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Original poster

So it turns out most people prefer Metric measurements after all. And they will stay

115 replies

cakeorwine · 27/12/2023 07:05

Metric measurement rules to stay after Brexit review - BBC News

The rules were initially copied over after Brexit, but Boris Johnson's government subsequently announced they would be reviewed as part of a plans to "capitalise on the benefits of Brexit".
The then-prime minister pledged to change the rules ahead of the 2019 election, calling imperial measurements an "ancient liberty" and adding he saw "no reason why people should be prosecuted" for using them.
But the government has now said it will not change the rules, after 98.7% of respondents to a consultation favoured using metric as the main measurement unit for sales, as now, or as the only unit.

We will however be able to buy wine in pint sized bottles so I guess that will be the headline elsewhere.

Pints of wine will soon hit Britain's shelves in post-Brexit win | Politics | News | Express.co.uk

I am glad that metric is going to stay as the main measurement.

Woman buying vegetables at a market

Metric measurement rules to stay after Brexit review

But the government has announced it will move away from EU-era rules on wine bottle sizes in shops.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67795075

OP posts:
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5
caramac04 · 27/12/2023 14:16

I’m old enough to convert back to £’s shillings and pence. I think in imperial measurements BUT it would have been a massive mistake to revert back.
I can’t understand who Boris was courting with this idea.

2016MyLove · 27/12/2023 14:30

The UK should've enforced EU measurements when they had the chance before Brexit. EU measurements work so much better than stupid imperial. The UK should've been made to drive on the same side of the road as the EU too. It will never happen now but could have been enforced before and we would be used to it by now.

Ifancythegrinch · 27/12/2023 14:43

I really want a pint of wine now.

I was really thick at school, skived most of secondary so can’t tell you what I learned.

But I am 43 and can tell you my weight in stones and pound, I don’t have a clue about KGs. I will tell you my height and can visualise the size of a room in feet and inches - i’d have to think really hard about meters.

I prefer the American method of cups for baking though, I have measuring cups, I hate weighing things.

Ifancythegrinch · 27/12/2023 14:49

BogRollBOGOF · 27/12/2023 10:02

My 80s/ 90s education was metric and home life was imperial.

Imperial works well for humans. If a baby is 6lb you coo, if baby is 10lb, you wince sympathetically. Babies in metric is just random digits. I only know that 4kg is getting somewhat hefty because DS1 was 3.9 and did enough damage. No idea what is actually big/ small/ middling is though.
Being a small woman, any heights/ weights are either "bigger than me" or very occasionally "oh that's actually smaller". Stones and feet break it up into an understandable context. American lb loses me more than kg.

Running has made me more ambidextrous on interchanging miles and km. I still like the substance of miles, and because the road network is miles, people generally grasp a 10 mile run better than 16km.

Generally I use metric though. A decimal system works better in an age of technology, and it makes sense to retain metric as standard measurements with the majority of the world. The small number of people who seriously care about imperial measurements tend to be long past retirement age now that we're 50 years past decimalisation. It was a folly to pretend that we ever would go back to the early 1970s.

When my babies were born they told me the weight in KG. Meant jack shit to me, so I asked them to convert it each time and they immediately obliged. Twice the midwife doing it said “almost everyone asks us to do that, it’s a waste of everyone’s time doing it in kgs!l

Paresse · 27/12/2023 14:53

I'm 50 and only ever learnt metric measurements in school. Only ever used decimal currency.

I'm hardly young...

I can also think in feet, inches, pounds and stone because my parents did. Old recipe books, bra sizing, other hangovers from the old systems.But I'd rather use metric and I'm hugely grateful I never had to learn to solve maths problems using that crap.

My kids laugh at me if I give a distance in inches; they genuinely don't know how long that is.

How stupid it would be to change back.

SerendipityJane · 27/12/2023 14:58

LoobyDop · 27/12/2023 12:37

Where are these pints of wine going to come from? European countries will have to stick to the EU requirement to sell in units of 750ml. I can’t see that, as hard as we try, the UK is a big enough market for any other country to add a whole new bottle size to their production line just for us. And English wine producers won’t want to rule themselves out of the European market.

Most UK wine is exported, so can't be bottled in pints as the grown up world has standardised around 75cl.

North Korea might be interested.

Sylver75 · 27/12/2023 14:59

I'm Irish and we were taught metric in school (I'm 48) but if asked a distance I'll still use miles or someone's weight in stones as that's what I grew up listening to my parents use I guess. I know that 454g is 1lb and so using both comes more or less naturally. I would guess the next generations may be more metric than I am. At the end of the day, with all that's going on in the world, it seems a pretty trivial thing to make a huge issue out of.

Imperial isn't even universal, the US gallon and a UK one are very different for example. At least metric is the same measurement in any country (as far as I know).

SerendipityJane · 27/12/2023 15:00

LlynTegid · 27/12/2023 13:58

I was going to ask if the hangman's noose would be measured in metric or imperial, for those in the Tory party who want to restore the death penalty.

Though for clarity I have opposed the death penalty all my life.

Long drop hanging is measure in ft-lbs, as I recall. Never any need to work in international units as only the UK used the long drop.

All USians had to remember was the standard strangling five foot drop.

newnamethanks · 27/12/2023 15:41

That would probably depend on the nationality of the guilty person @LlynTegid. Brits - and there would be very few of them of course - would naturally feel the pull of imperial- God save the king - others? Well if not Brits who cares? Metric is all they deserve.

