To think it odd that so many British still use Imperial measurements?

[Elouera]

Britain started using metric measurements in 1965, so I can only assume that majority of people under about age 50 learnt metric in school? I spend part of my schooling under a British system, but it was all metric. I'm just intrigued as to why, 50yrs later, some younger people are still referring to pounds and lbs???

Americans refer to a quart of milk and I remember reading that in a judy blume book and thinking who would bother to go to the shop just to buy a quarter of a litre of milk!! But it is a quarter of a ..........gallon, I think.

All of which being said, when I hear people younger than myself not being able to compare prices in

p/100g
£/Kg
£/100g

I realise it's got fuck all to do with metric/imperial and everything to do with being shit at arithmetic. Still, someone is paying for those special offers.

Americans refer to a quart of milk and I remember reading that in a judy blume book and thinking who would bother to go to the shop just to buy a quarter of a litre of milk!! But it is a quarter of a ..........gallon, I think.

It'll be a quarter of a US gallon, (which is 8x16fl. oz.) so 32 fl. oz (compared to a UK 40 fl. oz).

One thing the Americans have got absolutely spot on - and might arguably be their claim to rule the world if not the universe - is the trick of cooking by volume, not weight. So cups and sticks, rather than specific weights.

One thing the Americans have got absolutely spot on - and might arguably be their claim to rule the world if not the universe - is the trick of cooking by volume, not weight. So cups and sticks, rather than specific weights

Surely that depends on the size of cup, though? A "cup" can be smaller or larger. There must be a weight to it as well.

British cups also exist for cooking, and are a different volume to US cups.

I’m a midwife, almost every single time I tell parents a baby weight in grams they ask for it in pounds and ounces. That includes parents born after the metric system was implemented! It seems like the metric system never caught on.

Do Europeans have any difficulty visualising metric units though? And the idea of imperial units being based on 'the human body' ... it's not certain whether the yard derived from the cubit (elbow to fingertip), a pace or a man's girth (like that's a standard measure). Some definitions of inch were 'three barleycorns' . Some of the measuring 'rules of thumb' are very inaccurate (do you know what the origins of that phrase is? How does your thumb compare? Can you find a similar centimetre estimator on your own hand ... my thumbs work better in metric I've just realised)

I use both. I use imperial at home and metric in the office - which is slightly weird.

I think in imperial and convert to metric. So I know I want a pound of onions and settle for 450gm..

Still, at least I can do the maths in my head, no need to use a calculator or spreadsheet.

Surely that depends on the size of cup, though? A "cup" can be smaller or larger. There must be a weight to it as well.

That's the genius of it. A "cup" can be whatever you want it to be when you are reading a recipe ... you can get marked sets of cups (which used to come with recipes) but otherwise everything is relative and no scales needed.

And the range and availability of measuring cups since "bake off" tells me the Great British Public have cottoned on. (Unless my sneaking suspicion that a lot of these things are bought to be displayed, not used is correct).

British cups also exist for cooking, and are a different volume to US cups.

But as long as you are consistent, no problem ...

Surely that depends on the size of cup, though? A "cup" can be smaller or larger. There must be a weight to it as well.

It depends what - many recipes just need the right ratios. The weights/volumes matter if there are eggs involved or if it's a cake where the tin size or cooking time will depend on the total size.

Do Europeans have any difficulty visualising metric units though?

Not that I've noticed. DFs goto is always metric. Why would he use anything else ?

Errol, I don’t know. Are there any large number of people, now or at any other point in history who have commonly estimated something in any metric measurement based on body size?

3 4 5 works for metric ad well

Well, yes, it does, @chomalungma - but in practical terms, when you're using Pythagoras in the absence of a set square, feet are a more practical, reliable and, importantly, memorable, measurement than metres or multiples of mm.

Unless you're in a kitchen working with length and depth, then multiples of 60 (with a tolerance) are more likely to be the most often used unit. Or as I call them, appliances - 'you need two appliances plus a bit on that side' - 1500mm on the plans. People can visualise two appliances, but not one thousand and five hundred millimetres. Of course, the measures come out at that point, but the initial reckoning is easier.

Metric (or SI) units are best for theory or something that is extremely precise/extreme size, whether very large or very small. But Imperial came about for practical applications.

Having said that, as with the Appliance reckoning, most of my recipes are in blobs, glugs, slugs and half pans/packs. It's only baking where the scales come out.

Being able to switch units is far more useful - as then you aren't caught out by something being made in a non standard measurement, such as anything over a certain age, or tools in a different system than you've learned.

Lots of my learners think that a mile is a measurement in the metric system because it begins with m. And looks a bit like milli.

Haha, funny people picking on my comment of relationship between weight and volume while every other post is about baking! Well, if you need 300ml of water or milk in your recipe, then you just weight out 300g of it! Or 100 ml oil is approx. 90g. I just don't know how these relationships are in imperial, hence was asking. No need to be nasty and superior about it!

I’m mid 30s and really mixed up. We were taught metric in school but nobody in real life seemed to use it.

I run in miles, drink in half pints, measure height in feet and inches, weigh myself in stones and pounds but cook in grams and measure bag sizes for holiday etc in cms.

I can’t visual metric. I have to mentally convert back to imperial.

And yes, I do know a Roman mile was one thousand paces.

They should just standardise smartphones and we could estimate using phones as the unit of measurement.

So yes I learned metric at school but imperial was used in shops right into my adult life and still is for distance and in common discourse. I also still have recipe books in imperial.

I understand metric but think in imperial.

Well, if you need 300ml of water or milk in your recipe, then you just weight out 300g of it!

Yes. Metric is a consistent, logical system.

Estimating weights - how many of you can visualise an imperial ton? Whereas in the metric system it's quite easy - imagine a metre cube of water, that's a metric tonne.

They should just standardise smartphones and we could estimate using phones as the unit of measurement.

Or you can use the Measure app.

But then you would be measuring, not estimating.

How often in life, when you want to know heavy something is, is the thing water?!

There are very few scenarios in which you need to be able to visualise a tonne of water.

A tonne of earth maybe, or iron.

How often in life, when you want to know heavy something is, is the thing water?!

More often water (or mostly water) than anything else. Litre/ 10cm cube/ kg , ml /cubic cm/ gram. And for everything else, density is a multiple/fraction of water so easy to get a ballpark idea.

How do you do that in imperial?

If we did totally convert to Metric, then in 50 years time, people would be saying they can think in metric and they can visualise metric.

It's just because we haven't switched completely yet.

I wonder if we ever will?