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???

I think the internet hasn’t helped as so much content is from the US. Whenever I look for a baking recipe I often come across American recipes first for instance. And it never occurs to them to do any kind of conversion!

Given that every single post on here has the time on it, not in metric, and that almost nobody on here could say off the top of their head what the time is in metric right now, I’m pretty confident we’re not swapping entirely to metric anytime soon.

Baby weights in kilograms is just wrong. Give me pounds and ounces and I'm fine. Same with inches and feet. Can't get on with metric , I'm mid fifties and never will I guess. I just can't ' see' the sizes or lengths in metric in my head. A lot of friends are the same too!

Feeling for the imperials. Went to Greece with student friends (mostly scientists) when Greece was/had always been metric and we ordered far too much lamb at a restaurant which charged by weight. However none of us really cooked so wouldn't have known it in imperial but could have guessed.

Interesting PP about Roman numerals. They would have used the abacus but they also had a simple principle which was great for adding and subtracting but not great for more complex operations. So they'd do VII (7) + XX (20) and put them in descending order XXV11 and read 27. Clearly master masons and builders had either an instinctive understanding of mass, engineering and proportion to raise the Roman buildings and the European cathedrals or they had adopted the Arabic/Indian notations way before the advent of their use in Europe in 1300.

Most of the things I want to know the weight of aren’t water - me, butter, a suitcase, the dog, flour.

I can’t remember ever having to weigh water in my life.

In JE Gordon’s book Structures:Or Why Things Don’t Fall Down I seem to remember that he makes the point that while we should be impressed by the construction and engineering skills of Greek, Roman and mediaeval builders, we no longer see their mistakes and disasters, as they fell down long ago.

Given that every single post on here has the time on it, not in metric, and that almost nobody on here could say off the top of their head what the time is in metric right now, I’m pretty confident we’re not swapping entirely to metric anytime soon.

That's just a multiple of seconds, which are one of the fundamental SI though. If you're doing calculations involving time then you do use metric (particularly obvious at small scale eg nanosecond, millisecond).

Inching through this thread. Interesting metrics. My own yardstick would be that is age related too. Feels we’re miles away from being fully metric. I do have an ounce of sympathy for those confused by our using both.

Seconds predate the metric system.

Outside of science we are still counting time in Babylonian sixes.

Boats still travel in knots.

Which is handy for navigation apparently when you haven't got a digital chart

"Although knots do not fit within the primary SI system, they are used for nautical and aviation use for navigational reasons, because the length of a nautical mile is almost identical to a minute of latitude. As a result, distance in nautical miles on a navigational chart can easily be measured by using dividers and the latitude indicators on the side of the chart."

I can't see if this has been covered but...

I know what a 14.2 pony looks like. Tell me he's 144 cm and I have no idea whether to look for a tiny little thing I'd squash or something so big I'd never get my leg up there.

I do both. It's hardly rocket science being able to convert measurements!

Tell me he's 144 cm and I have no idea whether to look for a tiny little thing I'd squash or something so big I'd never get my leg up there

Average female height: 164 cm
Average male height: 175cm

Does that help?

I can’t remember ever having to weigh water in my life.

Well yes, because you use imperial where judging from the comments it looks like one can't do that! In metric people do this all the time. On the other hand, I can't do metric time, which seems to be your forte. It seems we just need very different things in our lives, that's all.

Is it because the older generation still used it? This I mean 50 upwards because their parents never transitioned fully to metric and so v familiar part of language.

A lot of people 50's learnt both metric and imperial and then imperial faded out but never mind am sure with Brexit and our close relationship with the US we can expect imperial to put in a return.

A standard internal wooden household door is about six foot six/ two metres - useful for estimating height.

It's hardly rocket science being able to convert measurements!

You'd have thought....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MarsClimatee_Orbiter

Monmogma, I don’t mean to suggest metric isn’t useful for calculations, or that the relationship it sets up between mass, calories, volumes and so isn’t incredibly useful - of course it is. The modern world depends on it.

What I mean is that if somebody wants to visualise a tonne, it’s not actually that helpful to visualise a tonne of water, because it doesn’t help you to look at your cooker or car or suitcase and estimate what they weigh.

Of course people on boats can visualise tons and tonnes of water, because they spend a lot of time thinking about water, hold size etc. But it’s not an everyday useful visualisation.

It can be very useful to say, how much is a kilo in weight and know it will feel the same as picking up a litre bottle of water. But once you get on to tonnes, that’s not as helpful.

I'm 5'1", 155cm so I can use myself as a handy estimator of 5 feet or a metre and a half.

• What I mean is that if somebody wants to visualise a tonne, it’s not actually that helpful to visualise a tonne of water, because it doesn’t help you to look at your cooker or car or suitcase and estimate what they weigh.

Oh well, I do find it useful - sometimes for estimating volumes from weights.

Speaking of Brexit

This sign is illegal under EU law. Although it is legal to display both metric and Imperial, the Metric units must not be given less prominence than the Imperial one

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-37339389

I wonder if that will change?

I'm 33 and always used this system. It's the way i was taught

Errol, can you explain further.

Perhaps this is a useful form of estimation I am missing out on.

Say you want to estimate the weight of a dog by looking at it, how does it help to visualise what 25 litres of water or 40 litres of water?

This was Regina’s original post that started this:

‘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.’

I prefer my weight in stones, don't like kg. I like my height in feet and inches.