People can stop panicking about this Imperial measurements thing!

[Echobelly]

The proposal to reintroduce Imperial measurements is a fucking stupid idea and waste of time but Lordy, my social media is alight with people going 'OMG, they're going to force everyone to learn Imperial and it's ageist and ableist and will wreck trade and it'll be so expensive to recalibrate all out scales' etc etc.

I mean, hold your horses folks - they're allowing people to use imperial which wasn't allowed under the EU, just so they can say we can now do something we couldn't do under the EU. It's not being mandated. It's totally empty symbolism.

A handful of red-faced market stall holders will use it to make a point, no one else will care, nothing else will happen. I mean, I hate this bloody government and this ridiculous, retrograde idea but please be better than those people who don't read beyond the headlines.

Sorry, just the inaccuracy of response to this is bugging me!

I my experience ANY change they make to the coinage system, ends up costing me more money!

@NiceGerbil

I also can't see the point of all this in that-

As far as I've noticed (not been looking out for it) the supermarkets are all metric now. (Correct me if wrong). I can't see them changing that.

Given the significant number of people who have not used these units when buying veg etc and will be ??? if changed to imperial only. I can't see many shops doing it.
Has there been an exercise to see how many retailers will move to lb/Oz only?

I mean this is, like the blue passports. A gesture to send a message to a particular segment of voters.
And it makes us look like twats.

I think that the issue was that some council officials (trading standards?) used to make life difficult for shopkeepers who continued using imperial. There's no need, just deregulate and allow shops to advertise in whatever they want, so long as they aren't overcharging.

I don't usually worry about the precise weight when buying stuff anyway. I just put some apples in my basket, the greengrocer weighs them and adds them to my bill. He could well be measuring in pounds and ounces for all I know. He doesn't even chalk up the prices onto the shelves now I come to think of it.

A load of fuss about nothing.

@Babdoc

Some of us never stopped using them, OP! I do all my cooking in ounces, weigh myself in stones and pounds, all British road signs are still in miles, I measure people’s heights in feet and inches, and drink beer in half pints.

This. I have to covert metric measurements into imperial to understand them. Inches and ounces never went away in my world.

I have only every used imperial (I'm 40), so I'm quite happy for it to be brought back

Well i'm flummoxed. I have never been able to find an easy conversion from the IMPERIAL peck and bushel to the metric equivalent.
Consequently I struggle to order seed potatoes and corn and I can only wonder how Jeremy Clarkeson does his - by shouting loudly and pointing I suppose. 🤷‍♀️

@HalzTangz

I have only every used imperial (I'm 40), so I'm quite happy for it to be brought back

You haven't though.

How many chains in a furlong these days?
We used to have to recite this stuff in schools you know.

I'm 42 and use imperial. It's always made more sense to me 🤷🏼‍♀️

@HilaryThorpe

How many chains in a furlong these days? We used to have to recite this stuff in schools you know.

In the good old days! We should bring this back, definitely.

Let the Europeans learn coding and languages, while we get our head round our fucking stupid traditional measurements.

FFS the whole world except the USA uses metric - there’s a reason it’s not a thing any other country anymore. It’s the 21st century.

I can't believe that anyone who actually did this stuff in school would want to bring it back. You would have to be a few pecks short of a bushel.

Boy, never thought this thread would get so busy!

I do casually use some imperial measurements - stone etc and occasionally lbs in recipes etc on a measuring device that has them but I have no idea of how they break down.

Actually "the whole world" uses a host of different units to measure things in. And always has.

There was resentment that we weren't "allowed to" do something that was natural to us and had been doing for ever - ie selling things in pounds and yards. It was seen as pointless and controlling as business had always operated in metric and most people knew both.

That's all. No-one is going backwards - it's just another layer of rules being removed. In practice it will make no difference.

I can do both. So couldn't care less

If they make the schools teach imperial measurements, I'll despise them even more than I do now, if that's possible.

@MythicalBiologicalFennel

to use imperial which wasn't allowed under the EU, just so they can say we can now do something we couldn't do under the EU

Not true so YABU. I guess that's what the government want people to think.

Out of curiosity.... what are the imperial units for very small amounts/ lengths? Millimetres, micrograms, etc. TIA

Fractions of an inch. 1 thou = 25.4 micrometers.

Out of curiosity.... what are the imperial units for very small amounts/ lengths? Millimetres, micrograms, etc. TIA

I’m wondering about this too - especially micrograms etc which we use in medicine or measuring RDA of vitamins. You can’t use imperial for everything, it would still have to be a mixture - as it is now really.

@Fawnor

If they make the schools teach imperial measurements, I'll despise them even more than I do now, if that's possible.

schools do teach imperial units. They are in the 11+. They are also needed for reading any research done in USA

@HalzTangz

I have only every used imperial (I'm 40), so I'm quite happy for it to be brought back

Didn't you do any science involving measurements at school?

They are also needed for reading any research done in USA

Rubbish. I read lots of scientific papers done in the USA, I've never seen any in non-metric units. And they don't use imperial anyway, as discussed in some detail upthread.

Schools teach imperial? Is this in home ec or which subjects?

I just don't get the easier thing at all.

Dividing etc by 10 isn't easier than 16?

I dunno. Say something like you want to make 70 yummy things for a charity thing. The recipe you want to use is for 14 and needs 3oz sugar. How many lb sugar do you need to buy.

I would find that tricky without a calculator to be honest. And it's a pretty uneventful thing to need to do.

Anyone who prefers can you say how its for you? So you have special methods to convert etc?

I just can't get my head round it tbh.

'schools do teach imperial units. They are in the 11+. They are also needed for reading any research done in USA'

Really?

Even after the space probe crash? They still use metric at NASA etc?

Have you got any links?

You'd think destroying a probe when it finally got to Mars. With a project costing millions of dollars. Might lead to change? It didn't? Crikey. This attachment to antiquated non standard metrics is wow. Really really important.

Sorry that should say hundreds of millions of dollars.

I would be very keen to see USA physics papers around areas that involve metrics that there are NO initial measures for.

Crikey. That really is impressive!

@RandomLondoner

Anyone fancy discussing this over 0.568 litres of beer?

Is there any fundamental reason 0.568 litres of beer is a more attractive unit than say half a litre?

I understand that it's less beer, but if you want more beer and don't want a "half" then a litre is more than a pint.

But we still order pints fgs.

Where sellers wanted to display lb they could. Just had to have merits metric as well. I can't see the problem with that.

It's some kind of bizarre and meaningless up yours to the EU.

Why?

They don't give a fuck. The whole thing makes us look like petty dickheads.