Imperial Measures

I'm waiting for us to revert to £sd. I was really good at £sd sums ?

Yes, Callistemon horses & ponies are still measured in hands but all jump heights are in cms. Dressage arenas are in metres. I 'think' that show pony heights are in cms too, but we're not into showing at all so I can't be certain.:-P

Basically, I can mostly swop between metric & imperial although millimetres defeat me...

BlueBelle

Well you must be very young then blossoming ???

Of course I’m not BlueBelle, you just haven’t read my post correctly, We were taught imperial units of measure at school but we were also introduced to metric as it was about to be introduced. By the time I started college it was all metric from then on.

Germanshepherdsmum

I would be delighted. Have never got to grips with metric measurements. If it’s good enough for the US, why not for us?

on the other hand, if metric is good enough for the rest of the world bar 3 countries, why not for you?

Are we going back to £SD then? No , thought not. All hot air.

Urmstongran

I can visualise a baby who weighs 7lbs 6ozs as opposed to sat 5lbs 12ozs.
In metric kgs? Not a hope.
?

Really weirdly, here in Australia people still tend to talk about babies' weights in pounds/ounces - although of course they are officially measured and recorded in metric and I can visualise both
and often to adults heights as well - a man of 6 feet, for example, rather than of 182cm

yet we have been metric since 1974, nearly half a century and most other things are not referred to by anyone in imperial any more.

so, in answer to someone else's question, I would have a much better idea of my grand children's weight and adult weights in kg's than in imperial

Distance, temperature, cooking weights, volumes - all metric in my head now

I did read your post correctly but I had three children by the time metric came in so you are very young to me Blossoming

I had to scale down an old pattern by 50% the other day - the sizes were in inches such as 3 3/8ths and 5 7/8ths. This was doable for me, though I checked with a calculator - changed all into 16ths, then halved, then converted back into a different fraction etc . but there were several different measurements and different fractions which then had to be drawn accurately. It was so much easier and quicker to transfer the original measurement into cms and divide by 2 and the measurements were more accurate. Just pointing this out as one reason the building and other trades went metric and I doubt if they are going back any time soon,

I think the use of Imperial units is merely to be permitted alongside metric.

I tend to do weights - half a pound of cheese, my weight on the scales ? - in Imperial but I cook and measure in metric, except for road distances and mpg. Temperatures in Celsius but windspeeds in mph.

Happy to be ambi.

It's nothing to do with bringing back imperil measures. It's just making it no longer a crime to sell things in pounds and ounces. So it won't affect anything in Sainsburys, B&Q etc. Nothing to get knickers in a twist over.

Metric is easier but we all managed to work in base 12, 20, 14, 16 etc. in junior school. It's certainly not too hard for children to understand.

The only thing I still do in imperial is bake (cooking in general). It is so much easier. My own DC cooked in metric measures at school because thy had to. At home they copied me and used lbs and oz. I cook with the DGC and just explain that at school they will be expected to use different measures. It doesn't confuse them at all.

So if it’s no biggie why is Johnson announcing it as if it is ?

More the media making it a biggie maybe.

It's still a pint of beer or lager in the pub always has been I think, that's what people ask for anyway. New babies weight can only relate to lbs and ounces. Weigh myself most days in stones and lbs, height in feet and inches. If baking can cope with metric. Still think of distance in miles, miles per hour when driving. Do you remember the chap who was procecuted for selling his bananas by the pound, now that was ridiculous.

Oldnproud

For goodness sake, surely by now, after all these years, we should all have adapted to the simple metric system!

No! Definitely not! When I bake, I measure in pounds and ounces, when I sew I measure in inches and when I drive I measure the journey in miles!
My local butcher will still weight out in imperial measures too; many of his customers are in their 80's and 90's, try telling them to ask for 100gr of boiled ham!

It's obvious, isn't it: Johnson knows that he is now even losing the support of significant numbers of his previously most enthusiastic supporters - Brexiters.

He's thought, "What cheap little scrap can I throw that will resonate with that specific demographic and keep them on my side? Ah, yes, Imperial measures. Nothing more 'British' than those, and with a bit of spin about how the nasty EU took them away from us in the first place, they'll swallow it in one!"

It's just removing a law which made a market trader selling a pound of grapes a criminal. Do you think the police should waste time solving these 'easy' crimes Oldnproud?

I carry a conversion tape measure in my wallet at all times. It's worn to death.

Our UK road signs are still in m.p.h.! Ditto tyre pressure measurement. Imperial has never really ‘gone away’.

H1954

Oldnproud

For goodness sake, surely by now, after all these years, we should all have adapted to the simple metric system!

No! Definitely not! When I bake, I measure in pounds and ounces, when I sew I measure in inches and when I drive I measure the journey in miles!
My local butcher will still weight out in imperial measures too; many of his customers are in their 80's and 90's, try telling them to ask for 100gr of boiled ham!

When it comes to pounds and ounces, it's surprising how easily so many "I don't do grams" people adapt and manage when holidaying abroad, the same as they do with foreign currency after a few days. I'm saying this as someone who realised that I was guilty of this myself, and finally acknowledged that my previous 'hopelessness' with them when here in England was selective (or should that be 'elective?)!

As for the rest, how hard can it be to bake or sew in whatever measurement the recipe or pattern is in? Modern scales swap between different units at the press of a button, and surely every household has rulers or tape measures that can measure both inches and centimeters?

vegansrock

So if it’s no biggie why is Johnson announcing it as if it is ?

I think we all know why...

No, it's silly. Anyone under the age of about 50 won't understand Imperial anyway.

I don't believe most of this anyway - Johnson is just throwing red meat to the Brexiteers.

But, to gladden sone hearts, they are putting the little crown back onto the line mark on pint beer glasses...??

Jolly good, although beer etc has still been ordered and poured in pints/half pints, when we were EU members, as before, I'm sure there was much clamouring for that to happen lol

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10864245/Boris-Johnson-brings-Crown-symbol-pint-glasses-Queens-Platinum-Jubilee.html

Mamardoit

It's just removing a law which made a market trader selling a pound of grapes a criminal. Do you think the police should waste time solving these 'easy' crimes Oldnproud?

I'm not against legislation on this, to reflect what is practical and works best for most people in modern Britain, and that includes allowing vendors to sell in whatever unit they wish, as long as it is transparent.

What I am angry about is Johnson's attempt to capitalise on this.

BTW, do the police even get involved in such things? Wouldn't it be up to local Trading Standards?

Why change now.Prices jumped following last change so is it a ploy to cover high increases of today.
DH ex engineer uses millimetres and coverts most measurements easily where as I visualise in Imperial so makes DIY planning a task.
Definitely a measure twice cut once rule here.
Totally my fault in resisting to convert although with thought can do it and do so for DGC
Most still want to know baby weight in lbs and ounces.

I think older people, such as myself, are generally managing with both measurements. For me I find it an advantage as I can use old knitting patterns for example quite happily as well as using metric for new recipes.

It was a surprise announcement, a welcome one, the two systems can be used side by side, pick which you prefer.
Hopefully now a nice sunny day will be 70F instead of 21C, an I have never known my weight in kilos.
How many people still go into a pub and ask for a pint of lager (rhetorical question!), I know they wouldn't get a pint, but they still use the term.
Definitely think our money shouldn't revert though, metric is easier.

vegansrock

Are we going back to £SD then? No , thought not. All hot air.

If the (former) penny were issued again, it could add to the realism when visiting a heritage railway.

Though a fare of several pounds for a relatively short journey rather than something like "one and ninepence" would not be keeping up the effect.