Kilometres and kg

[BowdonUK]

I tend to use imperial in some situations, like height, weight, miles etc.

But in smaller measurements I use metric.

 

[KompuKare]

Lol UK Gov attempts to force UK to use imperial.. which should make the exporting of goods and components really easy (sarcasm).

I thought the JRM was to remove the duplication.. perhaps JRM will suggest we go fully metric next to remove the complexity having to support both when the majority of our non-EU trading partners are Metric..

Or the Britannia Unchained lot had their heads glued into so much American stuff, that they think the US is only market worth pursuing. Not sure where JRM fits in that, but Mr 1850 may thing the British Empire is still a thing and imperial measurements can act as form of protectionism like they used to do.

 

[Feek]

This letter was in the current issue of a magazine I get and it's so appropriate that I thought I'd share it here.

I must take exception to the letter in the December issue, on using the metric system. I was born in 1952 and attended school till I was 15.
At the age of about 9 in a maths lesson we covered the metric system. This was covered in the 1 hour lesson.
When in the next lesson we queried why we do not use it, the maths teacher set us a problem. The left hand side of the class would use our imperial system based on 12 and the other side of the class would use the metric system based on ten.
The problem was to divide 10 by 3. As we all know you cannot divide 10 by 3 in the decimal/metric system. So the left hand side of the class won.
He explained that the metric system was for 'lazy and / or idiots' so that they could count on their fingers. The imperial system based on 12 was good enough for the Egyptians to build the pyramids, so why would anyone want to argue with that.
The real problem with a metric system is that it can only be divided by 1, 2 and 5. Whereas the good old imperial system can be divided by 1. 2. 3. 4 and 6. We do not use decimal points, but fractions, which means that you always get an answer. No Pi equals 3.141592 and never get an answer for us. It is 22 over 7.
All my grandchildren can use the imperial system of measurement, because granddad taught them. An inch is about the length between the bent knuckle of the thumb and the end of the thumb. A foot is about the length of Granddad's feet. And a yard is one good stride.

I would suggest that Mr Vaughan does not go to a racecourse, because it is all in imperial measurements. The race distance is in miles and furlongs. The odds of a horse is normally in improper fractions, ie 100 to 30 or 7 to 2 etc.
Never play cricket, because the length of a cricket pitch is one chain long, and as all us old fogeys know there are 8 chains in a furlong, so we have no problems at a racecourse.
Do not rent an allotment from the local council as these are normally measured in rods. But they might just use poles, perch or lug as these are the same measurement.
When using weight measurements we have various measurements. If it is a ton you cannot lift it. If it is a hundredweight, you can. If it is a stone and it is over 12 stone you could be overweight. Then you come down to pounds, and we go smaller and have ounces, drams and grains. And all poor metric can offer is the gram.
I wonder if when he goes to a pub for a pint, he converts it and thinks. That was a lovely 568.261 millilitres of Summer lightning. Remember we have gallons, pints, and fuild ounces. All metric has to offer is litres.

 

[Hagar]

Well to be frank, no manufacturer is going to make something that will not sell in the markets he trades in. The government does not specify metric or imperial. This is not a command economy like Russia used to be, or China, and probably still is.
It is the customer who generally specifies sizes, grades, etc., so the unfortunate manufacturer who gets it wrong does not get any customers.
JRM or anyone else has no say in these decisions we are a capitalist economy and making profits is the name of the game.

@Feek
I also was born in 1952 and learned both metric and imperial from an early age. I mostly agree and can reference all the points listed.

I do now mainly use metric having had a long career in engineering where 99% of the work was using SI

 

[NickK]

This letter was in the current issue of a magazine I get and it's so appropriate that I thought I'd share it here.

Err metric doesn't stop people using fractions.. but rather the units. What is funny is that they consider a fraction in imperial to be more accurate than a fraction in metric. boggle.

