Posted on 09/26/2021 9:11:55 AM PDT by billorites
Down at the local pub, die-hard Brexiters will be raising a pint to news that the United Kingdom is eyeing the end of a European Union-inspired ban on selling products in only pounds and ounces. But many others view the move away from the world-standard metric system as pure rubbish.
Since becoming prime minister, Boris Johnson has pledged to usher in an era of "tolerance towards traditional measurements." On Thursday, Brexit minister David Frost clarified what that means — giving shops and supermarkets the option to sell items labeled only in imperial units.
Under the plan, market stalls and shops would not be required to include measurements in metric equivalents.
The imperial system uses inches, miles and gallons as units of measurement. It's almost the same as the system commonly used in the U.S., with a few small differences.
Under the plan, it would be legal for market stalls, shops and supermarkets to sell their goods using only imperial measurements, with no requirement that metric equivalents be included.
Unsurprisingly, the metric vs. imperial argument has gone straight to the modern-day court of public opinion — Twitter.
"I was never really any good with metric measurements and always needed to convert. Then again after nearly 50 years of metric. I doubt going back to imperial will help me now. And it won't help anyone who has been taught in school for the last 50 years of school," one user said.
Some circulated a satirical video poking fun at the absurdity of the old imperial measures. Still others posted a map showing countries using the metric system — the only exceptions being Myanmar, Liberia and, of course, the U.S., which tried and failed to fully adopt the metric system beginning in the mid-1970s.
Starting in 1965, the U.K. began a gradual retreat...
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
Got home and I was like a racehorse who just ran 6 1/2 furlongs.
The length of a cricket pitch always has been and always will be One English Chain (that is 22 Yards or 66 Feet or 100 Links or 4 Rods). It will never be 20.1168 Metres!
Bring back the shilling.
They already use miles.:^)
But, a kilogram weighs the same on earth, the Moon and Mars.
(That has yet to come in handy.)
A British Thermal Unit (BTU) is the energy it take to increase the temperature of a pint of beer one degree Fahrenheit.
Somehow it all comes back to beer, I can relate to that.
Almost everything in metric?
I still buy my gasoline by gallons, not liters. I have no idea of my weight in kg but know it in lbs. I helped my wife cooking by measuring two cups of water (how many ml?). We bought a gallon (not liter) of milk. I know how tall I am — but not in cm. Our thermostat measures in Farenheight not celcius. I recently needed to use a 7/8” screw for minor repairs.
Other than engineering design documents, which are often international and thus often use SI units of measure, why do you say that “almost everything” is in metric in the US?
No, the metric system is not more accurate than the imperial system, nor is it less accurate. Accuracy refers to the ability to measure something to the measurement standard.
Isn’t the metric sytem French?
Calculated at 1 billion centimeters from the North pole to Paris. Or something of that nature.
America has sent a man to the moon, yes, but Liberia and Myanmar...not so sure.
No offense meant to you or anybody :-)
Yes, it was introduced by revolutionary France in 1799. But by then, the worst excesses of the Revolution had already been over.
Actually one meter is one ten-millionth of the distance between the North Pole and the equator, using the meridian which runs through Paris.
Just for the record :-)
No, the road distance system used in the UK has never gone metric.
“Actually one meter is one ten-millionth of the distance between the North Pole and the equator, using the meridian which runs through Paris.
Just for the record :-)”
Ahhhh, thank you. I was unsuccessfully riffing from memory. It’s been quite a while since I came across that factoid. And I was overtaken by events and forgot to check. Appreciate it.
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