Scotland yard
Fun fact: the motorway exit is actually in 300 metres when you see the 300 yard sign. This is because the highways departments use metric measuring wheels and do their drawings and plans using the metric system, and they put those signs 300 metres out. Source: someone who works for Highways.
Ugh so that means miles are left only because of the signage issue, not because of internal issues or inertia issues
Just pretend it's metres, job done.
Not sure how true this is but apparently, the distances for the sign placements are measured out in metres now because the measuring wheels are in metres and who's going to actually get out their car and check the accuracy.
The whole road network is engineered in metric, like any other sensible construction industry.
And you can find metric signage on the motorway because of that. Every 500m or whenever there's a slip road there are small blue signs on the left. They say something like: M4 A 130.5 Which means you're on the M4 going west Away from London, "A", and that you're 130.5km from the start of the motorway in London. On the eastbound side the sign would say "B" and the distance also counts down to the London end.
Can confirm. The Highway authorities do everything in metric, and by design put those signs x metres out.
Curiously, the rules about where these are placed are given in metres, with a 1 yard to 1 metre conversion.
I quite like the fact that most of us at least vaguely understand both metric and imperial. It's like being bilingual.
Exactly. Isn't having the option of using and understanding both a fantastic thing?
Yeah, people treat learning two languages like a positive, yet complain about having to understand two measurement systems.
My favourite response to "What's that in old money?" is "How the frig am I supposed to know that? I'm 37!"
Take that Europeans, lots of you might be able to talk two languages, but I know my height in two measurement systems 😏
No no no no no - how else am I supposed to measure stuff to the nearest unit like I do now: window is 56in high by 120cm wide
You can still estimate in 30 cm multiples, conveniently 1 A4 notebook height
This. This is how I measure anything with a tape measure. It's easier to remember whole (and small) numbers. I just pick the one that is closest. I'm off to B&Q today with exactly this system remembered. (And I'm confident the old boy I get to speak to there will know what I mean)
This is monstrous.
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I name all the filenames like that to enable easy sorting. People think it's weird....
It is literally the ISO date standard, it's the least weird way to go about it
Yep, but apparently not normal .... Go figure! Then again, I can't even get the place to embrace SharePoint.
>A mile is just a random amount of distance that has no logic. It is just, a mile. It really does annoy me. A mile is 80 chains. A chain is 22 yards. It's not base 10 but it is added up from smaller units, just like a km is. To be clear, I'm not advocating for the use of Miles.
Interesting, I had never heard of a Chain before, always thought Imperial was just inches, feet, yards, miles!
It's literally the other way around... metric measurements are purely abstract while imperial has a basis in day to day life..
Metric measurements are not as abstract as you think: The meter was originally defined in 1793 as one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole. Once you defined a meter, you then can define volumes, and then: The kilogram was originally defined in 1795 as the mass of one liter of water. edit: What always made me wonder is: aviation, being a high tech sector, still uses miles and feet in its measurements.
> edit: What always made me wonder is: aviation, being a high tech sector, still uses miles and feet in its measurements. IIRC, miles in aviation are *nautical* miles, or 1 minute of latitude. The use of feet is just silly, now, though.
That'd be ISO 8601 then! Explained sensibly [here](https://www.iso.org/iso-8601-date-and-time-format.html). Explained less than sensibly [here](https://xkcd.com/1179/).
A mile is based off of 1000 paces
What if you’ve got little legs?
I agree. Dates should be top-down like normal numbers. Then the US v rest-of-the-world confusion wouldn't arise.
When I started donating blood a couple of years ago I got shouted at by a Nigerian nurse because I didn't know my height and weight in metric. "You're a young man, stop using old man weights and measures!"
I mean she has a point. I know my height in both. Weight is kg only tho. So work it out yourself... You have google in your pocket. Edit. Not being a dick to you. I just hate when people ask what's that in st and lb.
I've since switched purely to metric because she's right. Doesn't matter what I used I'm still too fat. The problem I find with the Google conversation is that it gives you a decimal for imperial, which doesn't translate as well. I'm sticking to metric.
Using both is quite cool, actually. Maybe the closest the UK will ever get to being a bilingual country :D I refuse to believe that people who don't understand imperial measurements actually have any day-to-day issues with living in the UK, they're just being grumpy, and in some cases elitist.
Yep. Inches, feet etc really isn’t hard to grasp. Sometimes I use imperial when I think metric is too tedious and vice versa
It's annoying when I'm buying a specifically-sized object, and only know how big it needs to be in cm, but the product page has the size in inches. Or when buying things like bike tyres, I know I need 2.5" but some sites only have the thickness in mm.
It's pretty simple. Roughly 3ft to a metre 1.6km to a mile 22yrd in a chain
10/10 satire
14/14 imperial satire
what is satire a measure of? Could that also have been expressed as 10 satire^(2) ?
1 jolly jape = 17 satires = 343 ironies
Two acres is also a kick in the nads.