 

[builder22]

so there's a use for both then...it's just easier to use one or the other when measuring something accurately with a standard tape/rule, might be slightly off using metric but bang on using 16th's or vice versa


or spacing out screws etc - 150mm or 6 inch is almost the same but works out different over various lengths

 

[NickK]

There are some oddities. For example the imperial va metric PVC-U pipe standards.

imperial is 4” inner diameter and the pressure class (thicker walls) changes the outer diameter.
Metric is 110mm outer diameter and the pressure class changes the inner diameter.

So imperial fittings and pipes are a pain as the sizes for the classes varies a bit for the same class). So they won’t fit. Got a class C and a class B you can’t use the higher class on a lower class pipework.

metric the pipe fittings work. A PN10 or a PN16 pipe and fittings have an outside 110mm diameter.

loopy.

 

[ttaskmaster]

OK, so what is the current time in metric and why are we still using a clock system based on 12 in this day and age?

 

[Cosimo]

OK, so what is the current time in metric and why are we still using a clock system based on 12 in this day and age?

My watch says 4:72:35 Do you really want 10 hours to the day?

 

[Graetzbridge]

My watch says 4:72:35 Do you really want 10 hours to the day?

You can't change the solar period regardless of what number call it.

 

[Hagar]

There are some oddities. For example the imperial va metric PVC-U pipe standards.

imperial is 4” inner diameter and the pressure class (thicker walls) changes the outer diameter.
Metric is 110mm outer diameter and the pressure class changes the inner diameter.

So imperial fittings and pipes are a pain as the sizes for the classes varies a bit for the same class). So they won’t fit. Got a class C and a class B you can’t use the higher class on a lower class pipework.

metric the pipe fittings work. A PN10 or a PN16 pipe and fittings have an outside 110mm diameter.

loopy.

Except that the inner dia. dictates flows and internal stepping at higher flows would cause problems, so not a brilliant idea really.

 

[ttaskmaster]

My watch says 4:72:35 Do you really want 10 hours to the day?

Isn't that what the Stardate in Star Trek is supposed to be?

 

[Chuk_Chuk]

This letter was in the current issue of a magazine I get and it's so appropriate that I thought I'd share it here.

I must take exception to the letter in the December issue, on using the metric system. I was born in 1952 and attended school till I was 15.
At the age of about 9 in a maths lesson we covered the metric system. This was covered in the 1 hour lesson.
When in the next lesson we queried why we do not use it, the maths teacher set us a problem. The left hand side of the class would use our imperial system based on 12 and the other side of the class would use the metric system based on ten.
The problem was to divide 10 by 3. As we all know you cannot divide 10 by 3 in the decimal/metric system. So the left hand side of the class won.
He explained that the metric system was for 'lazy and / or idiots' so that they could count on their fingers. The imperial system based on 12 was good enough for the Egyptians to build the pyramids, so why would anyone want to argue with that.
The real problem with a metric system is that it can only be divided by 1, 2 and 5. Whereas the good old imperial system can be divided by 1. 2. 3. 4 and 6. We do not use decimal points, but fractions, which means that you always get an answer. No Pi equals 3.141592 and never get an answer for us. It is 22 over 7.
All my grandchildren can use the imperial system of measurement, because granddad taught them. An inch is about the length between the bent knuckle of the thumb and the end of the thumb. A foot is about the length of Granddad's feet. And a yard is one good stride.

I would suggest that Mr Vaughan does not go to a racecourse, because it is all in imperial measurements. The race distance is in miles and furlongs. The odds of a horse is normally in improper fractions, ie 100 to 30 or 7 to 2 etc.
Never play cricket, because the length of a cricket pitch is one chain long, and as all us old fogeys know there are 8 chains in a furlong, so we have no problems at a racecourse.
Do not rent an allotment from the local council as these are normally measured in rods. But they might just use poles, perch or lug as these are the same measurement.
When using weight measurements we have various measurements. If it is a ton you cannot lift it. If it is a hundredweight, you can. If it is a stone and it is over 12 stone you could be overweight. Then you come down to pounds, and we go smaller and have ounces, drams and grains. And all poor metric can offer is the gram.
I wonder if when he goes to a pub for a pint, he converts it and thinks. That was a lovely 568.261 millilitres of Summer lightning. Remember we have gallons, pints, and fuild ounces. All metric has to offer is litres.

