Feet and inches!!!

For those who work in metric.... two quick points
There is a far greater chance of the displacement of a decimal point in, say , measuring out medicines than in the old irregular system when any discrepancy is far more obvious.
This may be out of date( ie it occurred a few years ago) but a friend converting property in France remarked that supplies in French DIY stores were being sold in Imperial measures for some items....I believe he could have mentioned dimensions of metal items. This was long after our comfortable Imperial systems were supposed to have been done away with

I have had some interesting experiences with on line shopping due to my brain being fixed on Imperial measurements.

If you have access to funds/a holiday home abroad/a motor home, it is probably tolerable to live in the UK.

@ Esspee - super response, thank you, much appreciated! Am 74 BTW and grew up in Croydon under Imperial.
But according to this, there is still loads of confusion :
In Britain, metrication was formally endorsed by the government in 1965, but the imperial system is still commonly used. The mix confuses shoppers, children and holiday makers. New YouGov research reveals the continuing extent of Britain's metric muddle.
Taken from Government website.

I assume you are moving back from France given your username.

I too moved back to the UK from France. Switching from French to English language wasn’t a problem and similarly Imperial to Metric no problem their either. It’s not terribly difficult.

I don't have a problem with using either set of measurements.

Imperial is based on various bits of the human body, so even without a measuring device I can make a fair estimate of the size if something and I'm usually right.

Metric is however based on something dreamed up by Napoleon - the distance from Paris to the North Pole!

Take your pick.

If metrication was endorsed in 1965 then I was 12 at the time.
I don’t think I had settled into my role as a backward thinking old woman.
I can still hold up my hands to show how long 6inches is. Other lengths are available?

Definitely feet & inches girl here and have not intention of changing.

I'm afraid I still think in feet and inches. Most of the properties I have looked at have dimensions in both feet and metres. I only look at the feet, my daughter and SIL who are also thinking of moving only look at the metric.

I much prefer feet and inches. I was taught that at school and it sticks.
I always have to faff around converting to metric.

Blame the Americans who have hung onto Imperial measures, and so we've been in a no-man's land of two sets of measures since 1970. Estate Agents should use both.

I much prefer imperial measures.

I'm another still using feet and inches.
My brain just won't take on board metric (probably because I'm not interested)
I have to look on my phone to convert, lots and lots of times.

Evianers You say there is much confusion here, well actually there ISNT we have all managed to understand for the most part both sets of measurements we mix and match even we ‘very old’ people manage very happily I have never met anyone who is confused at all
I use measuring jugs that have both metric and imperial measures on them Most estate agents use both and it really isn’t difficult to google if they don’t Shoes usually have both sizes on the bottoms its really not hard at all

I use both all the time- some of my cookery books (like my old BeRo) are in lbs and oz, others if metric.

Both systems are good in their own right- but the mixture can be a disaster- especially in a global context and supply chains- where the mix just cannot work.

Jalima. 'I know that our sitting room was 6" too wide for a 4 metre wide carpet …' I came to the UK in 1970, took me ages to get used to the Imperial system, especially as a translator having to convert contracts and very technical papers (I was working for Beecham's in W. London- then the Pottery Industry in the Potteries) before having children and becoming a teacher in my early 30s.

When I came back to UK after almost a year back home (most of it in hospital after a car accident) - the system had changed to metric , arrrghhh. I remember going to a carpet store and the price was advertised in Pounds for square yard, but sold in 2, 3 or 4 metre widths by the linear foot. Crazy!
Went to a material shop and bought 1.50m of material, and it took the young woman 15 mins to work out the price!

But I am puzzled that most have not done the transition yet- I mean it was more than 50 years ago, yyyiiikkkes.

What is causing the main issue here Evianer- the size of rooms for prospective properties? Where are you headed? Bonne chance.

Reading through all your posts it sounds to me like we prefer the good old system for daily living but accept that some calculations are easier in metric.
I can't get used to body temperatures in anything but 98.4 Fahrenheit
If a child has a temp of over 100f they are not very well. Over 102 and, they have a fever. I don't know the 30s and 40s!
Yet the weather forecast had been in Celsius for years.

37C is normal temp - mine is 36.5 ...

so 38C is a fever which has to be kept an eye on, 39C is becoming serious, 40C call the doctor, 41C ambulance.

Evianners I am interested to note that you seem to have made the decision to return. I remember you asking about Aylesbury and wonder where you have eventually settled on, I've just realised that that is a question you may not wish to answer. Good luck anyway. We did it 15 months ago and have found it a bit of a shock. The grass is always greener etc.

I would try a different estate agent, Evianers - one a bit more with it!

jura it was the carpet firm which miscalculated and the fitterwho said that the 4m width was 6" too short!

We Canadians officially converted to metric in the 70's, however imperial measurements are still in our common usage. There seems to be a difference regionally as well.

In the grocery store, deli meat is sold by gram, meat by kilo, most veg by lbs (so silly!) Liquids are metric, milk, juice etc. Butter is sold in 454gr blocks (1 lb). I find most packaging is imperial sizes converted to metric labels, like the butter.

Temperature as well as distance is metric, but if you ask me I am 5'4"... no idea how many meters! Even on government forms you are given the choice, since most people don't know their weight in kilos.

We generally either mixed up, or bilingual; it depends on how you look at it! We do not however use stones.

Why should they?? Both Imperial and Metric are equally used methods if measuring and equally good.

Definitely not. Let’s keep our inches, feet, and yards, and what is wrong with pounds and ounces, and pints and gallons? At least they still use them in the USA.

I'm still in pounds and ounces, degrees Fahrenheit, miles, yards, feet and inches - and often in old money. I recently measured a piece of furniture in a shop in spans, not having a tape measure with me and no staff in sight.

Have you tried asking for measurements in metres and centimetres? Just a thought!

I don't think we should ever forget our imperial measures, although I fear some of them have gone for ever.
The British Imperial System evolved from the thousands of Roman, Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and customary local units employed in the Middle Ages
Bushels, pecks, gills, furlongs, rods etc
We have a book somewhere with them all listed.

www.britannica.com/science/British-Imperial-System

Surely to goodness people aren't still weighing themselves in pounds and ounces?
No, not these days, not since I was a baby. I measure myself in stones Esspee.

Ignore the rude old biddies on here, welcome back. We need young minded grans.
I assume that is supposed to be joke?