A win for Great Britain against those EU infidels!

[Daniel]

http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2007/09/11/britannia_triumphant/

I would post the Beeb link but the comments on this page are better.

It frustrates me that people use something as silly as metric (makes sense) and Imperial (doesn't make sense) to illustrate how Europe is trying to enforce evil upon the UK.

Imperial contains silly measurements like 2240lb's = 1 imperial ton, 1 foot = 12 inches, 1 yard = 3 feet and so on. Why people don't want to go for something that's a lot simpler and a lot easier to teach I don't know. People coped with the change to celsius over fahrenheit so why is it so hard to learn a system that is merely based on 10 times tables? :mark: It would be a shame for my 19.8 mile drive home to become a 31.865074930062 km drive that's dictated to me by Fritz, dirty Francois and all of those eastern European immigrants who are stealing all our jobs.


I think the EU has come out of this looking good. They tried to help the UK and they refused help.

Brb I'm off to shoot someone as that seems the tradition here :D

[Eki]

We should declare a War Against Imperial Terrorists. Maybe send the French foreign legion to Britain to liberate them from Imperial measures and teach them the bliss of the metric system.

[Daniel]

Amen to that my 2.347920 brothers :up:

[BDunnell]

I don't normally like to join in the sport of EU-bashing, although its institutions are deeply flawed in democratic terms and so on. However, on this one, I'm glad they've given up. I think in a mixture of metric and imperial measurements. The cheese I've just bought from the supermarket, I asked for in grammes. If asked how tall I am, I express it in feet. I am happier dealing with litres and millilitres when it comes to liquids than I am with gallons and fluid ounces. I don't understand the need to standardise completely by law. Displaying both types of measurement is sensible.

[Eki]

Q: How long is the longest nose in the world?

A: 11 inches. If it was 12, it would be a foot.

I think I'll start using Scottish ells if someone asks me how tall I am:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ell

[Dave B]

I don't understand why we didn't go fully metric at the same time as decimalisation of our currency. People moaned like mad about that, but soon got used to it.

That said, there's nothing particularly wrong with imperial measurements, just that metric are far more sensible. The phenomenal cost in converting every single road sign would be money far better spent, and I guess that most Brits have just got used to this fudge where both systems co-exists.

[Daniel]

I don't normally like to join in the sport of EU-bashing, although its institutions are deeply flawed in democratic terms and so on. However, on this one, I'm glad they've given up. I think in a mixture of metric and imperial measurements. The cheese I've just bought from the supermarket, I asked for in grammes. If asked how tall I am, I express it in feet. I am happier dealing with litres and millilitres when it comes to liquids than I am with gallons and fluid ounces. I don't understand the need to standardise completely by law. Displaying both types of measurement is sensible.
I agree. But wasn't the whole point that everything should be at least labelled in both measurements so as to minimise the conusion? So for instance there couldn't be the confusion of what you're paying for. So if I see bananas for sale I can easily work out what I'm getting for my money. They could list it in ounces or pounds or tons then it's harder for me to work out what I'm getting for my money than it would be if buying in metric units.

If bananas are £5600 for an imperial ton then I have to divide that by 2240 to get the price per pound. But if it was in metric tonnes then I could just divide it by 1000 to get the price in a commonly used measurement which is a lot easier. Now of course that's a far fetched example but it illustrates a point. Australia went through the same changes and came out still as Australia and isn't French or European. You can still walk into a pub and ask for a pint and sing "I wanna be (500 miles)" in a drunken voice in fact I once saw Colin McRae do this in Australia and he didn't get arrested.

Edit: Dave beat me to the point that it should have just happened ages ago

[BDunnell]

I agree. But wasn't the whole point that everything should be at least labelled in both measurements so as to minimise the conusion? So for instance there couldn't be the confusion of what you're paying for. So if I see bananas for sale I can easily work out what I'm getting for my money. They could list it in ounces or pounds or tons then it's harder for me to work out what I'm getting for my money than it would be if buying in metric units.

I was under the impression that shops were to in effect be banned from displaying imperial measurements.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I've said before that the scales at work measure in grammes but over 80% of customers ask for pounds and ounces.

It's easier to use pounds and ounces for buying food. 'A pound of sausage' is simply easier to say than 'for four hundred and forty five grammes of sausage'.

However I prefer to measure length in meters :\

[BDunnell]

I've said before that the scales at work measure in grammes but over 80% of customers ask for pounds and ounces.

It's easier to use pounds and ounces for buying food. 'A pound of sausage' is simply easier to say than 'for hundred and forty five grammes of sausage'.

However I prefer to measure length in meters :\

It is so weird and irrational that so many of us mix and match. As I said, I would never express my height in metres, yet if I was looking for, say, a fence post, I would probably think in metres.

