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Imperial or Metric


Bigsmak

Imperial or Metric  

108 members have voted

  1. 1. Should we return to imperial measurements, keep what we have or go fully metric?

    • Keep what we have
      72
    • Go Imperial
      4
    • Fully Metric
      26
    • Other / St. Johnstone / I don't understand the question
      6


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It looks like there might be a consultation by the government to see if we should return to imperial measurements.  

 

Is this a fad to try and keep the Brexiters on side or does it actually have any merit? 

 

Why would we use imperial over metric?  

 

Are we right to keep a little bit of a mix?  EG - we use miles on the road because its what we are used to - but we buy food in KG rather than pounds and ounces! 

 

Found this simple site that explains (its from a school I think) 

 

https://www.houseofmaths.co.uk/2017/01/which-is-better-metric-or-imperial

 

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il Duce McTarkin

Absolute lunacy to return to imperial measurements.

Backward thinking at it's worst.

Nothing but a sop to the hard of thinking.

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Footballfirst

Britain should have been fully metric long before now, given that schools have taught the metric system since the mid 1960s. 

 

I guess that the retention of certain imperial measures, e.g. pints and miles, was down to political expediency, a distrust of Europeans and the conversion cost at the time. No government since then appears to want to upset even a small proportion of their voters by pushing through the change.

 

The current proposals are just a kite flying exercise aimed to appeal to the "imperialists", aka Britnats.

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It's a form of isolationism and with tendancies of supremacy.  Perhaps even leaning towards radicalism.

 

It's not the kind of thought that has any place or business for a (still) important western democracy and leading diplomatic power.

 

It's not about the trivial specifics.  It's about the backwards ideology that presents itself.

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I'm sure that 99.99% of the population are far more interested in how much things cost as opposed to how they're measured.

 

 

 

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The Old Tolbooth
2 minutes ago, Cade said:

I'm sure that 99.99% of the population are far more interested in how much things cost as opposed to how they're measured.

 

 

 

Exactly this! 

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John Findlay

I'm not fussed was taught in both.

Just like I was in pounds shillings and pennies, and then decimal money.

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been here before

Imperial, the correct way. None of this swarthy Johnny Foreigner nonsense.

 

God save The Queen.

 

images.jpeg.jpg.5c1da7c1572ea7f4d39d46af39d08fb2.jpg

 

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Harry Potter
36 minutes ago, Boof said:

Metric is miles better.

Certainly easier to work with, still weigh myself in stones and pounds 😀.

metric better for working out an area for wooden flooring, tiles, can use both for fuel.

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42 minutes ago, Harry Potter said:

Certainly easier to work with, still weigh myself in stones and pounds 😀.

metric better for working out an area for wooden flooring, tiles, can use both for fuel.

 

The same

 

Distance = Miles 

Golf course = yrds + inches 

Hight = Foot and Inches

Weight = Stone and pounds  (although starting to get the metric equivalent) 

 

BUT - if I was to buy anything from Ikea, measure a table or a bit of wood needing cut,  anything bought from the butchers or asda - Its metric - 

 

Metric is so much easier to work with - multiply up, divide down - so easy.. I couldn't tell you how many yrd or feet there are in 8 miles but instantly know how many meters are in 8km 

 

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John Findlay
23 minutes ago, Bigsmak said:

 

The same

 

Distance = Miles 

Golf course = yrds + inches 

Hight = Foot and Inches

Weight = Stone and pounds  (although starting to get the metric equivalent) 

 

BUT - if I was to buy anything from Ikea, measure a table or a bit of wood needing cut,  anything bought from the butchers or asda - Its metric - 

 

Metric is so much easier to work with - multiply up, divide down - so easy.. I couldn't tell you how many yrd or feet there are in 8 miles but instantly know how many meters are in 8km 

 

14,080 yards in 8 miles.

1760 yards in a mile.

8 x 1760 = 14,080.

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1 hour ago, Morgan said:

6 or 15?

 

:oohmatron:

Had to think about that. 😆

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A_A wehatethehibs
1 hour ago, dobmisterdobster said:

If it ain't broke don't fix it

 

Ill take 568 mils of Guinness ta’ 

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Metric is just so elegant.

Originally, 1 metre was 1 ten-millionth of the distance between the north pole and the equator.

1 litre was the volume of water in a 10cmx10cmx10cm cube.

The mass of that water was 1 kilogram.

The amount of energy to raise 1 gram of water by 1 degree celsius was 1 calorie.

Celsius itself was simple. Water freezes at 0 (at sea level) and boils at 100 (again, at sea level).

 

Imperial measurements are just bonkers, based on the dimensions of human body parts or on averages of random weighting units created by the peasantry.

 

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Jambo-Jimbo

Just keep the system we have now, seems to work fine, so don't go fully back to imperial but have a half and half, like it is.

