Metric or Imperial?

[EuroTroll]

I've often wondered why is it that you Brits and Americans tend to use your own units of measurement, rather than joining in with the rest of the world and going metric. I mean, your units make no sense to me, discounting historical reasons... Which are fine and dandy, but surely the time has come to adopt the superior system? ;)

- 1 foot is 12 inches,
- 1 yard is 3 feet,
- 1 mile is 1760 yards

There's just no logic in this system, compared to the metric system where everything is divisible by 10.

I dare say that as with the Borg, resistance is futile. Soon, you WILL adopt the metric system. It is better. :devil:

[slorydn1]

Sometimes I would think you are right. I mean, instead of driving along at 62 (mph), I could be doing 100 (Km/h) right? 100 sounds way more cool than 62 :p :

But then again, I have been using our standard my whole life, why would I want to have to change now?

[Mark]

Absolutely, the UK (don't care about America I don't live there) should be dragged into the 18th Century and just adopt metric properly instead of the massive fudge we have now with metric used for a lot of things but imperial used for e.g. the roads and still used in every day language. e.g. "I parked 1 foot away from the curb" is normal, but if you say "I parked 30cm away from the curb" (or whatever it is) you're seen as some weirdo.

That being said I still use MPH and miles when cycling despite many I know insisting on km. Simply because that's what we use on the roads and I ride my bike on the road.

[Mark]

Sometimes I would think you are right. I mean, instead of driving along at 62 (mph), I could be doing 100 (Km/h) right? 100 sounds way more cool than 62 :p :

But then again, I have been using our standard my whole life, why would I want to have to change now?

There's no need for you to do so. As long as you choose one system and stick to it ;)

[henners88]

I'm a Design Engineer and everything in the industry I work in is measured in millimetres. I haven't come across suppliers that use imperial in a long time. I think we all say certain things in imperial like 'about a foot' but nothing is actually measured this way when manufacturing.

[EuroTroll]

Is it true btw that in the UK, you tend to use Fahrenheit when it's hot and Celsius when it's cold? :D So you might say, "it's 90 degrees out", or when it's cold, "it's -5".

[MrJan]

I'm a Design Engineer and everything in the industry I work in is measured in millimetres. I haven't come across suppliers that use imperial in a long time. I think we all say certain things in imperial like 'about a foot' but nothing is actually measured this way when manufacturing.

Pfft, trust me, by the time it reaches suppliers and contractors it's all mixed up. No one asks for 47x25 because it's 2x1 (although you do order a 4.8m length of 2x1 :D ) You'll also get measurements for something that are both metric and imperial, so I may get a bloke to measure something and he'll tell me it's 15 inches by 200mm (usually it depends which is the nearest measurement on the tape measure or what's the nearer to a whole number).

[Mark]

Is it true btw that in the UK, you tend to use Fahrenheit when it's hot and Celsius when it's cold? :D So you might say, "it's 90 degrees out", or when it's cold, "it's -5".

Only in the media. But there is some truth in it, that the F number is the bigger one so that's what goes in the headline. Despite all UK forecasts being in C now, used to be the presenters would go "and that's 80 fahrenheit" but not any more.

[Mark]

Pfft, trust me, by the time it reaches suppliers and contractors it's all mixed up. No one asks for 47x25 because it's 2x1 (although you do order a 4.8m length of 2x1 :D ) You'll also get measurements for something that are both metric and imperial, so I may get a bloke to measure something and he'll tell me it's 15 inches by 200mm (usually it depends which is the nearest measurement on the tape measure or what's the nearer to a whole number).

Somewhat like we buy petrol in litres, but measure usage in miles per gallon.

[Bagwan]

I started out on the imperial foot , and half way through schooling , got the metric system thrown at me .

So , forty or so years later , when I hear metric numbers , I convert to imperial .

Or , more often , I use time as a leveller .
It takes two and a half hours to get to Toronto . How far it actually is , is irrelevent .

[Starter]

Somewhat like we buy petrol in litres, but measure usage in miles per gallon.
Here in the states we're much more advanced than the Brits. We don't use petrol in our cars at all; we use gas. :p :D

And that's nwhy neither of us have changed. We're all a bunch of luddites.

[gadjo_dilo]

Why is that system called "imperial"?

