General Chat

Wouldn't it be wonderful to go back to imperial weights and measures?

We have never truly left them. Everybody weighs themselves in stones and we travel miles.

I want a quarter of sweets and a yard of fabric again.

I get weighed in Kilos.

I bet you know what you weigh in stones and pounds though.

Could not agree more Sharron. I know a kilo is around 2 lbs and a meter is 39"
and only know that because of living in Cyprus many moons ago.

I am normally heard asking 'what is that in English please'.

Then we could crash space rockets and jet passenger planes just the same as the Americans and Canadians. Whiz idea. Next ?

Now, how about linear measurements :-D :-D


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_(unit)

Gawd, I only learned Imperial weights and measures at school but even I think metric is easier to master. 10s, 100s etc - you can't get much easier than that.

I can't do it. I am slightly number blind and think in a form of pictures when it comes to numbers. That little decimal point eludes me completely, especially when it involves adding anything together but I can still do yards, inches, even pounds, shillings and pence because, in my mind, they are all different sizes.

I still fancy a quarter of jelly babies!

Oh Sharron, that was when we had our own identity... maybe we will at least be able to get some things back to normal..even a pint of milk or two ounces of sweets would be wonderful... i am glad we voted OUT but sadly we will never see those days again yet hopefully we will be able to create new things that will define us as a single Nation and not just an extension of Europe

it's early days yet , let's wait and see how the near future evolves


:-D

Even in decimalised Australia you can still buy a pint of beer :-D

I think in pounds , ounces, miles...but then it's not all about me is it?

The younger generation who were brought up measuring in metres and weighing in Kilos 'know' exactly what they are. It would only confuse the issue.

All those weights and measures had a practical history and many had other practical applications.

A gallon of water weighs ten pounds.

A yard was the length from the tip of the nose to the tip of the finger of a king (I can't remember which one) so it was the pull of a bow string.

A furlong was the length of the furrow an ox team would plough before turning and that man and team would plough an acre in a day. The acre was a furlong by a chain (the chain attaching the plough to the oxen. The ploughman being occupied with the plough, the team would be driven by a boy with a rod, perch or pole.

That was our Britishness..our heritage Sharron... no reason for the younger generation not to learn about it ...it is BRITISH history .. these things must not be forgotten in the swamp of European legacies :-)

Is this not our great strength, like our monarchy and ability to conduct ceremonial events.This is what we have to show the world.

Many,many generations grew up with those weights and measures, a couple have not been formally taught how to use them but they are still aware of them because they have not been lost.

i have just been looking at the news and it looks like other countries may now want a referendum on whether to come out or stay... certainly Europe is shaken by our result

I still ask for freshly sliced cold meats in lbs & ounces! &continue to use feet & inches, can't be doing with trying to work out grams etc!

Joan.

I have one of the old Imperial brains produced before metrication.
I have tried upgrading it to Metric several times but it soon crashes and returns to default setting.

I start measuring a room as 2740 mm and finish up cutting 107 7/8" it's all those big numbers that I can't stand!

"Oh I'll just cut off a foot" I can remember all they way back to the saw bench "now was that 303mm or cm?" Oh well best go back and check!

Quite agree that for those with brains installed after about 1970, metric does make more sense. ;-)

Rollo posted ..........

24 Jun 2016 14:16

Then we could crash space rockets and jet passenger planes just the same as the Americans and Canadians. Whiz idea. Next ?
--------

You mean the UK is perfect????

That's the first I knew :-)


One of the facts one faces is that Canada and the US are both much larger than the UK, and have much worse conditions that you'll ever see.


I'd love to know whether it is Canada that you have something against, or myself.

Both are irrational acts and beliefs as you really know very little about the country or its peoples, and nothing about me.

Rollo also has a down on Australia, Sylvia, so it's nothing personal :-| :-D :-D :-D

Nah, not at all. I am against the idiotic imperial weights and measures system.

Here is the what happened when a Canadian got his sums wrong.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider
It is a very well known event in the aircraft industry ( which is now universally metric )

NASA decided to go metric and there were several non lethal but expensive accidents before they got it right.

http://spacemath.gsfc.nasa.gov/weekly/6Page53.pdf

I like the little I have seen of Canada - rellies in Calgary (yes, did go to the stampede), Newfoundland ( I am a fan of "The Shipping News" ), Montreal ( wish I had moved there when I had the chance). less thrilled with Ontario (biz) and Vancouver. Huge fan of many Canadian musicians of whom best known Joni Mitchell, K D Lang, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, BareNakedLadies, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, ... yeah they go back a bit but then so do I.
"On the back of a cartoon coaster
In the blue TV screen light
I drew a map of Canada
Oh Canada "
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_NpxTWbovE

I have lots and lots of close rellies in NZ & Oz who have ended up down under since the C19 and go on doing so. Some are quite prominent in Australian life. I dislike being incarcerated in long distance jets and even more the time and discomfort involved and the inordinate cost if a halfway comfortable seat. Quite how people manage the cheap flights I know not. My niece seems not to care. I have never really taken to the Australian way of life it is true but for those who like it, fine. All I can say is that if it is so beaut why are there "more and more of us" in London? The travel is worthwhile all the same (a) to see rellies - Oz really knows how to party (b) make money (c) see some of Australia's amazing natural sites of which the Gt Barrier Reef is easily top. Unfortunately it is vanishing 'cos of Oz marine pollution of which more is planned in the shape of a giant coal mine.