[Ian McC]

I don't know why we still measure some things in inches, if we used centimeters they would sound so much bigger! ;)

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I don't know why we still measure some things in inches, if we used centimeters they would sound so much bigger! ;)

Funnily, when customers ask for 6 inches of cumberland sausage I always cut them a bit too big ;)

[Daniel]

Funnily, when customers ask for 6 inches of cumberland sausage I always cut them a bit too big ;)
6 inches is bigger and smaller for some people :D :p

[BDunnell]

6 inches is bigger and smaller for some people :D :p

Don't confuse me. I have no idea what 6 inches looks like.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

6 inches is bigger and smaller for some people :D :p

Maybe I have big inches :D

[Eki]

I've said before that the scales at work measure in grammes but over 80% of customers ask for pounds and ounces.

It's easier to use pounds and ounces for buying food. 'A pound of sausage' is simply easier to say than 'for four hundred and forty five grammes of sausage'.

However I prefer to measure length in meters :\
I think it's easier to say 'half a kilo of sausage' than 'A pound and one point six three six eight ounces of sausage'.

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I think it's easier to say 'half a kilo of sausage' than 'A pound and one point six three six eight ounces of sausage'.

People who ask for 1/2 a kilo of sausage are just awkward. :mad: We link the sausage into bunches of six, 12 sausage is around 450grammes so two bunches is what we use when people ask for a pound. If they want 1/2 a kilo I have to break into another bunch and cut 2 off :mad:

[Daniel]

People who ask for 1/2 a kilo of sausage are just awkward. :mad: We link the sausage into bunches of six, 12 sausage is around 450grammes so two bunches is what we use when people ask for a pound. If they want 1/2 a kilo I have to break into another bunch and cut 2 off :mad:
Just make bigger sausages? Sorted!

[Malbec]

Seeing that there are quite a few people who like the imperial system as well as those who prefer the metric system I see no problem with maintaining both systems alongside each other. I certainly see no cause for banning the imperial system.

We've managed to trade with our continental partners without difficulty for the past few decades despite maintaining the imperial system so where's the harm? There might be a small economic cost to having two measuring systems alongside each other but since that cost is only paid by us, ie the British, I see no reason for the EU to interfere.

[Daniel]

I was under the impression that shops were to in effect be banned from displaying imperial measurements.
I could be wrong but I thought that it was about making the primary unit of measurement a metric one so that there was consistency and allowing imperial to be used as a secondary unit? :mark:

[Dave B]

Don't confuse me. I have no idea what 6 inches looks like.
Well, imagine half a....

[Brown, Jon Brow]

I was under the impression that shops were to in effect be banned from displaying imperial measurements.

The price on food in our shop is displayed in £per kg and £per pound. The KG price is bigger though.

[BDunnell]

Well, imagine half a....

Do go on...

[Daniel]

The price on food in our shop is displayed in £per kg and £per pound. The KG price is bigger though.
I wonder if it's about 2.2 times bigger? :mark:

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Eh? :erm:

[Daniel]

1kg = 2.2 lb's :p

[Brown, Jon Brow]

Eh? :erm:

1kg = 2.2pounds ;)

[Daniel]

Eh? :erm:

:p

[Brown, Jon Brow]

You win this round :hmh:

[Daniel]

Rule 1 of showing that someone is a twonk on the forum :p ALWAYS quote or at least wait for the edit period to expire before replying :p

[Mark]

The official forum unit is ferlongs per fortnight.

[LeonBrooke]

Q: How long is the longest nose in the world?

A: 11 inches. If it was 12, it would be a foot.

I think I'll start using Scottish ells if someone asks me how tall I am:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ell

I'm 1.8620983189189189189189189189189 Scottish ells :D

[Drew]

I think the EU has come out of this looking good. They tried to help the UK and they refused help.

Brb I'm off to shoot someone as that seems the tradition here :D

If you don't like it, hop out, I can recommend you an airport :p :

There was an article in a German newspaper and it said that something like 22% used just metric, 29% used just imperial and the rest used both.

I don't understand how you can use just 1 system. If you drive do you ignore distance signs and speed limits and if you buy a car do you ignore the size of the engine?

[J4MIE]

I'm all in favour of converting to metric and am disappointed that we will still have the two systems.

I still couldn't tell you what a mile is :s

[Daniel]

I'm all in favour of converting to metric and am disappointed that we will still have the two systems.

I still couldn't tell you what a mile is :s
Infidel!!!!

[J4MIE]

Infidel!!!!

I'm all in favour of converting to metric :\

[Daniel]

I'm all in favour of converting to metric :\
Me too :p I was just joking :) I don't see why people need imperial measurements at all.

[J4MIE]

Me too :p I was just joking :) I don't see why people need imperial measurements at all.

Same with the Great Great British Pound :(