[BDunnell]

Absolutely, the UK (don't care about America I don't live there) should be dragged into the 18th Century and just adopt metric properly instead of the massive fudge we have now with metric used for a lot of things but imperial used for e.g. the roads and still used in every day language. e.g. "I parked 1 foot away from the curb" is normal, but if you say "I parked 30cm away from the curb" (or whatever it is) you're seen as some weirdo.

That being said I still use MPH and miles when cycling despite many I know insisting on km. Simply because that's what we use on the roads and I ride my bike on the road.

Well, there you go. Everyone in the UK tends to mix it up (though I wonder whether younger people who know nothing but metric measurements do so to the same extent as us). There are many things I simply cannot visualise in metric measurements — a person's height, a piece of cheese, etc. Therefore I'd always refer to these in imperial units. Liquids, conversely, I think of in metric — and, bizarrely, distances on the ground, too.

[Knock-on]

I would change everything to metric in a trice if it were me apart from Golf. My pace is exactly a yard and I would look silly trying to extend it 10cm's :)

[schmenke]

Canada has been officially metric since the late ‘70s, although in every day conversation we use a mixed bag. When driving I measure distances in kilometers and purchase my cold cuts from the deli counter in grams. But when asked how tall I am I respond “five feet, 10 inches” :mark: .

Metric is, as mentioned, a far easier system to use, especially when working in either the engineering or technical industry. However, residential housing construction still uses imperial. A piece of lumber is still a “2 x 4”, not a “50.8 x 101.6” :p : .

Similary, the aviation industry still measures both altitude and runway length in feet, and wind speed in knots. Funny world :crazy:

[Storm]

We have been on metric for ages ...with weights and distances atleast. Sometimes for practical purposes feet/inches are used especially for sizes, exactly the case like construction etc.
Metric is the future though.

[Mark]

Metric is the future though.

They have been saying that since 1799.

[Donney]

They have been saying that since 1799.

Well they never mentioned how immediate that future was, did they? :p

[Steve Boyd]

Why is that system called "imperial"?
It was originally the standard across the British Empire. Despite the Americans leaving the Empire before it really started they never changed their system although some of their measurements (particularly for volumes) have the same name for slightly different quantities, for example a British gallon is 1.2 US gallons.

[MrJan]

It takes two and a half hours to get to Toronto .

Wrong, it's at least 8 hours.

[schmenke]

Three days, averaging 100kph on dry roads.

[D-Type]

In Britain use of the metric system in it's SI (Systeme Internationale) form is the official form except for road distances which are still ion miles because 'they' have decided it's too costly to change all the signs. We have the ridiculous situation where it is illegal to sell vegetables by the pound and it is also illegal to put up a sign saying your pub or campsite or whatever is 400 metres away even if you say 400m / 440yds.

[BDunnell]

We have the ridiculous situation where it is illegal to sell vegetables by the pound and it is also illegal to put up a sign saying your pub or campsite or whatever is 400 metres away even if you say 400m / 440yds.

Strictly speaking, this isn't quite right, is it? I thought it was the case that shops have to advertise, for example, fruit and veg in metric quantities, but it's not illegal to sell you the goods if you ask for them in an imperial quantity.

[Mark]

Metric must be the most prominent measure but you are permitted to use both.

As for road signs you should see the number of councils who don't understand the no metric on roads thing never mind private companies.

[Firstgear]

In Britain use of the metric system in it's SI (Systeme Internationale) form is the official form except for road distances which are still ion miles because 'they' have decided it's too costly to change all the signs. We have the ridiculous situation where it is illegal to sell vegetables by the pound and it is also illegal to put up a sign saying your pub or campsite or whatever is 400 metres away even if you say 400m / 440yds.
So VOP's claim that you have no freedom of speech (ummm signage) is true after all. :p
Metric is so much better because it's so much easier to use. It's too bad we'll never be totally rid of the imperial system though, especially with our neighbors south of us sticking to imperial.
One thing I don't like about metric is the way car mileage (or rather consumption) is measured - L/100km's. If you have to multiply one of the units of measure by 100 just so the result is meaningful, try something else. Miles/gallon still makes way more sense to me, except of course for the imp/US gallon consideration.

