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!

Will we be going back to pennies & shillings? I can just about remember before we went decimal & we kept the old sixpence, shilling & two shilling coins.

[quote Porridgealert]@NiceGerbil. If you really feel passionate,about using the metric system, you are free to use it.[/quote]
Well I studied physics and it would have been pretty tricky in imperial :/

Oh gosh I'm only 31 and I use feet, pints, Oz, Lbs and stones. But can also calculate and work out metric.

I know how to convert each and to be honest there's no way I could make my great grandmothers Victoria sponge recipe scribbled in to the back of a diary from 1946 without knowing imperial 🤣

I'm not old before my time am I?

. And our sweet shop in the market lets you buy a quarter of anaseed balls (my favourite) ...I'm stuck in the wrong era haha

@MrsTulipTattsyrup

And as far as I understood it, one could always display prices for one’s produce in imperial measures as long as one also did so in metric. Yet another thing the EU supposedly stopped us from doing, but they actually didn’t.

Yes this.

People are so stupid, they believe any old lie they are told.

I would really like one genuine reason that the imperial system is objectively better than metric. Across the board.

Not it's what I know or prefer but a genuine reason for it to be just better.

@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.

All of these.

@NiceGerbil. I never use they measurements so I could look them up if I needed to but I don't know what they are. But I know industries still use fathoms, knots, cables, chains etc, even in metric times. And they're all a mystery to me but not to the people who use them. But I use a microwave and the telly everyday and have no idea how they work either and I don't need to.

They're just measurement systems. I don't think there's any superiority involved. We already use both systems side by side. What does it matter if the govt say its legally OK to do so? I know a few people who voted for Brexit. None of them stated lbs and ozs as their reason. 😂

Like many people I use a mix. Probably because that's how it has been. Not one nor the other.

I can only do feet and inches for height but think in terms of metres when I look how long a room is or cm for something small.

I can only do cold temps in celcius but hot in farenheit :/

I could not begin to imagine how to multiply eg 8'8 by 9'6 to get the square footage of a room.

Very big things are measured in buses, dinosaurs and football pitches. Not sure what system that is!

Speed in mph.

Etc etc

All a bit of a mess really.

Porridge, measurement systems are really important though.

Not at all trivial. See space crash I mentioned earlier.

@NiceGerbil
Well I studied physics and it would have been pretty tricky in imperial :/

And students can carry on studying it in metric. But other industries might want to measure in inches. And that's OK as well.

What’s your bra size? (32 or 34....?)
French yachts are all measured in feet (dufour, beneteaux- 325 is 32.5 feet)
Car fuel efficiency is measured in mpg.
Television sizes are in inches.
What’s new here??!?

@NiceGerbil

Porridge, measurement systems are really important though.

Not at all trivial. See space crash I mentioned earlier.

I never said anything was trivial. I said that one is not superior over another. If it can be measured in metric it can be measured in imperial. If someone calculates wrongly, that's operator error rather than the measurement system.

If people were already using imperial measurements and you were OK with that, eg racecourse furlongs, why are you so worried about it being made officially OK to use imperial messurements. No one's going to stop you calculating your carpets in meters.

This populist nonsense is appealing politically to a certain group of people. That mindset exists, the government knows it, and it is the fact such a dumb priority will please a significant number of voters that gets to me.

Britain just looks peculiar at the moment, we used to be a serious country, and now we are fannying about with this sort of crap.

If the engineers architects materials scientists chemists etc learn and calculate etc in metric and manufacturers etc work in imperial that's going to be a bit of a problem surely?

I'd be surprised if it's common due to import export metric is standard.

My husband says, so could very well be wrong!, that all nautical and aviation measurement are done in miles etc. Its to do with the 360°. Apparently easier for calculations of navigation. All of Europe does it so obviously all countries use the two systems. Apparently not China and Russia.

'I never said anything was trivial. I said that one is not superior over another. If it can be measured in metric it can be measured in imperial. If someone calculates wrongly, that's operator error rather than the measurement system.'

I don't think that's true is it?

The imperial system goes way back and is based in things that were relatable (feet). Or the general size of things (pint).

There are many measurements that don't have an imperial unit aren't there? Things that were not being measured when the imperial system was set up?

Maybe you have better information.

'If people were already using imperial measurements and you were OK with that, eg racecourse furlongs, why are you so worried about it being made officially OK to use imperial messurements. No one's going to stop you calculating your carpets in meters.'

And can you calculate the square footage in my earlier post?

Try another.

5'7 by 6'3 is how many square feet?

