The government actually IS doing a consultation on bringing back imperial measurements!

[Kendodd]

I thought it was a joke.
AIBU to think this is a complete load of bollocks waste of money?

The questions don't even give you the option of saying just keep metric.
Example question -
For Consumers,

a) If you had a choice, would you want to purchase items:

(i) in imperial units?

(ii) in imperial units alongside a metric equivalent?

www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1079711/choice-on-units-of-measurement-markings-and-sales-consultation.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjchIqM1pT4AhXIPsAKHWSZBW0QFnoECAUQAQ&usg=AOvVaw05usEgoqbR2NHfgE3SzAYH

That would be nuts. I'm Irish, but at 52, which is hardly young, I learnt metric at school. I have an awareness of imperial obviously and my mum would still talk about ounces when making a cake, but my impression is that the metric system is very logical and imperial system is not exactly intuitive.

WHY would they do this!?

It’s just another dead cat which will appease certain type of Tory voters. Like Brexit it will be complicated and cost businesses money which will be passed onto customers at a time when people could really do without yet another thing to increase costs.

I’m 58 and I was taught metric! Some of our older text books referred to imperial units but all teaching was in metric. I work in a design based industry and have always used metric. Submitting a planning application in imperial measurements won’t see it pass the validation process.

i can cope with some imperial measurements but translate them to metric in my head. I can’t cope with inches at all.

Lord Parkinson is 39. He's learned these easy conversions so well.

I started filling in the consultation response form but the questions were so skewed I gave up in the end. I just wrote an email instead, saying that the proposed changes were unnecesssary and would cost businesses and therefore their customers money for no benefit.

I also said that I thought the consultation was an abuse of process because it wasn't genuinely for the purposes of gathering opinions, etc, but was only there as the necessary correlate of Johnson's latest dead cat (I didn't use those words precisely!)

Just to add, I'm 59 and was very actively taught metric -- I think even before we joined the EU (EEC as it was then). Partly that was because we were moving towards joining the EEC, but also because, well, simplicity, modernity, rationality, global trade.

You are OP assuming it will happen. There are 38 bills to go through Parliament so the law won't be changed this year.

Mr Johnson seems the kind of man for whom inches are measured by him in one area of his body.

This government spaffed thousands of pounds against a wall on a consultation of a fixed bridge from Scotland to NI
www.bbc.com/news/business-59368707.amp
Say no to imperial measures. We need a streamlined measurement system used by the majority of the world, not some backward complex system.
This is a distraction. Don’t fall for it.

Like most people I “use” both but I can’t actually use imperial at all. I know I’m 5’5” but I couldn’t work out how much taller than me my husband is (he’s 6’1”) or what someone half my height is. I do know my weight in stones and lbs but I can’t work out how many lbs a week I want to lose to get to a goal weight. So if I’m actually using the numbers I use metric because calculating in base 10 is just simpler.

I daresay I could learn and remember how many ounces in a pound and pounds in a stone and all that but I don’t see why I should bother.

are healthcare professionals going to switch to measuring in grains and fl.oz? Can’t see that going very well.

American pounds are the same as ours but their pints are different. They have a saying “a pint’s a pound the world around” which is probably the stupidest saying ever, since a pint is not a pound anywhere else.

I’m 60 and was only taught metric weights and measures at school. I’m an engineer and the metric system makes calculations so much easier because it’s consistent, you just need to look at an American textbook to see how complicated imperial (or British as they call them) units are.

We already use mixed units, pints of beer and 36D bras, the EU never stopped us doing so. It’s all a ploy by Johnson and his crew to appeal to their very elderly brexity faithful. I’m sure my PIL will love it.

probably something to do with some American food trade deal

The USA doesn't use imperial measures. It uses "English" measures. An American pint is 16 fl oz, whereas an imperial pint is 20 fl oz. So an American pint or gallon is only 4/5 of a British one. If there had to be standardisation of measures for an American trade deal, the UK would have to use "English" (i.e. American) pints and gallons instead of imperial ones. Johnson & his ilk (especially the loathsome Dr Liam Fox) would love this, but I don't imagine the average beer/milk purchaser would.

I am 71. I can cope with both Imperial and Metric but now prefer metric. US measurements exasperate me. Weight measured in Lbs, so you have to do some arithmetic dividing by 14 to get to stones, and in cooking with cups. But what size is a cup? I assume that they must have a standard size, or do they?

And this guff about the EU or EEC then made us do it is nonsense. The country originally talked about converting to metric measurements in the mid 19th Century but then in the Mid sixties was pushing towards adopting SI units.

But yes, it will provide a nice little earner for dishonest traders to bamboozle people who are confused about the two.

I'm 41 and I know what an inch, foot, mile, stones and pounds are.

I know grams for food but don't get on with kilograms for people's weight, yards, kilometres etc.

So I say imperial all the way.

I know yards are imperial but I don't know how far 10 yards is, for example 🤷‍♀️

I've got measuring cups and they have ml on them too, 1 cup is 250 ml I think.

They have a saying “a pint’s a pound the world around” which is probably the stupidest saying ever, since a pint is not a pound anywhere else

Is a pint of water a pound in weight?

A cube of water 10cm x 10cm x 10cm or 1000 cubic centimeters is a kilogram in weight.

Utterly pointless fuckwittery from an utterly pointless fuckwit.
We apparently needed to move in from 'partygate' so the loathsome parasite can get on with important stuff. Like this?

Surely that would mean a cirriculum change in EY maths as weights and measures iirc are taught using the metric system. Don't think Johnson has thought this through has he?

I've got measuring cups and they have ml on them too, 1 cup is 250 ml I think.

Are US cups the same though, given that their volume measurements are different?

Wank material for the flag-shaggers. Brexit seems so long ago now, they need something new.

I'm old, I mainly still use imperial. It's much easier.

However I think it's pointless bringing it back as there are now several generations who are used only to metric.

Exactly that, it’s a distraction to try and get people talking about something else. It’s unlikely to happen as it’ll cost businesses a fortune. Plus I’ve already seen one Tory peer saying what a joke it is, so fingers crossed a bill would never pass.

I assume an American pint of water weighs a pound since it is 16 fluid ounces. It won’t be true of other liquids ( if it’s true at all). A British pint is 20 fluid ounces. I think…

Don't think Johnson has thought this through has he?

Does Johnson think? There is only one part of his anatomy which seems to be in working order.

What really annoys me is that we could be having consultations on things which matter - what we want from the NHS for example, and what and how we are prepared to pay for it. Instead of privatising it onto an American system by stealth.

Housing market - broken - how do we fix it?

The boss of ASDA said it was a stupid idea, so if the Supermarkets don't buy it, it's going to be a dead duck.