[Rollo]

I've often wondered why is it that you Brits and Americans tend to use your own units of measurement, rather than joining in with the rest of the world and going metric. I mean, your units make no sense to me, discounting historical reasons... Which are fine and dandy, but surely the time has come to adopt the superior system? ;)

Superior eh?
Shall we look at time, which is one of the fundamental units of the space time continuum?

- 1 Minute is 60 Seconds
- 1 Hour is 60 Minutes
- 1 Day is 24 Hours
- 1 Week is 7 days

A year isn't a standardised length at either 365 or 366 days and months can be either 28, 29, 30 or 31 days. The accounting package I use also uses 35 days and 14 months as well. (for other adjustments).


There's just no logic in this system, compared to the metric system where everything is divisible by 10.

I dare say that as with the Borg, resistance is futile. Soon, you WILL adopt the metric system. It is better. :devil:

There is plenty of logic in the system:
These things - inch, yard, foot, pound, mile, furlong, firkin, pint, ounce etc. are all useful sizes and relevant to the things that were being measured. A pint of milk or bitter, is a useful amount of liquid to have on hand. A furlong is the distance that a team of oxen can pull a plough before needing a rest. An acre is the amount of land which is reasonable to be tilled in a day.

Besides which, Imperial just has a better aesthetic to it. Paying 1/6 for a pint sounds far nicer than 15 centimes pour une demi. (and you get an extra 68mL).

Aside:
What is stupid is that ten was used as a base and not twelve. Ten is divisible by 1, 2 and 5 but Twelve is divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 which produces halves, quarters and thirds nicely.

[schmenke]

Nonsense Rollo. This is the digital age. We should all be converting to hexadecimal :p :

[Rollo]

Nonsense Rollo. This is the digital age. We should all be converting to hexadecimal :p :

Oh but of course FF Is The Best Number (http://rollo75.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/horse-1389-ff-is-best-number.html). Back in the day FF was the last number before your C64 game came on after waiting 15 minutes for the tape to load.

Converting to hex in the year 7DD sounds like a mega* brill idea.

*mega as in 400

[donKey jote]

btw is your sig also in some funny base or have you forgotten how to subtract in decimal ? :p

and it should read "española" in singular as it refers to "(la) opresión" (or a masculine plural "españoles", if it refers to "(los) años") :bandit:

[Starter]

Nonsense Rollo. This is the digital age. We should all be converting to hexadecimal :p :
It is the digital age. I know it's true because, when I move back and forth between measurement systems, I feel like I'm being given the finger.

[J4MIE]

I hate the mess we have in the UK, I was always educated in metric and even today I couldn't tell you what a yard was without looking it up, I am far more used to converting miles to km or vice versa. Can't picture a mile in my head.

[J4MIE]

In my job I design gas connections and the plastic pipes are measured in mm and steel pipes are measured in inches. You do have to get the right measurements for the appropriate type and convert gas pressures etc :crazy:

[call_me_andrew]

- 1 foot is 12 inches,
- 1 yard is 3 feet,
- 1 mile is 1760 yards

1 foot is your foot.
1 yard is your leg.
1 mile is 4 times longer than a fat guy can run.

Any questions?

[EuroTroll]

Superior eh?
Shall we look at time, which is one of the fundamental units of the space time continuum?

- 1 Minute is 60 Seconds
- 1 Hour is 60 Minutes
- 1 Day is 24 Hours
- 1 Week is 7 days

A year isn't a standardised length at either 365 or 366 days and months can be either 28, 29, 30 or 31 days. The accounting package I use also uses 35 days and 14 months as well. (for other adjustments).


Absolutely! We should switch to 'metric' time. :D

1 day = 10 hoars

"What's the time?" - "It's 8.93" :bandit:




There is plenty of logic in the system:
These things - inch, yard, foot, pound, mile, furlong, firkin, pint, ounce etc. are all useful sizes and relevant to the things that were being measured. A pint of milk or bitter, is a useful amount of liquid to have on hand. A furlong is the distance that a team of oxen can pull a plough before needing a rest. An acre is the amount of land which is reasonable to be tilled in a day.

Besides which, Imperial just has a better aesthetic to it. Paying 1/6 for a pint sounds far nicer than 15 centimes pour une demi. (and you get an extra 68mL).

I do know there's a good historical reason behind each imperial unit of measurement, but they're just not useful in the modern world, are they? I mean, I haven't noticed many teams of oxen lately, pulling things. :p



Aside:
What is stupid is that ten was used as a base and not twelve. Ten is divisible by 1, 2 and 5 but Twelve is divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 which produces halves, quarters and thirds nicely.