ReadyForPumpkins · 27/12/2023 16:56

That’s the thing. It’s pretty much how you are brought up. DH and I are kiwis and we only use metric. I only know DC and my height and weight in kg and cm. I know people use stones here but I actually have no idea whether a stone is heavy or light, how much does an average adult weighs. I have a rough idea in pounds for weights because of exposure to US stuff, but I am not sure if US pounds is a British pound? I hear miles are different. I learn miles here but I can’t tell how far is a yard. Only thing I know about yards are the slash symbols on the motorways are based in yards! Not sure how many though. But it doesn’t affect by driving. I am also confused by ounces. I think it’s a unit for volume because I see it in baby bottles. But somehow it is also a unit for weight? And then in US recipes, when I see ounces, I never know if it is by weight or volume. For example an ounce of green beans. It’s especially bad because I think Americans like to measure by volume for most recipes?

I can’t do Fahrenheit either.

If I move to the US I am sure I will learn a rough idea what it is. But I don’t think I will ever learn to convert the units. I have managed not being able to know how many inch is in a feet or yards to miles, or a pound to stone after 20 years here.

ReadyForPumpkins · 27/12/2023 17:00

@Sylver75 same age as you and being kiwi I think an inch is 2.5cm! But that’s the limit of my inch usage. Usually at the hair dresser and they ask if I want an inch off. I can visualise a 15cm ruler but I can’t see how long that is in inches. Can’t do work out which baking tin to get out if you tell me their sizes in inches either.

Wednesdaysotherchild · 27/12/2023 17:08

I’m 42 and only use metric - temp, height and weight I don’t understand in Imperial at all! I have a dim knowledge of a mile but only because that’s what road signs use.

Yorkshirelass123 · 27/12/2023 17:14

This reply has been withdrawn

This message has been withdrawn at the poster's request

Oakbeam · 27/12/2023 17:25

Never any need to work in international units as only the UK used the long drop.

It wasn’t just the UK. Singapore and Japan still use it, I believe.

Oakbeam · 27/12/2023 17:33

As for metric and Imperial units, I’m perfectly happy using either. I just use whichever is more convenient.

SerendipityJane · 27/12/2023 17:34

Oakbeam · 27/12/2023 17:33

As for metric and Imperial units, I’m perfectly happy using either. I just use whichever is more convenient.

That's not really the spirit of Brexit, is it ?

Nomoredamnmats · 27/12/2023 17:39

JR-M probably pays his servants in groats.

Martinii · 27/12/2023 18:31

TurquoiseSeasAndSilverSand · 27/12/2023 07:51

Thank fuck for that. I'm in my 50s, I was taught in metric and then went out into the real word, where it was a ridiculous mishmash. I've never been secure in how many ounces to a pound etc and I trained in a job which relies on metric measurements.
In hospital last week I gave my height in cm and the much (much!) younger nurse converted to feet and inches! We should have completely ditched imperial long ago, it's a nonsense system.
As for a pint of wine though, I wouldn't mind a 500ml bottle, it would cut down our consumption.

I thought that too about the wine. I can't just have a glass, I finish the bottle. So having a 500 ml one would cut consumption!

AvengedQuince · 27/12/2023 18:51

Martinii · 27/12/2023 18:31

I thought that too about the wine. I can't just have a glass, I finish the bottle. So having a 500 ml one would cut consumption!

Show quote history

There's already a half size

Original poster
cakeorwine · 27/12/2023 18:56

I have to admit to be impressed by how this has been spun.

From what I understand, you can get 500 ml wine bottles already.
The consultation revealed the overwhelming outcome was to keep metric as the main measure.

And even the BBC have changed their headline to reflect the wine story

It now reads

"Pint-sized bottles of wine to be sold after Brexit review"

Rather than "Metric measurement rules to stay after Brexit review - BBC News"

It is impressive spinning worthy of Sir Humphrey himself

Prosecco

Pint-sized bottles of wine to be sold after Brexit review

The new 568ml size will offer more choice for customers, the Department for Business and Trade says.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67795075

OP posts:
Martinii · 27/12/2023 19:02

AvengedQuince · 27/12/2023 18:51

There's already a half size

Show quote history

The 375ml bottles are too small (imo) so 500ml is a happy medium to not having a full 750 bottle

Original poster
cakeorwine · 27/12/2023 19:04

Martinii · 27/12/2023 19:02

The 375ml bottles are too small (imo) so 500ml is a happy medium to not having a full 750 bottle

Show quote history

That's what I understand.

A 500 ml bottle exists. No doubt lots of wine producers sell wine in a 500 ml bottle.

So do we need a 568 ml bottle?

OP posts:
Jsndidndnnd · 27/12/2023 19:05

I’m mid-40s, and I and my good friends of a similar age seem to all know our height and weight in both metric and imperial. I have noticed over the years that we much more frequently talk about their weight in kilos than they used to, but most people still give their height in feet and inches. My guess is that the change in talking about weight as a metric measurement comes from the fact that many of us now go to the gym, and gym weights are metric. Our children range from about 6-14 and I don’t think any of them would have a clue about feet and inches or stones and pounds.

Actually, I’ve just realised I don’t know my current weight in imperial units! But I did when I was a young adult…

Martinii · 27/12/2023 19:10

cakeorwine · 27/12/2023 19:04

That's what I understand.

A 500 ml bottle exists. No doubt lots of wine producers sell wine in a 500 ml bottle.

So do we need a 568 ml bottle?

Show quote history

I don't know how common they are, in the shops its mainly the 750ml bottles, some do the single glass bottles and rarely are there 500ml sizes. It'd be nice for the that one to become common, then it's 2 x (pub size) large glass measures of wine and i wouldn't be tempted to finish the bottle (like with the 750ml) because "I might as well finish it now...)

Yes I could assert more self control 😆 but having the temptation taken away is a good thing!

AvengedQuince · 27/12/2023 19:16

If you just have a quarter of the bottle each then there's half left for tomorrow so no feeling like you should just finish it?