Do think BJ is desperate if bringing back imperial is his next plan...

[SamBeckettslastleap]

Johnson to reportedly bring back imperial measures to mark platinum jubilee

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Absolute lowest common denominator politics but no surprise really. This is such a transparent move to deflect away from the real issues but this kind of move is the modus operandi of the Tories. Surely it must be more and more apparent that 'they are all as bad as each other' really doesn't wash any more. I can't see how anyone could do worse than this current shower.

American/British here. Under 40 (just).
I know imperial like the back of my hand. You say 70 degrees and I can feel it. I still prefer taking body temp in Fahrenheit.
Mere curiosity, if someone says pint how big do you think?

Still sometimes do a conversion in Google to be sure.
Yes - anyone claiming bafflement nowadays is being a bit silly really.

When I've ordered new glazing it was in mm. My point is - Brits will have to pay more for special sizes, if you're happy to do so that's fine.

Well, I suppose, thinking about it, this was the biggest Brexit 'win' they could possibly find and came from Rees-Mogg's 'send me your Brexit suggestions' postbag.

I might write and ask if we can have more shit in the sea please, see if that makes it into his Brexit win list.

I think @User487216 was joking 😁

Fruit loop.

I think your question is too long. It should read 'Do you think Boris Johnson is desperate?' And the answer is 'Yes'

The only thing that they should be doing with imperial measures, is binning them off completely. Metric is sensible, it's used by the majority of the world, and when you live in a country that uses metric only you soon adapt to those measurements.

This

Article in The Grocer about the problems it would cause the food industry.

www.thegrocer.co.uk/brexit/reinstating-imperial-measurements-opens-up-a-hornets-nest-of-problems-for-the-food-industry/668004.article

People who say they 'mainly use Imperial' - because they know their weight in stones and pounds and distances in mile....

How many can do division with stones and pounds? 12 stone 5 pound 5 ounces divided by 7?

People many know their weight in Imperial - but I suspect many people would struggle to do arithmetic with such measurements. Even with a calculator

Let me say right now that I'm not supporting the re-introduction of Imperial measurements in any kind of serious way - let's get that straight!

But, on a more 'just musing about it' level, there was something more human and organic about imperial measurements. They were based on time-honoured things like - fingers, forearms, feet etc, or the length of land oxen could plough in a day etc etc. Of course they're outmoded, and the metric system is the only one that's going to work in the scientific, technological age. But...how many of us can drink a litre of beer/lemonade? What we need is a pint, and saying 'half a litre' isn't quite the same. The same is true about a lot of metric quantities - they are great for doing science, but just not quite right for practical everyday life.

Just a comment - not an argument for bringing them back!

I live a few miles from a channel port, and the speed limit signs are in both miles and km for the first 4 or 5 miles.

I'm so old I learned imperial before I "learned" metric, so I've been wondering if there are any business opportunities that would make use of my skills at doing imperial calculations in my head.

Idiotic. Barely anyone under the age of 45 possibly even 50 understands imperial now. I haven’t got a clue, it’s a baffling system.

He's trying to appeal to his core older voters who yearn for the good old days

I'm sure he is, but it's a pretty stupid policy. He managed to kill off rather a large proportion of the older demographic by not bothering with adequate protection during the pandemic. Current 70 year olds and upwards didn't enjoy having to learn how to add, multiply, divide etc in pounds, shillings and pence, let alone pounds and ounces and yards, feet and inches, and have no wish to go back to that. Sure, we all talk in terms of miles, but how many people could tell you how many yards there are in a mile, let alone feet?

What we need is a pint

Well that's good because what we have is a pint.

As far as I can tell, life in fully metricated countries works just fine. Do the Germans and French have any difficulty with their glass sizes? The approximations to body parts don't really work very well, we're all different sizes.

Then you're unusual.

The vast majority of Brits, including those under 45, are quite familiar with miles, stones and pints, and will often prefer them to their imperial equivalents.

The vast majority of Brits, including those under 45, are quite familiar with miles, stones and pints, and will often prefer them to their imperial equivalents

Really - you ask a Brit under 45 how many pints in 2 3/4 gallons?

Or what is 3/4 a mile in yards?
Or What is 3 stone 2 pounds x 9 in stones?

Then you will see how familiar people are with them

But they don't need to know all that in their everyday lives, do they?

Ask someone their height and 9 times out of 10 they'll give it to you in feet and inches. Most won't have a clue what it is in cm. Look at all the discussions here about weight. The vast majority give their weights in stones and pounds, not kg. Go into the pub and everyone will be ordering pints, not half liters. Ask someone how far away a town is and they'll tell you the distance in miles. The main exception is with cooking, where most people use metric.

I'm 52 and have lived most of my adult life abroad so am more familiar with metric. But I'm in the minority among my acquaintances, including those much younger than me.

I'm older than 45.

I have literally no idea how many pints there are in a gallon.

I have no idea how many yards there are in a mile. (I could potentially come up with a rough guess on the basis that I know that a yard is roughly 90cm and I know that 5 miles is roughly 8 kilometres, but I would have to convert both to metric measurements before I could get there).

I do know how stones/pounds/ounces work and could calculate the answer to the third question in I could be arsed, but I can't be arsed because imperial measurements are just so unnecessarily flipping complicated!

I know my height in feet and inches but I certainly know it in metric measures too. Surely most people do now, especially those under 50ish? And personally, I always measure my weight in kg. I know roughly what it is in stones but would have to do a calculation to get to a more precise figure.

I'm only a bit younger than you - 49.

I know my height in feet and inches but I certainly know it in metric measures too. Surely most people do now, especially those under 50ish? And personally, I always measure my weight in kg. I know roughly what it is in stones but would have to do a calculation to get to a more precise figure.

I'm only a bit younger than you - 49.

Take a look at any of the weight discussions on MN. There's a whole forum dedicated to the subject. The vast majority of posters give both weight and height in imperial.

I too prefer metric but we're in the minority.

But they don't need to know all that in their everyday lives, do they

But this is what this is about. Johnson wants traders to have the chance to JUST use Imperial. Which means that if traders do that, then they would have to use it in their everyday lives.