Well, our whole counting system (unlike the ancient Babylonians, for instance) is based on the number 10, so it makes sense.. :)

[Rudy Tamasz]

Pfft, trust me, by the time it reaches suppliers and contractors it's all mixed up. No one asks for 47x25 because it's 2x1 (although you do order a 4.8m length of 2x1 :D ) You'll also get measurements for something that are both metric and imperial, so I may get a bloke to measure something and he'll tell me it's 15 inches by 200mm (usually it depends which is the nearest measurement on the tape measure or what's the nearer to a whole number).

That's my approach, exactly. What's the nearer to the whole number works best. Recently I was drawing the plan of a park that I'm going to plant on my property and I figured that 1/4 of an inch would be a more convenient basic measurement unit for the plan than 7 mm. So I duly brouught an inch ruler from the office and used it for drawing. Yet 1/4' on the plan signifies 1 meter on the landscape and I will be measuring the actual length in meters. It's all mixed, indeed.

[Mark]

- 1 Minute is 60 Seconds
- 1 Hour is 60 Minutes
- 1 Day is 24 Hours
- 1 Week is 7 days


The only fundamental unit there is the second. The rest are constructs to make understanding seconds easier.



A year isn't a standardised length at either 365 or 366 days

As a year is 365.25 days there's nothing we can do about that ;)

[Robinho]

I was educated in the UK a fair while ago and it was all metric, I don't recall ever even doing conversions. However, my distances are normally miles, although now in Oz and previously Sweden I started converting to KM's, but my sport distances (running, cycling) are always now in KM's. I'm 6 feet tall, and weigh myself in stones, pounds etc, even though I don't understand the measurement. If I have to physically measure anything on length, weight, volume, its always metric, except pints of beer and I convert my car's litre/10km calculation to MPG (uk gallons). I'm confused!

Sent from the Centre for metric calculations using an imperial balance scale

[EuroTroll]

except pints of beer

An amusing thing has happened recently in Estonia regarding that. We're generally all metric of course, and the standard size of a bottle or a can of beer used to be 0.5 litres. Then, some bright spark got the idea of making a one pint can. The beer in it wasn't particularly good, but their sales took off like a rocket! Now, there are a good number of beers that come in one pint cans. :D

I guess it must be all those guys telling their wives (or themselves) that they're just going to have that one beer. It used to be that they got 0.5 litres -- now they're getting 0.568 litres. :laugh:

[henners88]

There are more examples than I realised.

[Mark]

It may sound silly but things like that matter.

For example sellers of fruit & veg. Why do you think they resisted metric for so long? It wasn't because they thought the pounds and ounces system was better. But because a kg is around twice as heavy as a pound so their goods would appear more expensive!

[Rudy Tamasz]

An amusing thing has happened recently in Estonia regarding that. We're generally all metric of course, and the standard size of a bottle or a can of beer used to be 0.5 litres. Then, some bright spark got the idea of making a one pint can. The beer in it wasn't particularly good, but their sales took off like a rocket! Now, there are a good number of beers that come in one pint cans. :D

I guess it must be all those guys telling their wives (or themselves) that they're just going to have that one beer. It used to be that they got 0.5 litres -- now they're getting 0.568 litres. :laugh:

We have that, too. Dunno about sales, but one brewery sells a certain type of their beer in pint bottles. Others don't get so sophisticated. They simply sell normal .5l containers pretty cheap to beat the competition.

[BDunnell]

It may sound silly but things like that matter.

For example sellers of fruit & veg. Why do you think they resisted metric for so long? It wasn't because they thought the pounds and ounces system was better. But because a kg is around twice as heavy as a pound so their goods would appear more expensive!

Not an unreasonable concern. Neither, in this instance, is customer confusion. I don't normally like things to stand in the way of progress, but I really don't consider a wholesale change to metric as representing progress.

[schmenke]

Now that I think about it, even the engineering industry is all messed up. For example, we buy bulk pipe in thousands of meters in varying diameters specified in inches. They’re then delivered to our job sites in 40 foot lengths (the length of a standard flat bed semi-truck here).

We buy bulk steel in metric tons.

We specify pump sizes in HP (not KW). HVAC equipment is measured in cubic feet per minute (CFM).

