Imperial Measures

Any business which exports components, or items which have to be compatible with items made in a different country would have to use the common standard, which is overwhelmingly metric.

The poster above specifically said they still use imperial. (Sorry "poster above", I'm not getting at you.)

I can't see any experienced manufacturer accidently confusing Imperial and metric if metric is the international standard.

Lockheed Martin and JPL got them mixed up. Lockheed Martin and JPL. They're quite experienced.

www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/thousands-of-uk-gas-customers-overcharged-due-to-metric-imperial-measure-mixup-a3320081.html

I'm not worried about it, I just think its bl**dy stupid.

I still use many old knitting patterns, which use ounces, and have to work out how many grams of wool to purchase. I know my weight in stones and pounds, and have only a rough idea of what I weigh in kilos. My height is 5ft 0 inches, but I can never remember what it is in centimetres. Likewise, when buying some items of clothing measured in centimetres I have to write down my sizes before shopping.

OK. I'm a dinosaur, but I'm not alone. Local shopkeepers tell me that many older customers still ask for a "quarter of sweets," "half a yard of ribbon" or a "pound of steak."

I can't imagine turning back the clock, though, and reverting to the old ways. There would be mass nervous breakdowns from all those who have never known anything but metric.

Reading about the catastrophic spaceship error reminded me of another, even more tragic.
A nurse, misreading the metric dosage, accidentally administered ten times the required medication to a baby, resulting in its death.
The drawback with the metric system is that it's very easy to put a decimal point in the wrong place.

I knit and I still think of size 8 needles, not 4mm ones

Any nurse who doesn't know the difference between 0.5g and 0.05g needs to be trained better.

The move back towards imperial measurements, which the UK moved away from under EU rules, has been welcomed by Brexiteers.

But industry groups warned that new laws to change how the UK measures food and drink could cause already rocketing prices to increase further.

They expressed fears this could worsen the cost-of-living crisis, due to the expense of having to relabel products.

Andrea Martinez-Inchausti, assistant director of food at the British Retail Consortium, said: 'Supermarkets are focusing on delivering the best value for their customers in the face of intense inflationary pressures.

'Introducing new laws to change the way we measure food and drink would both distract from this vital task, and add cost and complexity if existing products are required to be relabelled.'

The BRC also pointed out that manufacturers and retailers are already free to list imperial measures alongside metric ones.

Joe Harrison, the chief executive of the National Market Traders Federation, questioned whether a return to imperial measures would be 'beneficial'.

He told the Daily Telegraph the move would be a 'hassle' and suggested that most members of the public no longer operate on imperial measurements.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10870895/Retailers-warn-PMs-drive-bring-imperial-measurements-mean-higher-prices.html

I knit and I still think of size 8 needles, not 4mm ones^

I've converted to metric sizes, perhaps because I treated myself to some lovely new needles.
Then took up crochet ?

That was supposed to be in quotes. Flippin' stylus.

My children all learned to bake in pounds and ounces because they, like me, delight in using granny's scales, complete with the original weights. They've never found it difficult. I never stopped asking for items in pounds and ounces in shops. We still go out for a pint and fast food outlets constantly bombard all of us with adverts for "quarter pounders". It's all a lot of fuss about nothing.

I would support a change back to Imperial. What is "easy" about a lot of silly little centimetres? I still think in yards, feet and inches and have to use a convertor to "translate." Anyone as old as me (75) is probably doing the same. At the very least, vendors should display both sets of measurements/weights. We're not in the EU now and we don't have to abide by their rules.

Have you never noticed the miles per hour signs or the quarter pounders sold in supermarkets? What are these rules by which the UK had to abide?

There's nothing "silly" about systems which use base 10, which is an awful lot easier to calculate than Imperial measurements.

No one under 60 converts fluid ounces into hogsheads or bushels or whatever it’s all a load of piffle and makes us look even more like a banana republic with a tinpot dictator. If this is the best Brexit opportunity that they can come up with them it makes us look even more backward.

Which countries in the world do not use metric?

USA and I can’t think of another.

Liberia and Myanmar.

Daysy Mon 30-May-22 18:42:59

Pints and pounds were never outlawed, nor was it ever illegal to print the crown on pub glasses. People have just naturally moved towards using metric systems because it's easier to use.

Exactly.

Just more nonsense from Johnson, desperate to appeal to his dwindling support base.

I'm not a traditional Conservative voter, but I think Johnson disgraces the Party - he simply wants to fulfil his personal ambition, nothing else matters to him. He allegedly told another minister that he had no intention of resigning and that it would take a "flame thrower" to unseat him. He's the ultimate narcissist, and is not fit to be the PM. With him, it's personal, and that cannot be good for the nation as a whole.

vegansrock

No one under 60 converts fluid ounces into hogsheads or bushels or whatever it’s all a load of piffle and makes us look even more like a banana republic with a tinpot dictator. If this is the best Brexit opportunity that they can come up with them it makes us look even more backward.

No one over 60 does either.
Hogsheads etc belong to the distant - not anybody’s present or indeed even the recent past!
But how about
“I love you, a bushel and a peck” from Guys and Dolls
m.youtube.com/watch?v=TOhNX921D0g
Not forgetting those well known idioms
A pie and a pint
Give him an inch and he’ll take a mile
Go the extra mile
A ha’porth of tar (or anything)
A pint of your best bitter
We still use these and many others and I will be sorry when they and their like disappear from our language.

MtM
No one over 60 does either. That’s true, although with the benefit of Google it wouldn’t take us long to find out what all those measures meant.
The only person I know who knows what a hogshead is, is DH from when he worked for a brewery.
All those sayings that still get used.

vegansrock

No one under 60 converts fluid ounces into hogsheads or bushels or whatever it’s all a load of piffle and makes us look even more like a banana republic with a tinpot dictator. If this is the best Brexit opportunity that they can come up with them it makes us look even more backward.

Officially we don't either.

I don't think it makes us look like a banana republic as we don't use those old-fashioned terms except in a colloquial way or as a comparison eg on milk bottles.

Yes, they are old and some are inherited from the Romans and even the Egyptians and Sumerians and the history of them is fascinating.

Metric is straightforward and boring but practical.

We don't want to go back to the old measurements, especially £sd, but it would be a great pity to forget them altogether.

It's another potty idea which will be quietly dropped.

Not forgetting
"Pound of flesh" and not 453.592 grams!

?

MawtheMerrier

Not forgetting
"Pound of flesh" and not 453.592 grams!

I think the context of that particular quote is actually best forgotten...

But I really wouldn't worry, Maw, you and I will have been six feet ( 1.83metres) under for decades before those sayings drop out of use...

Maw - why would the sayings dissapear? We still say we are "on tenterhooks" even though most people don't know what they are. Many still use the phrase "put a sock in it", someone may be "lining his pockets" we may "get on board" with something and in a storm or stormy situation "batten down the hatches" and we may think someone is "sailing close to the wind.
We don't need to be textile workers or seamen to understand - why will the currency/weights ones be any different.

I think you are safe Maw for many years yet!

Sorry Maisie - got distracted, youv'e already said this.

OK to be pedantic - (for a change-not!) but how many people misuse idioms because they have no sphere of reference.
E.g. I see “Tow the line” a lot - clearly with no idea of the origins or relevance of the phrase.

I think we sometimes have to batten down the hatches before logging on to Gransnet ?

Toe to the line maybe was the origin I suppose Maw but the line of command made you jump to it I suppose.