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???

Young people use metric

I teach at a university and I hear "young people" using Imperial units every day.

I grew up with my parents using imperial, I learned metric at school, and as a kid I used a mix of both at home and school.
Metric is far easier, but for some reason people just can't bear to let go!
I wonder if people were like this when we changed to £ and pence!

It's because imperial units make more sense of every day life things. They're the right sort of size for measuring the weight and height of people - it's much easier to visualise 5 or 6 feet than 163 cm, for instance. They make sense for cooking because ounces work with the size of an egg.

Absolutely agree

I'm 54 and use both, it's interchangeable for me.

I like that we are quirky in Britain

I once sent my son to get a quarter of ham from the local shop. Neither he or the young shop assistant had a clue what it was so ended up going back to the shop myself for 100 grammes odd.
I'm 57, pretty good at both and can convert readily enough.

Spicy, a yard is about half your wingspan and an inch is about the width of your thumb.

I have also never heard a British person, even the young, refer to their height in metres. It's all feet and inches, always. Some do use kg, but metres for height seems a particular sticking point.

My kids are 18 and early 20s.

They use cm where I (mid 50s) would use inches.
However, they would say they are 5'4" tall.
The cook in lb and oz - much more sensible in terms of making a cake.
They talk about distance in miles, but a shorter distance would be in metres not yards.

All quite odd really as they've only been at school in the 21st Century.

Any of the pro metric people giving up hours and minutes then?

nail = 2¼ inches
4 inches = 1 hand
12 inches = 1 foot
3 foot = 1 yard
5.5 yards = 1 rod
6 foot = 1 fathom
22 yards = 1 chain
100 links = 1 chain
10 chains = 1 furlong
8 furlongs = 1 statute mile

Way easier than cm, m, km !!!

I wonder how many people who use imperial are able to do calculations like

10 stone 5 lb divided by 6?

Or 5ft 11 inches divided by 7?

I learnt metric at school in maths but used imperial at home, in actual situations like cooking or measuring wallpaper. I now use a mix - imperial for height, weight, miles; metric for cooking (except pastry!) and measuring up in the house. As for the suggested calculations above, I've never yet found a reason to divide my weight by 6 or my height by 7

This is super interesting, I can't do imperial at all!

@BecauseReasons For my ignorant sake, can you explain how to do the calculations? E.g. the dividing by 7, do you just first divide feet and then the inches? What happens with the 'leftover fractions' from the round numbers?

It really impresses me that people can use both systems. I often see house floorplans in feet and inches and have no idea how to work out the square feet/inches and how that relates to square meters!

I use a mix depending on what it is. I don't even know which measurements are metric and which are imperial.

Any of the pro metric people giving up hours and minutes then

I think it's way past that now!!

I'm afraid I still think of the weather in Fahrenheit! Centigrade means nothing to me and I often have to do the maths to convert it in my head...

It’s actually...

Centimetre, decametre, hectometre and kilometre, which is confusing to many people.

I'm 30 and find some metric units hard to visualise e.g. 800km but 500 miles makes sense. I use feet/inches more than cm but comfortable with both. No idea what is hot or cold in Fahrenheit though!

Monmonga, just the same as you divide time.

If you were asked to divide four hours and thirteen seconds by 22, how would you do that?

I can tell you what an ounce looks like and use my thumb to measure an inch. I need to weigh grams if a recipe is in metric.

I was taught metric at school (I am 54), but imperial for cooking.

I'm nearly 55.
I do a combination of measuring.
My cooking is done in pounds and ounces, grams and kilos or cups.
Driving is mph but switches when I drive aboard
My walking is done is meteres and kilometers.
My drinking is in pints unless it is wine and then it is in ml
My weight is usually in stones but sometimes I flip to kilos
Temperature is done is degrees C and I have no idea how hot it is going to be when my mum and dad talk in degrees F.
My height is sometimes in cm, sometimes in feet and inches.

My drinking is in pints unless it is wine and then it is in ml

That's true.

I know what a bottle of wine is in mis but I buy pints of beer.

I thought I was the only one who wondered about this. I'm 50 and mainly use metric, I don't understand farenheit at all (surely everyone thinks water boils at 100*c and freezes at 0?). I can never remember how many ounces in a pound. I weigh myself in kilos and recipes in grams (or cups!), although distance is in miles because car speedos and signage, but I've no idea about yards, and inches are just messy, infanct imperial is so messy.

I'm bemused by people younger than me using imperial. I've never been taught it and I was born in 69.

My drinking is in pints unless it is wine and then it is in ml

My drinks are in pints unless it’s wine and then it’s always, always, ‘large’

I know my weight in stone and pounds but have to think to convert it into pounds, Is it 14 or 16?

1 stone is 14bs.
1 kg is 2.2lbs.

1 stone is 6.3kg.

It feels more impressive to say you've lost a stone than you've lost 6kg though!