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

I started primary school in 1984. I’m 42 this year. At school we were taught metric units only. I’m not sure when they started teaching the metric system in school and stopped teaching imperial.

Yes, I’ve always driven in miles and very occasionally bought a pint of beer. Yes, I know my weight and height in imperial but that’s only because my older relatives wouldn’t understand if I told them in metric.

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

They might be expressed in cm but they’re imperial sizes 46” x 54”

It’s like buying a packet of mince which is still 454g. The UK was still clinging on in lots of ways

@pussycatunpickingcrossesagain I do miss a straightforward 60w lightbulb. These days we’re shafted on the eye watering price of lightbulbs and they’re all so bloody dark

I weigh myself in stones and pounds (because the numbers are smaller!!) And clothes seem to be sold in inches (waist size, leg length, collar size, chest measurement etc) and I do make cakes old school in ounces but actually working anything out in imperial is super faffy.

We are weirdly bilingual about measurements in the UK. If you announce your baby was 5 pound everyone will go "ooh a little one", if you have a 10 pounder everyone winces If you say your baby was xxx kg you can practically see the tumbleweed.
Height - everyone knows 5ft is short, 6.5ft is tall.
Pint of milk, pint of beer....yet we buy a 2 litre bottle of cola.
We are weird. We just are.

If you asked me to estimate how big something was though I would always use mm, cm or metres, I wouldn't have a clue how to estimate anything in inches or feet

Curtain fabric is the weirdest. 54in wide but sold in metres.

Fiz yes I am mostly a mm, cm, metre person but if someone says somewhere is 20 miles away I can visualise the distance - yet if they say 20 kilometres I can't

My parents did a driving holiday in the USA and Canada. On the Canadian side my Dad got a speeding ticket. Apparently Americans and Brits can't deal with the change from miles per hour to kilometres per hour speeds. Apparently as soon as the traffic cop realised my Dad was British he was all "ha ha we always get you lot".

@Legoisthebest

Oh yes miles are easier to estimate/visualise than km. Although as a runner I have to start trying to work out everything from the starting point that 10k =6.2m ....so if someone said it was 20k away I would have to convert to miles (2 lots of 10k = 2 x 6.2m = about 12.5 miles!🤣)

My parents will be happy. They are 82 and 85. They still mourn the loss of tanners and bobs. They voted for Brexit.
My parents also advocate reinstating hanging and corporal punishment in schools.

Batshit crazy. Metric came into use 60 years ago!
It’s not even about US trade because many of the US units are different to ours, e.g. the US gallon is a different measurement to a UK gallon.

@Sideswiped

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!

And don't forget this one: "How many yards are in a mile? 1760 said King George with a smile" extra points if they know which George!

[quote Fizbosshoes]@Legoisthebest

Oh yes miles are easier to estimate/visualise than km. Although as a runner I have to start trying to work out everything from the starting point that 10k =6.2m ....so if someone said it was 20k away I would have to convert to miles (2 lots of 10k = 2 x 6.2m = about 12.5 miles!🤣)[/quote]
Not really, the easiest one to visualise will always be the one you were raised with.

King George said what?

I just asked my 13 year old to show me an inch and then a foot and which she did perfectly and she’s half European

Wot no groats?

@Legoisthebest

We are weirdly bilingual about measurements in the UK. If you announce your baby was 5 pound everyone will go "ooh a little one", if you have a 10 pounder everyone winces If you say your baby was xxx kg you can practically see the tumbleweed. Height - everyone knows 5ft is short, 6.5ft is tall. Pint of milk, pint of beer....yet we buy a 2 litre bottle of cola. We are weird. We just are.

This. I have a job that involves using measurements (not in a scientific or architectural type of way). I visualise heights / lengths better when given in imperial. I use mm on diagrams. I'm getting better at using kilos but prefer stones for people, but in recipes etc i use grams.

It's a bit sad but I've been known to say "I don't know how American buildings stay up, still using metric!"

Not yet.

@ramonaquimby I'm 54 and I still have my Ramona The Pest book but I was brought up and more familiar using imperial not metric and I still use it where I can.

Schillings, crowns, farthings anyone? Groats? None of this newfangled currency nonsense, please. Good sensible 240 pennies to the pound instead, for heaven's sake.

I do miss a straightforward 60w lightbulb. These days we’re shafted on the eye watering price of lightbulbs and they’re all so bloody dark

They still use watts. It's just most of the energy goes to light instead of being wasted.

In the old days, maybe 10 watts out of a 100 Watt bulb went to light. Now it's nearly 10 watts out of 10 watts.

So it's still as bright.

I was born in the 80s, so not really young as such. But metric is just easier for quick maths and so important in fields like medicine/pharmacy.

That said, I will never refer to a journey in km, or height in metres. Much prefer kg for weight though!

@MeanderingGently

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.

Can you multiply and add / divide in pounds and ounces easily?

28 lb 8 lb 3 oz divided by 9?

People can visualise easy enough but when it comes to doing calculations, the fact that metric is in base 10 just like our number system makes things so so much easier.

Please tell me this is fake news! It's quite indicative of the whole sorry Brexit show.

Warm beer, Imperial units, thwack of leather on willow, Vesta curry...

Who cares. What really matters is to get the weather forecast to start giving temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit! (I just can't tell in degrees Celcius - is 22C hot or cold?)