Hurrah! The return of Imperial Units!

[noblegiraffe]

The government has announced a taxpayer-funded study to quantify the economic benefits of a return to imperial units - a definite Brexit benefit.

I'm struggling to think of any. Journeys are all in miles. You can still buy a pint. No one has arrested me for my standard cake recipe of 8,8,8,4. What are the good old imperial units I'm forgetting that are currently verboten and what economic benefit will they bring? Are people desperate to buy a pound of apples but holding off while they're in kg?

"Paul Scully, a Tory business minister, said reintroducing imperial labelling would be “an important step in taking back control” and that a planned “assessment of the economic impact on business will be carried out in due course”."

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-imperial-measurements-economic-benefit-study-b2021304.html

They should teach metric, imperial, and other measurements like rods, poles and furlongs.

What is a rod and why do you think it should be general knowledge for everybody?

@noblegiraffe You had to lower the tone by mentioning the Dust Spaffer.
😹😹

I hope all School Gals skirts are measure properly when they kneel before their Headmistress tomorrow. On the Knee and no higher!!

@MedusasBadHairDay

We still use imperial measurements for so much, I don't understand the people who think we've been banned from it? It's bizarre. Like I don't know a single British person who uses metric when they are taking about their height, babies births are accompanied by announcements of their weight in imperial measures, etc.

Official measurements in the health service are in metric, the midwife always had to look at the back of the red book to see the imperial equivalent and was astonished when I told her not to bother as I am not interested in it (I am German).

It is banned from trade even in the UK apart from milk in gallon, petrol and some drinks in pints. All produce which is sold by weight has to be shown the price in kg. You can't sell a product to another country using imperial measurements.

All scientific work is done in metric, I am sure the universities and research facilities will love doing everything twice to work internationally.

I agree, lots of people do use imperial measures but they are also not taught in school anymore, DD (14, Y10) has no idea what the equivalent of 1 stone, 1 pound, 1oz is.

Look at any cooking book, even Holy Mary Berry, uses only metric unless they show both measurements.

Going back is pointless and will just push us away from international trade even further. Also I doubt factories will invest heavily in changing all machinery to make you a 3oz bar of chocolate instead of 100g.

But that's what you get if you appoint a Victorian time traveler to a Mickey Mouse minister and now need to find work for him.

If someone is doing 20 mph, how long will it take them to travel 20 leagues 10 chains and 10 rods?

I came from metric background but after nearly 20 years here I'm getting used to miles and inches and pounds. I wonder if they will be a requirement for the citizenship test?

Don't be dissing furlongs - it's handy for working out your winners at Newmarket.

'Alexa, explain "British exceptionalism" using entirely pointless examples of post-imperial willy-waving.'

@Ursusmajor

Bring back shillings and farthings and half crowns and guineas! Seriously though metric makes maths so much easier.

I was watching an sewing video on youtube, they were drafting a pattern using inches and had to write themselves a cheatsheet so they could do the calculations they needed. It just seemed such a faff.

@Whelmed

I came from metric background but after nearly 20 years here I'm getting used to miles and inches and pounds. I wonder if they will be a requirement for the citizenship test?

I've been here nearly as long, what are you buying/doing that you're using inches and pounds?

I can manage miles because no one ever changed the road system. I've always known that an inch is 2.4cm but I certainly don't use it in everyday life. And for weights, please give me metric or give me death.

@veevee04

Sounds like a load of shit I never learnt imperial measurements and I left school 13 years ago. Pandering to the grey vote.

I never learnt imperial measures and I left school 36 years ago!!

That's the fault of the national curriculum then. They should teach metric, imperial, and other measurements like rods, poles and furlongs. It should all be general knowledge for everybody.

I can't quite tell if you're being ironic or serious here.

If serious: why? Why not just teach the standard measurements used by the majority of the world, and which are the norm for commercial transactions here?

If some things use metric and some use imperial, how do you work out value for money when in a supermarket easily if products you want to buy have different weight measurements?

£3.50 a lb or £1.35 a kg

@Whelmed

I came from metric background but after nearly 20 years here I'm getting used to miles and inches and pounds. I wonder if they will be a requirement for the citizenship test?

I am here since 2000:

The only time I use inches is when I discuss cake sizes with a cake-making friend. Strangely enough, she weighs her ingredients in metric.

Miles obviously work as I drive.

Oh great I can go back to measuring my orchard in chains. Yay.

NB the above statement may not be true.

Yeah that's true, my cake tins are marked in inches, but I know the proper measurements in my head so don't really notice.

Imperial is only official in three other countries. Metric is much easier to understand.

@jassyradlett I think you will find Willies are still measured in inches :)

I still hanker after the groat. I don't suppose we'll see a quick return of that...

Interestingly, an acre is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet),

or 4046.856 square metres

It's so patently a stupid idea but they need a report to tell the olds it's out of their hands.

Let's hope any report also says we should go full metric and use km instead of miles as well.

Only people over 70 would want this. And they probably don't even care either. Everyone is used to metric and it's easier.

and yet today my gynae consultant asked me how many Stones i weigh.

TVs are sold in inch screens. I am 46 but learnt Imperial first and Metric later. Imperial is what my parents taught me in home cooking.

I want British plumbing back. None of this 2.6litre flush nonsense

[quote noblegiraffe]The government has announced a taxpayer-funded study to quantify the economic benefits of a return to imperial units - a definite Brexit benefit.

I'm struggling to think of any. Journeys are all in miles. You can still buy a pint. No one has arrested me for my standard cake recipe of 8,8,8,4. What are the good old imperial units I'm forgetting that are currently verboten and what economic benefit will they bring? Are people desperate to buy a pound of apples but holding off while they're in kg?

"Paul Scully, a Tory business minister, said reintroducing imperial labelling would be “an important step in taking back control” and that a planned “assessment of the economic impact on business will be carried out in due course”."

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-imperial-measurements-economic-benefit-study-b2021304.html[/quote]
Sorry I thought by the title you meant that Westminster had placed more troops in Scotland.

Unless they switch the currency back to multiples of 7, they'll have achieved nothing .

That and reintroducing single taps.

That and reintroducing single taps.

The curse of single taps is somehow, inexplicably, still with us for those who like to be frozen and scalded simultaneously.