[Misc] Should we scrap imperial units and go fully metric?

[Mustafa II]

I remember a certain person proposing the day be divided into 100 centidays instead of 24 hours. Each centiday would be 14 minutes 24 seconds. A deciday would be 2 hours 24 minutes. 6:00 a.m. would be 25:00. 12:00 noon would be 50:00. 6:00 p.m. would be 75:00 & 12:00 midnight would be 100:00.

You might give a few millidays and think about it.

I like this. It could even be expressed as a percentage.

0600 = 25%, noon 50%, midnight 100% - day complete!

To expand on this, a milliday would be 1 minute, 24 seconds.

A microday would be 86.4 milliseconds - so 1 second would be 11.6 microdays.

 

[Rdodge30]

Even the metric weights that came into use in our industry gave best to imperial all about units of 10? Hardly!
27.54 lb boxes (quarter hundredweight) simply became 12.5kg
70lb sacks (5 stone) became 32kg
The weights on our scales are still 7lb 4lb 2lb 1lb 8oz 4oz 2oz … same as when I started in the early 80’s - and that’s how they are going to stay

 

[GT49er]

Yes, but forced by right-thinking folk, not 'foreigners'.

Right thinking folk ............................................... in Brussels! Britain was required to conform (though I agree that some people accepted it voluntarily).

 

[Scappa]

Mallory: Pft, metric! Who uses metric?!
Lana: Every single country on the except us*, Liberia and Burma
Archer: Wow, really? You never think of those other two as having their shit together

 

[dazzer6666]

Try going fishing, the switching is hilarious. Yesterday I was mostly fishing a pole at 11 metres in 3ft of water on a one acre lake using a .4g float, 3lb main line to a .12mm hooklength. Had a pint of maggots and half a kilo of groundbait. Weighed in 5 and a half pounds

 

[pb21]

None - there's no problem with Imperial so why try and fix a problem that isn't actually a problem

Travelling around by horse and cart wasn't a problem either.

 

[Brovion]

Prior to 'three litres' engines were measured in horsepower (defined as the power to lift 550lbs. one foot in 1 second). Worked fine.

Yes, I do have vague memories of my Dad only ever talking about cars in terms of 'Horsepower'. (Not forgetting 'brake horsepower' which was something to do with the actual horsepower once it got to the wheels. Or something like that),

 

[GT49er]

One could argue that the imperial units, with their origin being ancient Rome, were probably also forced on you...

Furthermore, the first practical metric system was introduced in 1799, during the French Revolution, after the existing system of measures had become impractical for trade, and was replaced by a decimal system based on the kilogram and the metre. Napoleon then enforced it everywhere he conquered.

 

[Han Solo]

Travelling around by horse and cart wasn't a problem either.

I read in some 1800s news article that London would be covered in horseshit by year 2000 unless people started driving "automobiles".

 

[Notters]

I find I use a combination of both , even when measuring the same things. For example , I use Celsius when its cold, -2C is cold but 28 F doesn't "sound cold" similarly i know 70F is is nice and warm but 20C?, cooking though i use C rather than F, but use lbs and oz when measuring ingredients, other than making bread when i use 575 gms of flour!
I use miles when cycling- I know a 15 mile ride takes just over an hour, but a 25km ride-who knows?

I struggle with miles per litre, and still have to work out miles per gallon to "understand" whats a good or bad return for a tank of fuel

It makes no sense really to use both but thats how most of us work, and i expect imperial will slowly be replaced by metric as us oldies die out. Im sure there are not that many that now view money as being anything other than just money, whereas 20 yrs ago there were a fair number of people who would still "think" in £,Shillings etc, and the metric version was still "new money"

I would imagine few people younger than 60 do this though? i.e. 25% of the population.

 

[There'll never be another]

We should never ditch Imperial measurements. Still think in feet, inches, miles, pints, stones and pounds. Far better than this foreign rubbish

 

[Notters]

If you look at it factually, metrication was forced on us. People actually got fined for trading in imperial (although I believe common sense has now prevailed on that)!

They got fined for trading ONLY in imperial, which is very different.

It's always been possible to trade in imperial, but it was also possible to trade in flaggons, hogheads and oxgangs (the amount of land one ox could plough in a season if you were wondering). Metrification was enforced in 2000 in order to ensure the public could no longer be fleeced so easily.... This is exactly the sort of misinformation that led to Brexit. The tories reversed this (or 'common sense' as you call it).

 

[birthofanorange]

Gawd, is there really an issue? Those that prefer to use metric, usually do, and the same goes for those that use imperial.
I grew up using lsd (no, not 'that!), pounds and ounces, yards/feet/inches etc., yet if need be, they're easy to convert to metric.
That said, I prefer miles to kilometres, always use someone's height in feet and inches, and use stones/pounds/ounces for weight.
Just go with what suits you - no need to change any of it.
(Unless you fancy making a poll.....obvs.)

 

[Pinkie Brown]

Ditch the Pint. Saves needless visits the to bar.

 

[Winker]

You can measure things in imperial without the use of a ruler, i.e. inches, feet, cubits, yards etc.

How do you measure something in centimetres, they are too small. Equally you can't divide a unit by 3 and get a sensible answer.

 

[Brovion]

I read in some 1800s news article that London would be covered in horseshit by year 2000 unless people started driving "automobiles".

Yes, for years it was popularly believed that in about 1900 The Times had published an article saying that unless something was done about the horse shit crisis: 'By 1950 every street in London will be buried under 9 feet of horse manure".

I too believed that, but a few years ago I remember the Times issued a statement to say that they'd never published any such article. Nice story though.

Oh, and in the spirit of the thread I should add that 'nine feet' is 2.7432 metres.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

It's OBVIOUS some very stupid ignorant people posting. All aircraft including Airbus are built in imperial. Scrap it here and all aircraft will be grounded as all tooling would have to be scrapped.

Other than that carry on.

 

[Han Solo]

Yes, for years it was popularly believed that in about 1900 The Times had published an article saying that unless something was done about the horse shit crisis: 'By 1950 every street in London will be buried under 9 feet of horse manure".

I too believed that, but a few years ago I remember the Times issued a statement to say that they'd never published any such article. Nice story though.

Oh, and in the spirit of the thread I should add that 'nine feet' is 2.7432 metres.

Hmm.
I recall reading it in Swedish newspaper archive when doing research on "the future in the past", looking for "år 2000". In this article I want to say they referred to a British newspaper or some Britist scientist...

But it could also be a false memory from someone here telling me this myth when I was doing the "Horsecircular economy in the Grahampotter Society"-thing.

 

[mile oak]

NEVER. Next questions

 

[goldstone]

None. Leave it as is.