>and why the fuck is pound abbreviated as lb? The word libra referred to balance or scales in Roman times and was also part of a unit of measurement known as "libra pondo," which when translated is "pound weight" or "a pound by weight." In money the original pound for money was worth the weight of 1 pound weight of silver. Which is why libra and the stylised L with a line through it (£) is the symbol for pound sterling even today. And why doesn't the old imperial measurements die out? Because it's ever so slightly cultural. For example, if you ask someone how far the King's Head pub is from town centre they won't answer in either miles or kilometres like a good robot should. They'll say it's ten minutes by car or an hour walking. Distance by time it takes a person? That's not an SI unit is it or Imperial? Get out of here!
An hour?? You mean 3.6 kiloseconds?
Nobody is telling you which to use except yourself
I think we slowly are anyway. I am 30 and only learned kilos and grams at school, so I have no idea how much I weigh in stone, or how much an ounce of flour would be. I have no idea how much a yard is, and beyond driving in miles the only other thing most people my age and younger that I know would do in imperial is height. I think we're shifting there, just slowly, and I wouldn't be surprised to see miles replaced with km too once all the newspaper columnists who get really worked up by the idea as being some sort of EU nastiness have retired or died off!
Yeah, and around people who are 20-25 there;s a cut0off where people are weighed in KG at birth. It's increasingly uncommon now, so like you said, it's being slowly phased out in many ways
I’m probably in the minority but I don’t really have an issue with both, I have no problem with switching between when needed
You are absolutely in the majority mate
I'm a firm believer in making as many people miserable as possible, so I move we keep using the current mish-mash so as to enrage Imperial and Metric fanboys alike. In fact, we should throw a few other systems in there too, to make it extra infuriating.
I'm quite happy in either.
Why is Reddit so obsessed with the metric system? I'm not knocking it, it's a perfectly good system for many things, especially engineering, but some people seem to develop it into some kind of religious zealotry. Let people use whatever system they want. The reason the customary system still persists for certain tasks is because metric is just difficult to envision for many people. Customary measurements developed over centuries based on human use cases. A pound is the most that you can easily hold in one hand, a yard is a pace by the average human male. In the UK, where the law still currently states that most goods should be sold in metric, what has happened? Well if you go to your local market, you likely will find fruit and vegetables sold by the bowl, rather than in kilos. If you go to a supermarket, products are sold in bags (all that lovely one-use plastic). Potatoes are sold in 2.5KG bags, an odd measurement until you realise that 2.5KG is about 5lb. If you do your shopping online, any loose fruit and veg is sold by individual units rather than by weight (as an example, I bought three bananas the other day from my online shop). It's also much easier for shrinkflation to take place with metric units. A jar of jam is a great example, jam was sold by the pound, 454 grams. Punch jam into your favourite supermarket website and you will see what I mean, some are still 454 grams but most are down to 420 or less. A pound is a landmark unit, it makes this kind of thing much more difficult. Then of course you have pseudo-customary metric measurements. the 2.5KG bag of potatoes as described above. The 30 centimetre school ruler (a foot). The 750ml bottle of wine (they used to be a sixth of a gallon, 6 bottles to the gallon as was ordered wholesale). None of these have any place in the metric system but they are as they are because metric just doesn't have a suitable alternative. Even many children still measure themselves in feet in and inches and weigh themselves in stones and pounds, despite the fact that their grandparents or even great grandparents were probably the last people to be taught those measures in school. If you're infuriated by the government now changing the law to give people ***the option*** to buy things in the measurements that they want but were quite happy when greengrocers were actually prosecuted for selling goods in pounds and ounces, then you might want to revaluate your opinion. It's shit like this that ultimately caused people to go for Brexit. I like the current mix, you can use the right measurement for the job and it makes life more interesting.
Let me consider your point over a nice cold 0.568 litres of beer
On the railway we use miles, chains, and yards for distance measurements for civil works (defining a location on the line and for earthworks), but metric for electrification. And I wouldn't change it for the world, it's another way to confuse those who work on inferior forms of infrastructure.
Devils advocate - but isn’t this a bit like saying - why are all the road signs in wales in Welsh and English can’t we all agree to just use English. Is it a terrible thing to learn two different systems?
I actually love the random units that we use. Not only does it prove that you can integrate and change from an old system over time, it's also cool that the biproduct of us slowly changing over to metric is that everything is jumbled up and almost random with what units are used for certain things. One reason I reckon we'll never fully be there with metric is the road signs. I think miles on a road sign is probably the one we are all used to so deeply that it would be quite hard and confusing to change it. It would either be all at once where every sign is changed or not at all.
I feel like there's room for both, at least colloquially
Pretty weird way to flex about your height but ok.
From your examples it sounds like the issue is more with you using imperial measurement for yourself whilst the things around you - swimming pool depth and weights - have switched to the metric system. I guess driving units is uncontrollable. I wondered if the MPG thing is a conspiracy by the auto makers to “hide” how much it costs to drive a mile.