 

Of course for many metric is all they know, so that's the measurements that they'll swear by, other folks who have used both imperial & metric will often have a different view point. 

I could never imagine going into a pub and asking for a half litre of beer, nah a pint of best or lager, or babies weights, I could tell you every one of my childrens weight at birth in Ibs & oz's but I don't have a clue what they would have been in kg without working it out, same with height, someone is 5ft 10in, haven't a clue what that is in metres.  However if I measure something I do it in mm or cm never in inches, mm is much more exact.

 

So I'm happy to just stay the way things are using a combination of imperial & metric, I have no wish or desire to go back fully to imperial, equally I don't fancy going fully metric either.

 

 

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1 hour ago, A_A wehatethehibs said:

 

Ill take 568 mils of Guinness ta’ 

They’ll just round it to 500ml and charge the same price.

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hughesie27

Use a mixture.

Taught in mls and grams but have no idea how much a kilo "feels". 

Would weigh myself in stone and lbs.

Similarly have no idea how far KMs are composted to miles. Same thing for a speedometer in a car.

 

 

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John Findlay
26 minutes ago, hughesie27 said:

Use a mixture.

Taught in mls and grams but have no idea how much a kilo "feels". 

Would weigh myself in stone and lbs.

Similarly have no idea how far KMs are composted to miles. Same thing for a speedometer in a car.

 

 

A kilo is 2lbs 2oz.

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heatonjambo

Most if not all people taught and brought up on the imperial system will be 6 foot under by 2030 so why change 

Edited by heatonjambo
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John Findlay
20 minutes ago, hughesie27 said:

2oz 🤷‍♂️

 

21 minutes ago, hughesie27 said:

2oz 🤷‍♂️

A kilo is basically the Weight of a bag of sugar.

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Seaside jambo

When I served my time as a joiner in the 70s sheets of plywood were in inches or feet 

but plasterboard was metric in width but imperial in length 

timber was in inches for width 4x2 ect but came in metric lengths 🤦‍♂️

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1 minute ago, Seaside jambo said:

When I served my time as a joiner in the 70s sheets of plywood were in inches or feet 

but plasterboard was metric in width but imperial in length 

timber was in inches for width 4x2 ect but came in metric lengths 🤦‍♂️

Ply still comes in imperial so an 8x4 is actually 2.4m x 1.2m. Possibly as a lot of timber stock comes from Canada and their main market will be the US. 

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Seaside jambo
5 minutes ago, Tazio said:

Ply still comes in imperial so an 8x4 is actually 2.4m x 1.2m. Possibly as a lot of timber stock comes from Canada and their main market will be the US. 

Yes plywood is 2.440mm long & 1.220 mm wide would mostly come from Brazil or Malaya

plasterboard is now 2.400mm long & 1.200mm wide 

don’t use a lot of timber in the trade now , well in new houses anyway MDF is king 

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1 hour ago, heatonjambo said:

Most if not all people taught and brought up on the imperial system will be 6 foot under by 2030 so why change 

“1.829m under” I think you mean. 

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Had to learn both when I did my apprenticeship Metric is much easier to use especially for dummies 

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8 hours ago, Morgan said:

6 or 15?

 

:oohmatron:

 

15 or 38?  :smugger:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:Aye:

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Keep it mixed.  

 

We moved to km on the roads in 2004, and we're well used to it now.  Irish people still think in miles per gallon (older people at any rate), whereas I'm inclined to think in litres per hundred kilometres (higher is bad).

 

A lot of older people use imperial for weights and heights.  I use metric for weights and imperial for heights - for some reason, the difference between being 1.63m and 1.78m high just doesn't register with me, but the difference between 81 and 92 kilogrammes does.

 

If you're in a normal height range, your weight in kilogrammes should give an accurate indicator of your waist size in centimetres, and vice versa.  It can be out by a couple of centimetres or kg, but no more than 2 (normally).  So if fat prat Johnson is 111 kg, his waist size is likely to be 111 cm.  In imperial measurements, if his weight is 17 stone 7, his trouser waist size should be 44.

 

I ask for "half a kilogramme or thereabouts" of meat at the butchers.  They give me a funny look, and say they'll give me a pound, and then offer me in or around 500 grammes.  :what:

 

We're also still using some American measurements in the house for recipes (cups and the like).  Don't forget that American pints and gallons are smaller than their UK counterparts.

 

 

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24 minutes ago, frankblack said:

 

👌

 

 

I took the kids to McDonald's today and that question was on their app, I didn't realise the link to Pulp Fiction.

 

 

Screenshot_20220603-220118.png

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Maple Leaf
7 hours ago, Hansel said:

What do they call a quarter pounder with cheese in Paris?

Garbage, probably.

 

That would be gar-baaaj.

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