Imperial Measures

We might call feet, inches and miles Imperial measurements but they did come here from Rome in the first place, although they're older than that.

1215
Magna Carta says “Let there be one measure …” However, enforcement in medieval times is often left to chance, and this clause in Magna Carta should be seen as an indication of a problem but not foreshadowing a solution.

We've been arguing about this for centuries - why stop now?

Tesco semi-skimmed milk:
2.272L/4 Pints

Semi-skimmed milk from the Spar (same price):
2L

Saetana

Correction: my last post should have read "made using imperial in most circumstances illegal" doh!

You haven’t read the thread, have you?

Correction: my last post should have read "made using imperial in most circumstances illegal" doh!

Its only overturning the EU rule that made using metric in most circumstances illegal - nobody will be forced to use imperial measurements. I am comfortable with either system - I learnt both at school. We still use pints, miles, stones etc so we have had a hybrid system for many years now.

Germanshepherdsmum

volver

Fresh milk, by the pint, even in the supermarket.

UHT, by the litre.

No idea why.

Ah, I buy UHT. Always have food etc enough in to feed the army if they happen to pass by ... or if there's deep snow, even in summer.

Also, as far as a quick check on a couple of supermarket websites shows, non-dairy milk (coconut, soy etc) comes in litres, not pints.

volver

Fresh milk, by the pint, even in the supermarket.

UHT, by the litre.

No idea why.

I have 2 supermarket milks in the fridge. One seems to be in pints (4) and the other in litres (2).
I check the "price per" in my online shopping so they must have cost the same per ml.

Possibly the first news item l remember is when we went decimal in 1971. I was six at the time and had never learned £sd. Maths was all metric and we learned Celsius for temperature. I have never understood Fahrenheit. Cookery, though, was imperial but I find metric measures simple now. I have long argued that we should have gone metric fifty years ago in one fell swoop in the same way we went decimal. A return to imperial measures? No thanks!

I'm using some old knitting patterns at the moment, from the 1950s, and the measurements in centimeters are given priority over those in inches!

1971: British currency decimalised
When Boris Johnson was six.

We do seem to manage well with a mixed system.

Some of my cookery books are in imperial. When cooking I always use a balance scale I bought from a charity shop, it has imperial weights so I have to convert for today's recipes (I have a chart on the wall). I still measure length in feet and inches and miles and think in pints and gallons rather than litres.

Seen on Twitter:
"No one with an ounce of sense would want to return to imperial measurements "

I'm only just getting used to centimetres.

I'd never manage if we did an about turn.

volver

Fresh milk, by the pint, even in the supermarket.

UHT, by the litre.

No idea why.

Ah, I buy UHT. Always have food etc enough in to feed the army if they happen to pass by ... or if there's deep snow, even in summer.

I don't think it will catch on in a big way. Most of the supermarkets and retailers won't want to spend the money on it. However, if they do want to use an imperial measurement along side a metric one, I don't see a major problem.

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.

At school in the 60s our science was all in metric measurements (thank goodness). Anyone remember the textbook series Physics is Fun?

I weigh myself in kilos and knit or cook with the measurements given in whatever pattern or recipe I'm using.

There's a weights and measures quiz in the Spotlight section of the Guardian website today, for a bit of fun. I got 13/18, which I thought was not bad, then DH got 15/18. Hey ho.

Fresh milk, by the pint, even in the supermarket.

UHT, by the litre.

No idea why.

Germanshepherdsmum

Zonne

Germanshepherdsmum

The milk I buy is measured in litres, not pints.

I’m surprised to hear that, as all the supermarkets and milkmen I know sell in one pint increments, and show the metric equivalent.

My carton of skimmed milk from Tesco is described as 1 litre, and below that '1.76 pints'. So sold by metric measure but with imperial equivalent. At the end of the day though, who cares?

That's interesting. I have a milkman, so get pint bottles, but when I have to, I buy from either Sainsbury or the Co-op, and they sell by pints, with the metric equivalent shown.

I wonder how different retailers decide what to do.

And I wonder why Mr J thinks shops can't do this.

(I don't care in the sense of being bothered, but I quite like finding these sort of anomalies)

Zonne

Germanshepherdsmum

The milk I buy is measured in litres, not pints.

I’m surprised to hear that, as all the supermarkets and milkmen I know sell in one pint increments, and show the metric equivalent.

My carton of skimmed milk from Tesco is described as 1 litre, and below that '1.76 pints'. So sold by metric measure but with imperial equivalent. At the end of the day though, who cares?

Thanks Zonne - I knew it started well before the EU/EEC but had no idea it was quite so long ago.
Thank you!

Greciangirl

I detest metric measurements having been taught imperial at school. And I’m afraid it’s stuck with me.
My tape measure doesn’t have millimetres on it, which is very annoying, so it’s back to the old system for me.

As we are no longer in the EU, why shouldn’t we go back to Imperial measurements.

We do still use some imperial measurements.

Returning to a system 100% based in imperial measurements would mean that the majority of the population wouldn't have clue what it would be about and we'd have to convert anything we wished to export to most places in the world, including the EU - not an ideal situation for a country struggling to export.

As we are no longer in the EU, why shouldn’t we go back to Imperial measurements.

An abbreviated timeline of British metrification for you:

1862: Commons Select Committee recommends adoption of metric units for public administration.
1864: Weights and Measures Act legalises metric units only for ‘contracts and dealings’.
1895: Commons Select Committee recommends:
immediate authorising of metric units for all purposes; that the metric system becomes compulsory after 2 years; and
that the metric system be taught in elementary schools
1896: Weights and Measures (Metric System) Act legalises metric system for all purposes, but stops short of making it
compulsory
1914: The UK Met Office adopts the millimetre as the official standard unit for measuring rainfall
1939: the Davidson Committee proposes metrically-based National Grid as common framework for Ordnance Survey mapping. Adopted 1940
1965: at the request of industry, the Board of Trade announces that the metric system will be adopted with a target of completion within 10 years (i.e. 1975). Commonwealth and other countries decide to follow Britain’s example.
1971: British currency decimalised.
1972: White Paper on Metrication advocates gradual, non-compulsory change.
1973: the UK joins the EEC and reaffirms its commitment to adopt the metric system.
1980: most Commonwealth countries have completed metric conversion. Britain lags behind significantly.
1989: EEC agrees UK request to delay implementation of some aspects of the metric system

All the way up to:

2009: EU amends Directive to permit “supplementary indications”* alongside metric units. Also withdraws requirement for UK to “fix a date” to convert road signs to metric units.

*this means there is nothing stopping anyone using imperial alongside metric if they want to. Which is what the idiot Johnson is pretending he is now introducing.

Greciangirl

I detest metric measurements having been taught imperial at school. And I’m afraid it’s stuck with me.
My tape measure doesn’t have millimetres on it, which is very annoying, so it’s back to the old system for me.

As we are no longer in the EU, why shouldn’t we go back to Imperial measurements.

Nothing whatever to do with the EU.

You''ll be saying next that the only way we in the UK were able to get the Covid vaccine ordered and approved so fast, was because were out of the EU