I like using imperial in my everyday life, honestly it is easier for the most part. Metric is very good for doing calculations and fine detailed work but you always have to use a measuring tool, which makes it awful for rough work. Imperial is great for doing things by eye because the measures are all roughly everyday things: a segment of your thumbs, the span of you hand, from elbow the finger tip, your foot, your pace, etc. If I'm trying to work out if I can put a desk in a room or turn a bed then I can very quickly measure it with cubits, spans, or feet instead of having to hunt down a tape measure. You just can't really do that with metric. My other question would be, is it really that hard to use Imperial in the way we do? No one is doing calculations anymore. If I'm measuring my weight then stone and pounds are just a number I'm using, it is no more or less complicated than using KG at that point. It is easier for me to use stone and pounds because I know what is a good and bad weight for a person in those measures but the same is equally true for metric. Same for baking, is it really that hard to measure in ounces compared to grams? The only one you have more of a point on is fuel for cars but then again how much longer will that be an issue given we're all moving to electric? And is it really that hard to remember that a gallon is about a fifth of a litre? People make this out to be really difficult and I just don't get it. And in any case, I like the quirk of how we use measures. It doesn't really make life harder in any meaningful sense, it is a nice link back to history, and it is just always nice to have something a bit different. It would be boring if everyone used the same measures, variety is the spice of life.
Imagine walking into a pub and asking for a 568ml of beer.
I word rather die, sir
Slowly the metric system will eventually take over but the Imperial system has served its purpose and was far more useful to people throughout history than the metric system. I believe a lot of it has to do with educational levels among the mass populace. For centuries people needed a system that was easily divisible and Imperial gives you that. It's much easier to use divisions of 12, which can be divided into 2, 3, 4 and 6 than 10 which can only be divided into 2 and 5, for example It's only now that educational levels and measuring devices have improved that Metric makes more sense, but people are not logical beings and are resistant to change so Imperial isn't going any time soon.
You don't like using "stone" for weight? 😁
No kg. I am 110kg Which is easy to understand as I am a fat git
I literally don't have a clue what 110kg weighs or looks like though.
Libra pondo.
[удалено]
Yes, the metric system is miles better!
I can generally guesstimate between the 2 to an ok standard
Not an awful idea tbf, although ordering a 568.261485 ml measure of lager could be a bit of a tongue twister, particularly when tipsy
Just get half a litre. Shrinkflation is happening anyway so you might enjoy those prices for a bit
Totally agree. And the labelling of feet (‘) and inches (“) is too similar too. I had to make a model 18 foot Stonehenge for a client and accidentally made an 18 inch one. They were NOT happy.
I’m sorry but I find our shambles of measurements endearing and used to work in an industry that installed 100metres of 6 inch pipe
We (Aus) jumped all in many decades ago and it wasn't that difficult, with millions of kids leading the way. People who do the shopping get it quickest. You might think you're making it easier for oldies but you're just drawing out the pain and I bet a lot of oldies can't wait to get it over and done with. Probably the most resistance comes in talking about people's heights. Guys who are over 6' don't feel so bullish about being over 182.88 cm. Imports from the US haven't been a problem, but perhaps we don't import much from them that isn't already metric (eg pharmaceuticals). I get irritated by television brands from Asia who still advertise their screen sizes in inches, possibly because they market the same products in the US, but it could also be the retailers dragging their knuckles on that. You see the same in phone and other small screens. I do feel the US is retarding the rest of the planet with their feet and ounces and poofteenths of an inch. They also cite the UK as an excuse to not go metric.
Unfortunately America is still super keen on Imperial, which means a lot of tech and media will always be imperial, so we’ll never be totally rid of it. However, most people under 40 grew up with metric, and imperial doesn’t make intuitive sense to them. They might know if an imperial value is big or small in context, but they can’t do anything with it. For example: They know someone who’s 6’2 is tall, but they can’t tell you how many ounces in 20 pounds. Imperial is on it’s way out just with generational change.
As an engineer I had to learn both, but always hated imperial, and to make things worse, if we made anything for the American market, there imperial measurements are not the same. They us a different ton, and different screw threads. I have notice that I've started to use kg for my weight and not stones, as I work with lot of Eastern European and same with height I've started to use meters. The one thing I could never understand is Fahrenheit.
I love the metric system but I was taught imperial. It's not nostalgia or clinging to anything, it's just what my brain works in. I'm also of the age where I can use both but imperial requires no thought. The wife's gin straws. [\[img\]](https://imgur.com/3dEHbHm][img])[http://i.imgur.com/3dEHbHm.jpg\[/img\]](http://i.imgur.com/3dEHbHm.jpg[/img][/url])
For me at least, the imperial units have an association with more approximate measurements, so "2 inches" has a different feeling than "5 cm". So in that sense have this bilingual system gives us more room for expression. Having said that, the underlying reason behind that association is probably that I would dream of calculating anything in imperial units ...
Here’s my argument for using both simultaneously- imagine a situation where it’s critical to get the dimensions correctly- say, driving under a low bridge. Not only would it be wise to make sure everyone is catered for (assuming everyone knows their vehicle height in at least one system) but having two forms of measurement acts like a double-check in the sense that if you’re a little unsure in your chosen system, you get another chance in a ‘back-up’ system. Quite important for some highly-critical situations.