Imperial Nonsense

[Gary C]

Just remember having old money, but then school was all metric, then started a job at a 1960's power station where everything was imperial so I measure small things in thou, bigger in a mix of meters and feet, then quantity in litres and gallons. Weight is all metric, so is force.

My toolkit is almost all imperial (sort of, err, ended up at home when I moved job), with a full imperial and metric socket set

Its madness.

When we were thinking of building an AP1000 reactor, the dimensions were generally designed in Imperial, and the cost of converting to metric would be prohibitive, think thats changed now but at the time it was a real worry and you cant just simply convert as all the tollerances on standard components clash if your not really careful

[GC8]

FiF said:

Even then some things come naturally, eg weather temperatures, feels better to talk Fahrenheit when it's hot but Celsius when it's cold. Why?

This would be my go to example too.

Ive also realised that I want satnav units set to imperial, but I would prefer distances to upcoming events in metres rather than feet...

[matchmaker]

DoubleD said:

kambites said:

DoubleD said:

grumpy52 said:

As the vast majority of the driving public didn't have a metric education they default to imperial.

I would have thought that there were more drivers under 50 on the roads than over 50?

In terms of miles driven (rather than licences held) buy a substantial margin, I'd imagine. Plus I wouldn't be surprised if over 50s are on average better with metric units than under 30s are with imperial ones.

No, there wont be more miles or drivers who only learnt imperial. Metric has been taught in schools for a long time now. I agree that older folk will be better at both measurements as they were taught both at school.

I'm 62. I was taught imperial at school up to the age of 17. When I went to university to do engineering 2 months after leaving school it was straight to metric.

[Monkeylegend]

We can do what we want now anyway, rumour has it we will be back to £sd within 10 months.

[TimoMak]

Monkeylegend said:

We can do what we want now anyway, rumour has it we will be back to £sd within 10 months.

Excellent. Time to abolish all that metric st as well.

[Glosphil]

Wildcat45 said:

Whats a hundred weight? Is that a tenth of a ton?

A hundredweight is 112lb and 2240lb is a ton, so 20 hundredweight is a ton.
A stone is 14lb so 8 stone is a hundredweight.
Thank goodness we went metric - sort of, at least.

[gazza285]

RobXjcoupe said:

Only one is weird. A metric ton and an imperial tonne. The metric ton is lighter

Tonne is metric, ton is either. A short ton is lighter than a metric tonne, which is lighter than a long ton. Simple.

[kambites]

DoubleD said:

No, there wont be more miles or drivers who only learnt imperial. Metric has been taught in schools for a long time now. I agree that older folk will be better at both measurements as they were taught both at school.

That's what I meant.

[ruhall]

Riley Blue said:

Wheel and tyre sizes are illogical.

You can blame Michelin and the radial tyre for that. So, that's the French's fault as well

[anonymous-user]

OP, have you really got nothing more important in your life that you get antsy over a sign using feet and inches rather than metric?

As long as you know you’re vehicle is safe who really cares!

[talksthetorque]

donkmeister said:

I never understood why people get so hot under the collar about it all, whether it's people from outside the Anglosphere* shouting in YouTube comments about how Imperial units are outdated or Daily Mail readers being obtuse about hectare's per millilitre.

As a nation, the UK is crap at speaking multiple languages (excluding Wales, parts of Cornwall and diaspora communities). At least we're (mostly) bilingual in unit systems. I appreciate that many road users will be coming from the Continent so would have to scratch their head at an Imperial width but then again... once more than a mile or two (a 1.6km or 3.2km) from the ports I don't recall seeing road signs in English in France, nor would I expect to.

* I'm sure someone will say "but Canada, Australia and New Zealand are all-metric"... Legally yes, but in day-to-day conversation Imperial is still common even amongst the younger generations. My cousins back in Canada are all in their 20s and use metric less than I do in the UK.

That'll be because of the neighbours.

Similarly to tyre sizes, a lot of printing is done in mm for width, and inches for length. Printing press cylinders are still made in imperial sizes.

Edited by talksthetorque on Monday 24th February 09:37

[300bhp/ton]

Keep it stiff said:

Olas said:

2.057 as previously stated.

Indeed, but clearly calculated for signage as 2m rounded to the nearest inch!

No. But please do carry on

[anonymous-user]

Some numpty decided to make a poor attempt at converting us to the metric system...
Road distance in miles, width in metres. Speeds in mph and emissions in g/km. I used to work in a woodmill, we would cut timber as 2x1" by 1500mm sizes for example... Not just roads that are a mess with mixing imperial and metric.

[Toltec]

gazza285 said:

RobXjcoupe said:

Only one is weird. A metric ton and an imperial tonne. The metric ton is lighter

Tonne is metric, ton is either. A short ton is lighter than a metric tonne, which is lighter than a long ton. Simple.

I love the irony of a short ton being a decimalised imperial ton.

[Pica-Pica]

matchmaker said:

DoubleD said:

kambites said:

DoubleD said:

grumpy52 said:

As the vast majority of the driving public didn't have a metric education they default to imperial.

I would have thought that there were more drivers under 50 on the roads than over 50?

In terms of miles driven (rather than licences held) buy a substantial margin, I'd imagine. Plus I wouldn't be surprised if over 50s are on average better with metric units than under 30s are with imperial ones.

No, there wont be more miles or drivers who only learnt imperial. Metric has been taught in schools for a long time now. I agree that older folk will be better at both measurements as they were taught both at school.

I'm 62. I was taught imperial at school up to the age of 17. When I went to university to do engineering 2 months after leaving school it was straight to metric.

Ditto. Except I am somewhat older.

[DickyC]

Oil and gas decided it could live without me five or six years ago but the last time I looked pipe sizes are almost universally in inches even if the quoted sizes are metric. 25mm, 50mm, 75mm, 100mm, 150mm, 200mm and so on are good old fashioned 1" 2" 3" 4" 6" 8"

Even the French.

[anonymous-user]

Having only ever been taught metric it was quite an adjustment switching over to imperial for work.

[DickyC]

The US standardised their weights and measures using the British system. Later on, when the British standardised, the system had changed and this is why the units are at best similar.

US Congress passed the Metric Bill in 1866. They just don't want to rush things.

[DickyC]

eezeh said:

Having only ever been taught metric it was quite an adjustment switching over to imperial for work.

Despite the your metric education did you think of your height and weight in feet and inches and stones and pounds?

[anonymous-user]

DickyC said:

Despite the your metric education did you think of your height and weight in feet and inches and stones and pounds?

Yes but saying that asides from height and weight of myself (which i credit to my parents) I measured distances in meters, weights of everything else in grams, kilos, fluids in litres etc.