Our construction equipment, e.g. dump trucks and excavators are measured in cubic yard capacities. Fuel requirements for this equipment is measured in liters but delivered in 45 gallon drums.

:mark:

[Firstgear]

Aside:
What is stupid is that ten was used as a base and not twelve. Ten is divisible by 1, 2 and 5 but Twelve is divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 which produces halves, quarters and thirds nicely.
If people had 12 fingers instead of 10, base 12 would probably have been the natural choice.

[janneppi]

Now that I think about it, even the engineering industry is all messed up. For example, we buy bulk pipe in thousands of meters in varying diameters specified in inches. They’re then delivered to our job sites in 40 foot lengths (the length of a standard flat bed semi-truck here).

We buy bulk steel in metric tons.

We specify pump sizes in HP (not KW). HVAC equipment is measured in cubic feet per minute (CFM).

Our construction equipment, e.g. dump trucks and excavators are measured in cubic yard capacities. Fuel requirements for this equipment is measured in liters but delivered in 45 gallon drums.

:mark:
We design steelworks in mm, pipe fittings in inches, threads in both. And calculate the amount of workplace stress in metric fcuktons. :D

What really bothers me is the semi documentaries in tv about machines for example. If it's a mining device, it's length is measured in VW Beetles, weight in elephants, power in how many tractors it can pull. :)

[donKey jote]

If people had 12 fingers instead of 10, base 12 would probably have been the natural choice.

in many parts of the world you can count to 12 with each hand, using your thumb to point at one of the 3 bones in each of the other 4 fingers ;) :)

[D-Type]

I've never heard of that before. Where do they do that?

[donKey jote]

I thought it was fairly common in arabic lands and the middle East. I first heard about it when I was little from my uncle, who learnt it in Bahrain.
I somehow recall seeing it more recently in a BBC documentary by Al-Khalili too, and I'm pretty sure the sumerians were mentioned in it somewhere.

[Firstgear]

So if a cop pulls me over to ask how many drinks I've had, I can just stick up my index finger to indicate I've had three?

[donKey jote]

No, for three you'd use your thumb to point to the third phalange of your little finger :p

[Rollo]

I do know there's a good historical reason behind each imperial unit of measurement, but they're just not useful in the modern world, are they? I mean, I haven't noticed many teams of oxen lately, pulling things. :p


Not useful?

The tyres on my Pug 206 are 175/65 R14. Inches in terms of tyre size are far easier to distinguish as are tyre pressures rated in psi. 36psi is a nice simple and useful number.
A Queen Size bed is 5ft by 6ft 8in, a King Size bed is 6ft by 6ft 8in and California King 6ft by 7ft.
A ceiling that's 10ft tall is obviously different to one that's 9ft tall.
22 yards is one of the most precious distances in the world.
To fang along at 100mph is a thing of great beauty.
Houses sit on a quarter acre block.
Gold is still traded by the ounce, oil by the barrel and damned if I'm going to stop buying wine by the Rehoboam (though if someone wants to sell me a Melchizedek, I'd be willing to listen).

[D-Type]

No, for three you'd use your thumb to point to the third phalange of your little finger :p

Have I got this correct? You start with the tip of the little finger and work downwards, then to the tip of the ring finger and finish up on 12 at thr root of the index finger.

[Tel 911S]

Just read this thread & realised that Eurotroll has the right name , because this is a wind up surely .
Every country in the world uses the Imperial system of measurement , Time , Degrees of angle , geographic locations , etc etc , as well as just about every car runs on wheels measured in Inches .
O K , some of them also use another system called metric , which is far inferior , as it is not accurate in some calculations , [ area of a circle E.G .] , but is is easier to use with calculators & digital systems .
So why should we scrap the better Imperial system , which has been about since ancient Greek times , to bring ourselves down to the inferior Metric system .

[Mark]

What really bothers me is the semi documentaries in tv about machines for example. If it's a mining device, it's length is measured in VW Beetles, weight in elephants, power in how many tractors it can pull. :)

There are standard units for that So, what's the velocity of a sheep in a vacuum? ? The Register (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/24/vulture_central_standards/) ;)

Olympic swimming pools, double decker buses and 'the size of Wales' are common ones!

[EuroTroll]

Just read this thread & realised that Eurotroll has the right name , because this is a wind up surely .