What are these people working on that absolute precision is necessary. That rounding is literally not an option and the tolerance is going to +/-0.
Lets take the 10 divided by 3 example. 3.33mm is fine, depending on what it is 3mm is acceptable. If it is machined the tolerance alone is +/-0.1mm (tight fit). Or better yet I would just change the size so that it is divisible by 3.

 

[Graetzbridge]

I'm going to have a 250 ml glass of wine.

 

[Devrij]

Ugh, don't you get sick of people using pounds and pence? What's wrong with shillings?! How am I supposed to work out how much I'm paying for each of the three donuts in a 3-pack since it isn't divisible by 3?

Also, I don't get the fractions argument in that article snip above. If that is the reason why imperial is so much better then I have a surprise for you mate! You can totally do that with metric. What's 10 divided by 3? It's 10/3.

 

[Freefaller]

Hopefully one day the UK will shake off it's ridiculous "empire" mentality and join the rest of the world in using sensible and common units that everyone understands. Oh and also drive on the right... but I'd settle for metric as a good compromise!

 

[200sols]

*and a few regressives on OCUK

 

[ttaskmaster]

Oh and also drive on the right... but I'd settle for metric as a good compromise!

Why would we want to drive on the right, like those backward Imperial-using Americans? Surely the only reason to adopt such a practice is so you can fire guns from wholly inside the car, or simply to be childish and stick it to the Brits from whom you just declared independence?

Most people are right-side dominant - Driving on the left allows the dominant eye to focus on oncoming traffic & keeps the dominant hand on the steering wheel, even when shifting in a car with a manual gearbox. Also, I believe all motorcycles are set up for right-handers, for this very reason of dominant side handling the fine motor controls.
England, Scotland, Australia, Japan, Ireland, Hong Kong, Jamaica, New Zealand, Nepal, Barbados... most of the cool places drive on the left.
It does seem there's a lot of island nations that follow this, though. Maybe that's another factor?

 

[Freefaller]

Australia HK, NZ, Nepal, Barbados all have links to the UK - that's why they drive on that side. 3/4 of the world drives on the right.

I was brought up outside of the UK so I'm "wired" that way. I just find it a pain not to have standardisation globally about some things like that. We have international standards for so many things (I'm an engineer) that makes work / life a lot simpler with global teams and extensive cultural breadth. Standardising everything which is non-culturally impacted, like driving, and measurements for example just makes life so much easier. Also simpler for manufacturing and replacing parts.

As for motorbikes, it's just a skill you learn to adapt to (besides 90% of the world are right handed - so again, the majority), not really a salient example.

 

[Greebo]

there's a few conversions from driving trucks that stick...although they're not 100% accurate but they're commonly used like 90kph (limiter) is 56mph, or a 45ft trailer is 13m...even though trucks show the speed in KpH the computer usually shows the fuel consumption in MPG!
does anyone here measure fuel consumption in l/100km?
low bridges still have the measurements in imperial and metric...that's probably a good idea

same with fabricating/construction, an 8'x4' is a 1250x2540mm, or a 1/16" is 1.6mm, easy to remember but still not 100% accurate and rounded up/down

think I have some point here (figures based on a true life story)

Its not any longer. I have noticed now I have got older that I am robbed at the hardware store.

8 x 4 sheets are no longer 8' x 4', they are 2400 x 1200. They should be 2444 by 1222

Even worse when you ask for a length of 3 x 2. Last time i got some, on measuring it, it was only 64mm x 38mm! Was bloody useless since the stud wall i was modifying was made using 77mm x 45mm timber and even that wasnt 3 x 2!