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 want to go buy a quarter of cola cubes for the nostalgia!

@Fawnor

Imperial measures are ridiculous, compared with the sensible metric system.

They're easier to picture though. We saw last year that no one knew how big 2m really was (most people thought that it was more like 1m). If you tell them "just over 6ft" on the other hand, they can picture it straight away.

Currency is decimal. Other units still in common usage aren't. Miles don't fit into any sensible mathematical base do they? Inches to feet is duodecimal, then a factor of 3 for yards, then 220 yards in a furlong and 8 furlongs in a mile....
80 chains to a mile, a chain is the length of a cricket pitch. At work we still use miles and chains.

@donquixotedelamancha

Can't believe all these unpatriotic people wanting to use American units, the UK has been metric for 50 years. Such a shame some people don't care about their countries heritage and culture these days.

American units aren't Imperial, they're 'American customary units' and quite a few are significantly different despite having the same names, especially the fluid measures. It was Britain which went newfangled and 'rationalised' them in the 18th century I believe.

@Chloemol

Never stopped. It’s pounds and ounces for me all the way

Same as I also but material as yards

Nothing better than imperial measurements

I mean.... Really? Nothing at all?

I happily use both, am not fervently for or against either, I don't get the worry?

I am 5 ft7, 9 stone, and generally weigh cooking ingredients in pounds and ounces, although I was taught metric at school.
As does my 27 yr old daughter.. who can happily switch between metric as her job (nurse) and imperial.. our grandson weighs 15 pounds,...

The metric lovers will continue to think in Kilos... but will still measure distance in miles... I can't see a problem here!

I can do both (ish on the metric) but still think and express my height and weight in imperial.

I teach in Australia, and most of my students can and do express height in feet and inches. Babies are routinely announced with both imperial and metric weights.

I find driving interesting: 80kph is top speed on many inner-city (fast) roads and it feels fast: It's about 49 mph. The heady rush of 100kph (62mph) on a freeway is amazing.:o

Of course all this kerfuffle is the weights and measures version of the blue passport.

I'd not heard about this.

Bloody hell.

So making Britain great again includes antiquated measures can be used (this is fine anyway I think as long as display metric as well so what's the big deal).

The dual system in use here is anachronistic in my opinion.

100m sprint (will that be changed).
1m /2m covid rule (they could have done that in feet!).
Metric system in schools (any push to change that???)
Height/ weight some people do one some the other

I mean it's all a bit random here already tbh!

Is this seriously a thing from the govt about British ways etc?

I'm happy to buy apples in kilos but if I bagged some apples, I could estimate how many made a lb better than i could a kilo. Same way I'm happy to measure a room size in meters, but to estimate it by sight, I'd use feet. I'd always calculate height and weight imperially - it's much more descriptive.

Two things about being over 60 @LusciousLondoner.

1. We had to use both systems at school so we're very educated and extremely flexible in our thinking.
2. We were taught manners.

I think it means, @NiceGerbil, that people can't be prosecuted for using the measure of their choice as they were when the metric weights and measures were introduced.

@donquixotedelamancha

Can't believe all these unpatriotic people wanting to use American units, the UK has been metric for 50 years. Such a shame some people don't care about their countries heritage and culture these days.

Couldn't agree more!

Using different local systems is brilliant and patriotic!

And I mean if it leads to trivial things like a $328 million project to launch a space probe being destroyed on it's approach to Mars, well. This sort of thing happens right? A small price to pay for patriotism!!!

'In September of 1999, after almost 10 months of travel to Mars, the Mars Climate Orbiter burned and broke into pieces. On a day when NASA engineers were expecting to celebrate, the ground reality turned out to be completely different, all because someone failed to use the right units, i.e., the metric units'.

@Porridgealert

I think it means, *@NiceGerbil*, that people can't be prosecuted for using the measure of their choice as they were when the metric weights and measures were introduced.

But you can already use both.

If you use imperial you do have to show the metric as well I think which seems fair enough.

I've had pints in the pub for decades no issue at all.

This thread just reminded me of this...

@soapboxqueen
Yes here in the UK we've always used a mismatch but officially going back to imperial will be a backwards step since everywhere else is metric.

But I don't think they're officially reverting. They're just lifting the law that says you'll be prosecuted if you don't write the metric figure bigger than the imperial figure. I don't understand why people would have an issue with that.

Just had a Google.

This is so embarrassing.

We look like such a bunch of twats. IMO.

And the article I read said 'Those passionate about the metric system also point to the fact that Britain began its switch to the metric system in 1965, eight years before it joined the European Union.'.

.......

@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.

I do all this too. Everyone I know weighs themselves in stones and says they are x feet tall.

So like when I’ve done slimming groups in the past everyone will say I’m 5ft5 and weigh 11 stone blah blah. Never known anyone do it differently.

@NiceGerbil
If you use imperial you do have to show the metric as well I think which seems fair enough.

Presently you can use just metric or imperial and metric. Now people can use just imperial. Which seems to me to be fair enough.
My house is full of imperial measurements so I have to but DIY materials in mm but the width of most woods is in inches. Hopefully they will be able to revert to that and it will be easier.

[quote Porridgealert]@soapboxqueen
Yes here in the UK we've always used a mismatch but officially going back to imperial will be a backwards step since everywhere else is metric.

But I don't think they're officially reverting. They're just lifting the law that says you'll be prosecuted if you don't write the metric figure bigger than the imperial figure. I don't understand why people would have an issue with that.[/quote]
Because loads of people know metric.

What's wrong with having both? As we do anyway when imperial is used?

What is this actually about? Why do people feel so passionately about this?

Can anyone give me some really solid reasons why the imperial system is superior to metric? Not it's what some people are used to, lots of things still had imperial as well as metric.

In terms of it being a superior system of measurement.

17 year old ds asked me to teach him imperial weights & measures today as he has seen that they are being used again. I managed ok on the weights & measurements of feet & inches but then he started to ask about fluid ounces & the only thing I knew was that there are 568ml to a pint & 8 pints to a gallon.

[quote Porridgealert]@NiceGerbil
If you use imperial you do have to show the metric as well I think which seems fair enough.

Presently you can use just metric or imperial and metric. Now people can use just imperial. Which seems to me to be fair enough.
My house is full of imperial measurements so I have to but DIY materials in mm but the width of most woods is in inches. Hopefully they will be able to revert to that and it will be easier.[/quote]
Can you tell me off the top of your head what a rod, short ton or scruple mean? In terms of one of them would be roughly what? (Weight of a paperback, length of an acorn etc).

@NiceGerbil. If you really feel passionate,about using the metric system, you are free to use it.

@Nat6999

17 year old ds asked me to teach him imperial weights & measures today as he has seen that they are being used again. I managed ok on the weights & measurements of feet & inches but then he started to ask about fluid ounces & the only thing I knew was that there are 568ml to a pint & 8 pints to a gallon.

You'll need the internet to help with a lot of it!

Many I've never heard of.

I know furlongs as I used to work in a bookies. (Did they have to stop using miles and furlongs? I am pretty sure indeed they didn't).