Thank you very much and welcome to the forum! :laugh:



Every country in the world uses the Imperial system of measurement , Time , Degrees of angle , geographic locations , etc etc , as well as just about every car runs on wheels measured in Inches .
O K , some of them also use another system called metric , which is far inferior , as it is not accurate in some calculations , [ area of a circle E.G .] , but is is easier to use with calculators & digital systems .
So why should we scrap the better Imperial system , which has been about since ancient Greek times , to bring ourselves down to the inferior Metric system .

Actually, the British Weights and Measures Act of 1824 only specified units for length, area, volume and mass for the British Empire. So discussion of 'metric' vs. 'imperial' is really only about those. Our common units of time, angle, etc. are not "Imperial". :) They're SI units, which happen to not use the base of 10.

I guess the question really is: should you adopt SI in its entirety or not? I think you should.

[Tel 911S]

Thank you very much and welcome to the forum! :laugh:



Actually, the British Weights and Measures Act of 1824 only specified units for length, area, volume and mass for the British Empire. So discussion of 'metric' vs. 'imperial' is really only about those. Our common units of time, angle, etc. are not "Imperial". :) They're SI units, which happen to not use the base of 10.

I guess the question really is: should you adopt SI in its entirety or not? I think you should.

I believe the SI system was a French idea which only came about late in the 20th century , to make up for the deficiencies in the metric system which was another French invention at end of the 18th century .
The imperial system which always used the 12 measurement came from Greek scholars [ Pye does not work exactly in the Metric ] . So it is the metric which has had to adopt part of the Imperial system to be able to work , you may call it SI , but really it is Imperial [ based on the 12 number calculations, not Metric - decimal 10s].
The French are never going to admit that their mathmatics are faulty & have to use part of the British system to be able to work .
So I think we should stick with one that has worked for over 2000 years .

[donKey jote]

Have I got this correct? You start with the tip of the little finger and work downwards, then to the tip of the ring finger and finish up on 12 at thr root of the index finger.

Yep. I doubt it's the only system though... there are probably different "dialects".

[donKey jote]

The imperial system which always used the 12 measurement came from Greek scholars [ Pye does not work exactly in the Metric ] .
12 or 60 was used well before the Greeks, in the cradle of civilisation (present day Iraq :p )
pi is an irrational number and works just as exactly in Metric as in any other system... or just as badly ;)



So I think we should stick with one that has worked for over 2000 years .
Ooooh that would be at least 6000 methinks. :andrea:

[steveaki13]

I am 26 and am completely mixed up when it comes to measurements.

I learn't metric at School, but Parents used Imperial. However rather than be good at using both, I find I know nothing of either. :dozey:

I measure large distance in Miles, then down to meters, then feet, then CM & MM, occasionally Inches.

I measure weight in Stone, but for smaller weights I struggle to visulise Grams and Kg and have no idea about Pounds and Oz. Peoples weight is in stone, I dont get what someone 190 pounds is?

I measure Liquid in Pints or Litres.

Height of people has to be Feet & Inches, Cant picture how tall 1.95 meters is.


And for other things I measure in Football Pitches, Elephants and alike.


In summary my UK upbringing has completely confused me. :confused:

[Duncan]

It was originally the standard across the British Empire. Despite the Americans leaving the Empire before it really started they never changed their system although some of their measurements (particularly for volumes) have the same name for slightly different quantities, for example a British gallon is 1.2 US gallons.

Oh, but it's much, much worse than that... when you order a pint of beer in the US you'll be served something that's only 4/5ths of an Imperial pint... :eek:

[Duncan]

I guess I should point out that technically, the US doesn't use the Imperial system; it uses the US system, which is derived from Imperial. The biggest difference that I can think of is the volume measurements, which are all different because a pint is defined as 16 ounces rather than the 20 ounces for an Imperial pint. The rest of the volume measurements are off because of that (a gallon is still 8 pints in either system).

There's also a bunch of the compound units which are still in existence in both systems, but have fallen into disuse in one system or another. Quarts are a commonly used unit in the US (2 pints) but expect blank stares from most people if you describe your weight in stones...

[ioan]

But then again, I have been using our standard my whole life, why would I want to have to change now?

There is just no reason to evolve isn't it?

