metres or feet?

[MereDintofPandiculation]

I'm old enough to have been brought up with feet and inches, and that's the measurement scale I think in naturally. But it's a long time since they dropped teaching Imperial measurements, so, younger gardeners - do you still understand feet and inches? Or do you need measurements to be given in cms and metres?

Hadn't really thought about it before but I use both up to about 10ft. After that I have to start converting feet back to metres in my head. Body weight is always stones and pounds but everything else is kilos.

Garden sheds are still sold in feet e.g. 8' x 10' but I think fence panels are in metres now. I use both imperial and metric, although when talking about the height of a tree for instance, I'd always say it was 30' tall instead of 9 metres, and a garden would be 100 yards long.

After that I have to start converting feet back to metres in my head. That sounds so strange to me! Over 10ft I'm in yards, so if you gave it me in metres, I'd have to think "30m - that's 30yds plus 10% = 33yds". I can't conceive of anything becoming more understandable because I've converted it to metric - and I imagine you may have exactly the same feeling about converting to imperial.

I'm 40 and I think in metric. I understand what inches are from sewing, but feet baffles me. I think I was maybe in the first metric taught generation?

Right ... it's looking as if I should use metric, because if everyone under 40 has them as their default measurement, they're going to struggle with inches, feet, yards, whereas we oldies have been doing the conversion for years.

What about areas? Acres or hectares?

How do you metric people cope with speeds in miles per hour? Do you just regard it as a number, rather than thinking "well if I'm going at an average 30mph, that 10 mile journey will take me 20 minutes" ... because of course, it wouldn't be a 10mile journey, it'd be a 16km one.

I’m 48 and a right muddle between the two.

I know how long my garden is in foot (roughly), no clue in metres.

Smaller things I can do in either, as long as I can relate it to the length of a ruler, I’m fine.

Driving = miles only.

I understand what inches are from sewing, but feet baffles me.
I was stunned when I realised that DD had no concept of how long a foot is. It had never occurred to her that a ruler is a foot long!

I don't think in metric. We were looking at the size of railway sleepers today and 250 x 125 means absolutely nothing to me. I had to convert it into 10" x 5".
I like imperial measurements because they usually refer to the body, which I can relate to, instead of the circumference of the earth (metric system), which means nothing.

I use both - probably taught a hybrid at school. But my eldest (early 20s) will talk about running in kms not miles (shorter so easier to feel you're making progress).

Ah - long distances I think in miles and can't get my head around km

And i don't have any real concept of either acres or hectares because I've never needed to think about anything in those terms. If I was looking at a house with a large plot (in my dreams) I'd expect it to be described in terms of acres. And I think about pints of milk.

So yeah - thinking about it, a right mishmash.

I'm betwixt & between.

At school I was taught completely metric.

But outside of school, my elders would always talk in imperial and every day objects were still labelled & sold imperial.

Long distances - Miles

Speed - MPH

Shorter measurements (up to 1000 yards) - I use both interchangeably.

Liquids - Metric for smaller quantities / Gallons for larger volumes (I've still no idea what a fluid ounce is!)

Weights - Metric for cooking / imperial for how unfit I am!

I've still no idea what a fluid ounce is!
As the rhyme goes:
A pint of water
weighs a pound-and-a-quarter

i.e. a pint = 20floz so half-pint = 10floz, quarter-pint = 5 floz

I think in feet and inches too, and I can’t get my head round centimetres, I’m constantly having to use an online calculator to bring it back to feet and inches . I seem to have a total mind block on centimetres. I’m fifty two.

I'm quite happy with both. Always leave the sat nav in miles though when abroad.

I teach in higher education and although the default is metric, most students seem to understand inches, feet and miles. Enough to do quite complex calculations with them if necessary.

I don't think in metric. We were looking at the size of railway sleepers today and 250 x 125 means absolutely nothing to me. I had to convert it into 10" x 5".

They are closer to 8'4" by 5".

I think in whatever units are commonly encountered for the task. Generally metric unless driving when it’s miles, and area when acres come to to front (unless relating to subsidies discussion then it’s hectares).

If putting something together for people new to a problem or under 65 I would default to metric unless there is something in which the general standard is still imperial.

They are closer to 8'4" by 5".
There are three dimensions to a railway sleeper! They were 2.6m long which I could just about get my head round (because of the similarity between metres and yards) but 250 x 150 meant nothing.

There are three dimensions to a railway sleeper

There are indeed. Ignore me. I posted before my morning coffee.

I posted before my morning coffee.
Big mistake! I'm on my third cup.

I've still no idea what a fluid ounce is! The volume of water that weighs and ounce (as per the rhyme above). Useful to also remember that a litre is 35 fl oz, so that give a means to switch between imperial and metric.

Very roughly, there are 2.5cm to an inch, so 10cm is 4inches and 30cm is a foot.

I find it hard to get my head around pot sizes in litres. I try to imagine stuffing litre cartoons of orange juice into them but it's not very satisfactory. I'm much happier with pot diameter, even if I do have to convert it from metric to imperial.

I can concede that grams is probably a sensible way to weigh seeds, even if, again, I'm doing the conversion in my head. An ounce is roughly 30g (more accurately 28g). And I'll concede that it's easier to express the length of a mealy bug or red spider mite in mm.

I'm 25, I use ft and in for everything and always have. Also use miles.

I'd use acres btw