The metric system incidentally is objectively just obviously superior. Decimal. 10s, our fingers and toes.

How much is 300g X 4? 1200. 1.2 kg.

How much is 13 Oz X 4. In Oz and in lb.
I mean I would to work that out.
Wouldn't you?

@lannistunut
"Britain just looks peculiar at the moment, we used to be a serious country, and now we are fannying about with this sort of crap."

It's the newspapers that make a big deal of it, no one else. Everyone already uses a dual system. I doubt the rest of the world cares if I buy my spuds in kilos or lbs.

[quote Porridgealert]@lannistunut
"Britain just looks peculiar at the moment, we used to be a serious country, and now we are fannying about with this sort of crap."

It's the newspapers that make a big deal of it, no one else. Everyone already uses a dual system. I doubt the rest of the world cares if I buy my spuds in kilos or lbs.[/quote]
I think you are missing the point. The government know this appeals to a certain portion of the electorate. The fact we have such an electorate calling the shots is not ideal.

And no the world doesn't care how you weigh your spuds - but they have noticed that a once-serious nation is preoccupied with this sort of rubbish.

Our populist, Brexity government has weakened us internationally. This stuff matters, not because it matters that much itself, but because when you have a stupid government you are less respected.

@NiceGerbil

I would really like one genuine reason that the imperial system is objectively better than metric. Across the board.

Not it's what I know or prefer but a genuine reason for it to be just better.

I’m a fan of the metric system because of the internal consistency, but if I were to defend imperial units, I think they’re more associated with numbers we can visualise and express more easily. Half a lb is easier to write than 227g. 6 foot is easier than 180 cm

How is 'half a lb' easier to write than '227g' ?

The whole thing is a big load of stupidity from a stupid populist government.

If people can't see the problem with having a stupid populist government, well, there you go, that's why we've got a stupid populist government!

That the govt has put this on the agenda and it's in the news. With all the other shit going on. It's pathetic.

So shops etc can just use lb Oz if they wish. When before it was both.

So there'll be some places with metric and some with imperial. That's not confusing at all.

Thinking about it. The people here who are totally used to kg g are people from other countries, who are mainly from Europe.

So this really about shops being able to signal that they're not welcome? A visible way to show that you don't like their sort?

I can't think of other reasons not to be fine with both unless you attach some other meaning to it.

@NiceGerbil. If you go back through my posts (which I honestly wouldn't bother doing! Lol), you'll see I said I calculate areas in metric. Definitely easier. (Except when I calculate carpet size, it's as easy to do it in feet as carpet comes in fixed widths.) But if someone wants to sell me tomatoes by the pound, so what? In fact I can judge a pound of tomatoes easier than a kilo.
Basically I don't care. I accept both. I'm not sure why it's weighing (hehe) so heavily on you that you should try to make yourself even worse by thinking that other countries are laughing at you. You find what makes you comfortable and stick to that and ignore anyone who tries to make you feel bad about it.

@NiceGerbil
"Thinking about it. The people here who are totally used to kg g are people from other countries, who are mainly from Europe. So this really about shops being able to signal that they're not welcome? A visible way to show that you don't like their sort?"

You're really going to try and make it into a racist issue? Oh well, I guess if you can't make a logical argument, throwing abuse is as good a way as any to distract from the issue at hand. I'm going to take my racist half pint of milky hot chocolate and leave you in peace.

Well yes so what.

Having both caters to everybody.

Having only the one that large numbers of people will simply not have a clue about seems like a very strange thing to want. Let alone feel is very very important.

We still use miles feet for height pints etc. Grocers could price and measure in lb as long as they also gave metric.

I mean I can't really see what the problem is and why being able to show lb only is so important to people.

I think the metric system is a symbol of European 'interference' to some isn't it? And having imperial only is a fuck you?

And that's more important than the fact that-

Loads of people don't have a clue about it
Metric is objectively a better system full stop
Import/ export I'm pretty sure must be all metric
Using imperial other than for really basic stuff (pound of grapes) is incredibly tricky and so no one will do it
Many supermarkets do only metric and I can't see that changing

So in the end it'll be taken up only by those who feel real antipathy towards Europe (or is this about the French?) and are ok with advertising that to anyone who comes in.

Porridge not liking the EU is not racism? Wtf.

I suppose it could be extended to.

The people who have no idea about lb/ Oz are people from other countries and young people.

Is that better?

And it's not accusing anyone of anything whatsoever to point out the FACT that people from other countries will not have a clue about lb Oz.

Given that afaik it's only us and the USA who don't use metric universally. I will check that though.