[ioan]

I believe the SI system was a French idea which only came about late in the 20th century , to make up for the deficiencies in the metric system which was another French invention at end of the 18th century .
The imperial system which always used the 12 measurement came from Greek scholars [ Pye does not work exactly in the Metric ] . So it is the metric which has had to adopt part of the Imperial system to be able to work , you may call it SI , but really it is Imperial [ based on the 12 number calculations, not Metric - decimal 10s].
The French are never going to admit that their mathmatics are faulty & have to use part of the British system to be able to work .
So I think we should stick with one that has worked for over 2000 years .


You forgot that the French sacked their royals a long time ago, maybe that was also a mistake that they are not willing to admit?! :\

[BDunnell]

There is just no reason to evolve isn't it?

But this isn't evolution, is it? Rather, it's more of a procedural, bureaucratic thing.

[Sprocket]

Mostly which system doesn't matter much to me. I was around when people still talked in 'old money', feet and inches, whilst at school I was being taught metric.

Flying is one place where it gets interesting, you put in so many Litres of fuel, in a fuel tank that takes so many Gallons according to the Pilots Operating Handbook (could be US or Imperial Gallons, best check the book) and it weighs so many Pounds for the weight and balance calculations. (Should that be the mass and balance calculations in SI units!!). You then fly on a gauge calibrated in millibars (UK) that tells you how many feet you are in the air. You cover distance in Nautical Miles, fuel burn in Litres or Pounds is measured in burn per minute and your direction is taken from a circle divided into 360 degrees. The air temperature is in Celsius but the density altitude calculation that relies on the air temperature, uses feet to measure where you are in the atmosphere and so it goes on right through aviation.

Imagine the confusion if all the maps had to be changed to reflect airspace restrictions in Meters instead of Feet, used Kilometers instead of Nautical Miles etc etc. (The Nautical Mile has meaning in global navigation, where the Kilometer just becomes arbitrary)

This pretty much filters down to everything else we do in life too, so feet and inches, pounds and miles are likely to be around for a long time yet.

[ioan]

But this isn't evolution, is it? Rather, it's more of a procedural, bureaucratic thing.

From my POV as an engineer the metric system is much simpler, easier to use and preciser. I call that evolution when compared to the imperial system.

[Steve Boyd]

We buy bulk steel in metric tons.
and a metric ton (2204.6 pounds) is closer to an Imperial ton (2240 pounds) than a US ton (2000 pounds)

[BDunnell]

From my POV as an engineer the metric system is much simpler, easier to use and preciser. I call that evolution when compared to the imperial system.

Well, for that sort of activity, perhaps, but not in everyday life. I certainly don't see it as evolution, but then, as stated earlier, I use both for different things.

[Sprocket]

Well, for that sort of activity, perhaps, but not in everyday life. I certainly don't see it as evolution, but then, as stated earlier, I use both for different things.

That's the reality of it, I've an engineering background, if I was working in a CAD program I would not hesitate to select mm as the unit. It is logical and easy to work with.

When I'm buying wood to build a bench, I ask for 2 x 2 not 50.8 x 50.8

This is why in aviation there is a complete mix of Imperial, US and Metric units. It is whichever is convenient and easier to work with or in some cases simply what a manufacturer chose to use. Just so long as you know which you are dealing with, it is no big deal. It is clear to me that changing from Nautical Miles to Kilometers for navigation would be a daft and purely bureaucratic exercise for example. Though the use of millibars instead of inches of mercury in the UK makes for easier radio communications.

It is better to me that there are various systems. Evolution does not drop what worked for a new system just for the sake of it, it encompasses the best of both. Much the way most people do in ordinary life.

I noticed weather forecasting was mentioned earlier as now switching to Celsius - they still don't report the wind speed in meters per second though! (Thankfully!).

[Mark]

Never thought about the forecast thing but you're right. But the UK is still very much wedded to miles and miles per hour.

[Bagwan]

If we all went back to the imperial system in Canada here , I would be happy .
It's what I learned first .

One farm just down the road from me still measures the potatoes with a peck basket .
Ask anyone under 40 years old and they'll glance around for chickens if you mention peck .

At the gas station we get increases for a few cents a litre , and almost all have forgotten that it represents 4.54 times that in gallons .
That worked out really well for the gas guys , as we all were too confused to figure it out at first , and now we just blindly accept it .