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

@mathanxiety

This is all part of the preparation for the UK to become the 51st state of the US.

I thought America weighed stuff in cups, which is a bit of a problem because I'm northern and only have mugs or "sunday best" china. 😹

and they measure horse racing in metres which means bugger all to me

.

Lego 😹😹

Oooh, @noblegiraffe, think of all the old sayings you can bring out in lessons:
'Two and a quarter pounds of jam weigh about a kilogram'
'A litre of water's a pint and three quarters'
.... or thereabouts!

I think if you want to return to the measurements of the 1970s, then you should include groats, half pennies, and tanners. Petrol prices only in gallons (£1.50 a litre is over £7 a gallon).

It's so they can disguise rampant inflation by selling you a pound of apples for the same price as a kilo.

Oh god, teaching imperial units. 😭

Rulers these days don't even have inches on them. That's going to cost, to replace them all.

Nope. Just nope.

I have no freaking idea how the imperial system works! What's wrong with base ten? Makes far more sense.

It's one of the things that came from Europe that I actually really appreciate.

What nonsense. I am 50 and have only ever really used metric measurements - except for height. Why would anyone think this was a good idea?

I thought America weighed stuff in cups, which is a bit of a problem because I'm northern and only have mugs or "sunday best" china.

Weirdly, given how much I love the metric system, I am strongly in favour of cups. I have a set of measuring cups and it's so much easier than fannying around with scales.

It is funny. I'll ask for an inch of my hair and my very young hairdresser seems to know what I mean. If I'm estimating a distance I'll say two feet or three yards , but if I'm actually measuring something I'll always use metric.

I still can't get my head around grams and kilograms. I found my mother's old recipe book the other day and rejoiced to see lbs and ounces, I have started baking again. It would be wonderful if we went back to this, I still weigh myself in stones/lbs and still believe my height to be in ft and inches. I can visualise what a 5ft or 6ft person (or Christmas tree!) might look like, I just can't visualise what height 168cm would look like at all.

I don’t understand kilometres. I still think in miles , pounds and inches. So it would help me
This is so bewildering to me. I was born in the early 70's and I haven't a clue what a pound of sugar would look like. Or a ha'porth of tar come to that.

I know a Pax wardrobe can be 201cm or 236cm and if that was in inches I would end up buying the wrong one.

@jamandmarmaladeoncrumpets

But i waste more water flushing twice on a 2.6l flush and even the 6litre flushes than i did years ago on an 9 litre flush.

The paper just stays there. The pipes are far too narrow on newer toilets.

Having had 4 replacement Geberit cartridges fo flushes that do not work properly I do blame toilets made to Common Market standards.

The old British toilets and pipework worked very well.

Down to water being wasted, you don't need 2 gallons to flush the loo, pipes are the same size 4inch vs 100mm, 2in vs 50mm and 1/2in vs 15mm. We had to go into 100 year old clay pipes, no issues at all using metric adaptors.

Buy better quality? the loos i ve just had fitted came from Italy, the two i original had were rubbish, made here, were only in a month, luckily the supplier replaced.

"Paul Scully, a Tory business minister, said reintroducing imperial labelling would be “an important step in taking back control”

Better not tell him and Boris that the British Armed forces uses metric sized armaments, artillery, tank rounds and bullets....

what a shambles for a Govt.

@DetailMouse

It is funny. I'll ask for an inch of my hair and my very young hairdresser seems to know what I mean. If I'm estimating a distance I'll say two feet or three yards , but if I'm actually measuring something I'll always use metric.

There are some things we never really switched on, thinking about it. So babies' weights are still commonly described in lbs and ounces, even though they're kg on official notes. Height tends to be feet and inches. And we still measure speed in miles per hour.

But I do not want to have to learn how big a yard is.

*how long a yard is

Curtains.
I know I need 66w x 72d but I've bugger all idea what all the metric versions are (even though technically I'm metric)

Lightbulbs
WTF happened to a good old 60w? It's all written in bollox these days - I want something I can sew by not something I could get with a fucking candle!🤬

@ThirdElephant

*how long a yard is

3 feet

Weirdly, given how much I love the metric system, I am strongly in favour of cups. I have a set of measuring cups and it's so much easier than fannying around with scales.

Australia is properly metric and uses cups too. As you say, it's just convenient. 1 cup = 250mL.

I can't do distances in miles. But being from rural Australia originally I tend to measure distances of more than a few kilometres in hours.

I know it's roughly a mile from my house to the high street and 100 miles to PIL. Both totally meaningless to me as standalone measurements though. PIL are a three hours away in good traffic, that's the measure that counts! In a place like the UK where traffic varies so much, giving distances from point A to point B is often meaningless anyway.

Curtains.
I know I need 66w x 72d but I've bugger all idea what all the metric versions are (even though technically I'm metric)

Similarly I wouldn't have a Scooby what I needed in imperial for curtains. Or tablecloths.

Googled 'curtains' and the first hit was these. All metric.

www.johnlewis.com/anyday-john-lewis-partners-arlo-pair-lined-pencil-pleat-curtains/p3295993

@JassyRadlett

Weirdly, given how much I love the metric system, I am strongly in favour of cups. I have a set of measuring cups and it's so much easier than fannying around with scales.

Australia is properly metric and uses cups too. As you say, it's just convenient. 1 cup = 250mL.

I can't do distances in miles. But being from rural Australia originally I tend to measure distances of more than a few kilometres in hours.

I know it's roughly a mile from my house to the high street and 100 miles to PIL. Both totally meaningless to me as standalone measurements though. PIL are a three hours away in good traffic, that's the measure that counts! In a place like the UK where traffic varies so much, giving distances from point A to point B is often meaningless anyway.

You make a good point. I live 45 minutes away from my parents. No bloody clue how many miles that is. Or kilometres!

@Legoisthebest

How massive are your cakes if you are doing 8 8 8 4

I agree. It's 6663 here.

I'm guessing that a return to imperial measurements might have something to do with wanting to trade with the US.

People seem to get along fine now. I haven’t heard a clamour not to display metric measurements. We seem to be managing.

All shops have been free to show both. I’d vote with my feet to not shop at any store that only displays in imperial. Roll on Imperial martyrs refusing to display pounds.

Parents are from a country that uses metric (colony of the imperial times)

I do height and weight in metric and for recipes (I can’t bake). Except babies - no idea how many kilos a baby should weigh.

Fine with miles and pints as well as litres, but can’t do fl ounces .

For some reason I will ask for a quarter of cheese, not metric.

Weightwatchers i had to convert because was stones and pounds and “silver 7s”. the leader did admit my 10% goal was much easier to calculate.

Newcastle which is why I can't buy some new flippin' curtains!!🤦‍♀️
I will not pander to this newfangled 😹 measurement. I want sodding inches.🤷‍♀️