Imperial vs Metric

[Bealman]

 

Malc.... exactly!

Ninoz:

Yes, I  have to laugh at that car thingy which my rels and old mates seem to carry around with them. Hit it on my recent visits.

However, back on topic.... the global scientific community uses metric, and having being involved with physics education for most of me life, as far as I'm concerned, that is that. End of story.

I can assure everyone that it's easier working with kilograms, Newton metres, etc than things like Dynes, foot poundals.... what the heck were they? 

[ScottyStitch]

.

The nice thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from!

If you have more than one standard are they all standards?

You'd have to have a standard standard in that case.....

[MalcolmInN]

You forgot farthings* ! (which I do remember, but not groats )
I also remember my father adding up his ledger by running (at an amazing speed) his 3 fingers down the L, S and D columns all at once, writing down the total, then going back up in a similar manner to check-sum.
I could only manage one finger at a time in each column in turn

* surprise, a quick google says they were not withdrawn till 1961, gosh !

[MalcolmInN]

I can assure everyone that it's easier working with kilograms, Newton metres, etc than things like Dynes, foot poundals.... what the heck were they? 

(Beware, mode=nit)
A dyne is a perfectly acceptable cgs* unit, a precurser of SI
it being 10uNewton
(/pick)

*centimetre-gram-second

[NinOz]

...... but not groats )

My wife wants to get a couple of them to control the weeds in the paddock.

CFJ

[jonclox]

I still use either system --or even a mixture-- of both when measuring length  etc. I just use whichever is easier to give an accurate result.
For quick easy rough calculations I always think of
1 kilo or litre being near enough 2 pints
1 metre being approx. 3 feet or one yard
then if I need to go closer than that I do a proper conversion.
A  handy on line conversion link is
http://convert.french-property.co.uk/
And covers most of my 'umble requirements

[MalcolmInN]

...... but not groats )

My wife wants to get a couple of them to control the weeds in the paddock.

I think there is a pound joke in there trying to get out ?

Hint= Dog pound /coral / prison knudge gerrit

mahatmacoat

[Zogbert Splod]

Do you remember the old Lsd system of currency we had, with half pennies, threepenny bits, six pences, shillings, florins, halfcrowns, ten shilling notes and pound notes? I worked in a betting shop when decimalisation started with the 50p piece. Customers were terrified in case they didn't understand the metric system.

My ex was working in the Post Office at the time.  She used to come home close to tears over that period.  She had no problems with the change over personally, but dealing with scores of customers every day who did ('specially on pension day!) was just a mind blower.
My brother would insist on calling the 'new' 2p coin a groat as it was worth approx. 4 old pence and, back in the when ever, we used to have that as a standard coin.  NO!  Before you ask, IT WAS BEFORE MY TIME!

[MalcolmInN]

I still use either system --or even a mixture--

Me too !
Especially when using SCARM,
oooooh, shouts " Mornington Crescent ",, lookee, I got it back to model railways !

When I am looking at it baseboard size and radiusses etceral I use imperial, but if the track does not quite meet up I swap to mm to see how far off it is !

My only beef with SCARM is that I have to use two fingers (CTRL and U) to effect the swap, keep meaning to ask Mixy if we could design in a single hot-key (or at least two that are close together ie. do it one-handed )

[railsquid]

Do you remember the old Lsd system of currency we had, with half pennies, threepenny bits, six pences, shillings, florins, halfcrowns, ten shilling notes and pound notes?

Short answer: nope. Though I do remember King George VI shillings and 2 shillings being in circulation until the late 1980s.

[railsquid]

I shall never ask for anything other than a pint of beer or milk. That's because I'm intimate with those measures for those goods. I'm quite happy driving in most countries with km/h or using 1000 fils instead of 100 pence.

You'd be happy in Japan - overseas beer is often sold in pints, you just have to be careful to distinguish between the lily-livered US pint and the proper one.

Unfortunately for you however, milk comes in 500ml tetrapaks (and I have yet to see a larger size). I know a pint is 568ml because it was always printed on the milk bottles (do they have those, and milkmen, any more?).

The only imperial measurement I feel compelled to use is miles when in the UK, kilometres just don't seem right there.

To this day I fail to grasp the Avoirdupois system.

[Sprintex]

I know a pint is 568ml because it was always printed on the milk bottles (do they have those, and milkmen, any more?).

Yes, and yes

Milkmen are a dying breed though because it's so much more expensive having milk delivered than buying from a supermarket. Glass bottles are still about in a few places but most milkmen deliver in poly-bottles now. Almost gone is the whirr of an electric float accompanied by the clanking of the bottles.


Paul

[jonclox]

I know a pint is 568ml because it was always printed on the milk bottles (do they have those, and milkmen, any more?).

Yes, and yes

Milkmen are a dying breed though because it's so much more expensive having milk delivered than buying from a supermarket.


Paul

We buy milk from the local shop but many still have it delivered 4 times a week but the Ford Transit milk float sits outside our home for several minutes each time at between 3 and 4 0` clock each morning

[NeMo]

Do you remember the old Lsd system of currency we had, with half pennies, threepenny bits, six pences, shillings, florins, halfcrowns, ten shilling notes and pound notes?

I don't remember it, but I admire it. It was a combination of a Base-12 system and a Base-20 system, i.e., 20 shillings of 12 pence each. So you end up with 240 pence to the pound.

Sounds terrible, but for a world doing mental arithmetic, it was brilliant. The factors of 240 are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 20, 24, 30, 40, 48, 60, 80, 120, 240. That means can share one pound neatly into 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 20, 24, 30, 40, 48, 60, 80, 120 or 240 parts!

You can't do that with decimal currency. 100 only has seven factors: 2, 4, 5, 10, 20, 25, 50, so only seven ways it can be shared equally.

Cheers, NeMo

[MalcolmInN]

the milk bottles (do they have those, and milkmen, any more?).

Yes, as Paul, but I dont think they do it daily anymore (?? - stands to be corrected ) at least not round here.
We have one turning in our gateway now and again. Not delivering to us, to Mrs up-the-end. That'll all stop now that she has passed on (105, not a bad innings)

To this day I fail to grasp the Avoirdupois  system.

Ah that's a name not heard in a wee while !
To see some odd units I dont have to go as far as Troy (did you see what I done there ), only into my attic where I still have the gear that I began photography with. Becase when I was young (when dinosaurs roamed wild) minims and drams, ( or was it drachms) and fluid ounces were commonly used to make up the stuff.

Ounces of fluid, aint that a daft idea, almost as daft as American houswives using cups to measure their flour and other dry things with. (dont they ever tap their cups and watch the flour sink ! ? )