[News] Johnson to bring back Imperial units to honour the queen

[Is it PotG?]

If it's a horse whose name rings a bell, is it a my ding-a-ling?

 

[Lyndhurst 14]

It always amazes me why the USA still clings to the imperial system, even though pretty much everything you buy has the metric equivalent for weight and size.

Being in construction it always annoyed me having to divide everything by 27 to come up with cubic yards of concrete etc. or seeing a dimension of 2' 9 3/4" on an architect's drawing instead of seeing 857mm, it's just so clumsy and out dated.

Mind you some new buildings still don't have a 13th floor so I suppose it's not that surprising really

 

[Live by the sea]

More proof that the Tories are totally out of touch.

It’s actually great news for a lot of older people I know !

 

[darkwolf666]

When I was at uni, a mate of mine wrote a letter to The Sun, saying that to celebrate the silver jubilee, 'she had painted her poodle silver'. Astonishingly they published the letter, with the false name and everything. So I was thinking about calling GB News to tell them I have had the Queen's face tattood over my own face.

Is that a euphemism?

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Pounds, shillings and pence aren't really part of this debate. We changed to new pence (100 to the pound) years before we joined the EEC, and we kept the pound sterling anyway, so there's nothing to re-introduce.
Even if we did go back to £sd, such has been inflation in the last 53 years that the smallest value coin would probably be the florin (two shillings, or 10 pence) - or maybe the one shilling (five pence) - so effectively there would be no 'd's involved in £sd.

Britain changed to metric in 1962 under Harold Macmillan, so 9 years before money decimalisation.

 

[Bodian]

We haven't quite been using both systems in tandem. We use imperial for some and metric for most others. There is no reason whatsoever to reintroduce pounds, shillings and pence other than a vanity project no doubt driven by the right honourable member for the 17th century!!!

Down my woodyard, it's quite common to hear things like 'two metres of 2-by-1 please" (the latter of course being width in inches).

 

[GT49er]

Britain changed to metric in 1962 under Harold Macmillan, so 9 years before money decimalisation.

No we didn't. The metrication board was not formed until 1969, to support voluntary metrication. Joining the EU (EEC) obliged us by treaty to adopt the prescribed (metric) units. Mandatory use of prescribed units for retail sales took effect in 1995 for packaged goods and in 2000 for goods sold loose by weight.

Metrication had been talked about for years, certainly, but Britain used imperial measures long after 1962!

 

[RyFish]

Is there a single reason for the return of imperial measurements other than 'tradition'? (Excluding the distraction/red meat side of politics, obvs.)

 

[Baldrick]

No.

I am retired and was at school when we switched from imperial to metric measurements. TBH, the young woke snowflakes would get distressed, go into metldown and need councelling if they had to learn how to multiply by 12 rather than 10. Give themn a break.

 

[Klaas]

[tweet]1531193973632647170[/tweet]

 

[clapham_gull]

So what exactly would be the scope of this change....

Sweet Shops, Butchers and Green Grocers ?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Is that a euphemism?

I was waiting for someone to ask me that.

Apparently it was.

 

[schmunk]

You always could sell by the pound, just had to include the metric equivalent, 454g is usually the stated weight equivalent, which is a smidge over a pound. This is what Boris means when he keeps asking everyone to move on from x, y, or z scandal, "So we can get on with the real job of running the country", important stuff like this. He should take a furlong walk off an 8 chain pier.

Rees-Mogg will be upset that he isn't proposing a return to the Winchester Standards.

Your post reminded me of an uncomfortable truth for the imperial system - since the Weights and Measures Act 1985 (introduced by a Tory government), each imperial unit is now legally defined by the metric system - e.g. an inch isn't "about 25.4mm", it is exactly 25.4mm, by definition!*




*That's a nice rounded example, a pound is a stupid decimal - as you say, slightly under 454g.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

So what exactly would be the scope of this change....

Sweet Shops, Butchers and Green Grocers ?

It'll be great still asking for kgs at these places. And playing dumb making the assistant work it out. Every time. Hours of fun lol.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

My grandparents used to own a fishing tackle shop (within walking distance of that lot up the road’s ground). My grandmother used to write every transaction in a cash book. At the end of the week, she’d run a pen down the entries, just the once, not separately for each column, and write the total in the ‘total weekly takings’ box. Astonishing mental arithmetic.

And was she heard immediately thereafter, exhaling a big sigh and muttering 'that's near enough'?

 

[Eeyore]

This has seriously got to be a joke.

I still use Imperial and generally convert. I don't like metric.

But I'm a fuddy duddy and metric makes sense. It would be silly to start encouraging folk to change.

Utter insanity. I thought it was an April Fool come late.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

It's all pretty simple really.
View attachment 148413

So, we were all so brilliant at maths in the olden days were we? If so why has nobody ever commented on the classic movie, 20,000 leagues under the sea? That's 60,000 miles. The diameter of the earth is around 8,000 miles. FFS!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty_Thousand_Leagues_Under_the_Seas

Edit - it has been suggested to me that this means mpving around 60,000 miles. However a fathom is a measure of depth, which is why it is called a fathom, not a sodding mile. Do if this is moving around it must be moving up and down. OK.....deepest Ocean, Western pacific, 10,000 meters. That's approximately 6 miles. So the film, therefore, is about going down to the bottom of the western pacific and back up again, 500 times. That would be one hell of a boring movie. And travelling at a blood vessel bursting 10 mph, that would mean the film would be 100 hours long. Shoot me now!

 

[Thunder Bolt]

No we didn't. The metrication board was not formed until 1969, to support voluntary metrication. Joining the EU (EEC) obliged us by treaty to adopt the prescribed (metric) units. Mandatory use of prescribed units for retail sales took effect in 1995 for packaged goods and in 2000 for goods sold loose by weight.

Metrication had been talked about for years, certainly, but Britain used imperial measures long after 1962!

The Met Office went from Fahrenheit to Centigrade in 1962. Not everything changed overnight.
https://ukma.org.uk/what-is-metric/uk-progress/uk-metric-timeline/

 

[Baldseagull]

My grandparents used to own a fishing tackle shop (within walking distance of that lot up the road’s ground). My grandmother used to write every transaction in a cash book. At the end of the week, she’d run a pen down the entries, just the once, not separately for each column, and write the total in the ‘total weekly takings’ box. Astonishing mental arithmetic.

Do it left to right and line by line, instead of right to left in columns, if you are doing it in your head, it's simpler.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Absolute garbage nonsense drivel - par for the course really. Why some people can’t see through this idiot is beyond me.Surely no-one with any sense wants the return of imperial measures

I must confess that i prefer and enjoy a pint as opposed to a litre.