Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Tamas]

Garbon: Be happy.
Tamas: Be afraid.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2016/08/29/now-were-out-of-the-eu-we-can-bring-back-britains-other-pound/

In the globalised world, it will not happen, or if it does it will die out with the 60+ somethings whose vote they will be hunting with it

[celedhring]

Garbon: Be happy.
Tamas: Be afraid.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2016/08/29/now-were-out-of-the-eu-we-can-bring-back-britains-other-pound/

In the globalised world, it will not happen, or if it does it will die out with the 60+ somethings whose vote they will be hunting with it

Spain used the pound too, my grandparents bought groceries by pounds. It's dead now.

[garbon]

Garbon: Be happy.
Tamas: Be afraid.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2016/08/29/now-were-out-of-the-eu-we-can-bring-back-britains-other-pound/

In the globalised world, it will not happen, or if it does it will die out with the 60+ somethings whose vote they will be hunting with it

Hasn't stopped a key country involved in globalization.

[Valmy]

Was it a different pound? That was the best part about pounds, it would be different from village to village.

[celedhring]

Was it a different pound? That was the best part about pounds, it would be different from village to village.

According to wikipedia the Spanish pound was 460 grams. So pretty close to the British one.

EDIT: There was also a Catalan pound which weighed 400 grams. That might be the one my grandparents used (they would often send me to fetch stuff in pounds when I was a kid).

[Valmy]

Hasn't stopped a key country involved in globalization.

True. But it is not like anywhere we have gone over to the easier to use and sane system we have ever gone back.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I've used both systems all my life. Metric for business and science stuff, Imperial for beer, fruit and veg, height and weight of humans etc etc

A few years ago I stopped converting from Celsius to Fahrenheit for temperature 

I don't think anything will change, except that it may become legal to sell food overtly by the pound again..........at the moment we ask for a pound and are given 454g.

[garbon]

Hasn't stopped a key country involved in globalization.

True. But it is not like anywhere we have gone over to the easier to use and sane system we have ever gone back.

On the other hand, the general populace hasn't ever really truly gone over. Sure I used celsius and other metric measurements in physics and chem class. Doesn't mean I really ever internalized them. I'm still having issues with celsius and I've been hear 1.5 years.

[Tamas]

The point is, that if you have a generation or two who is now used to the metric system, they will not bother switching back just because some people had the imperial one in their Glory Days.

Now, of course, I mean this to things people already use the metric system for, which is far from everything.

I can deal with pounds as they are easy to convert. I still don't know how much a "stone" is.

And it can't get any better than selling fuel per liter and then measuring consumption in miles per gallon 

[Valmy]

Hasn't stopped a key country involved in globalization.

True. But it is not like anywhere we have gone over to the easier to use and sane system we have ever gone back.

On the other hand, the general populace hasn't ever really truly gone over. Sure I used celsius and other metric measurements in physics and chem class. Doesn't mean I really ever internalized them. I'm still having issues with celsius and I've been hear 1.5 years.

True. But the problem has always been that outside a narrow group of commonly used measurements most of the general populace cannot really use our system very well because it is so illogical.

'How many Tablespoons in a Quart again? Fuck!'

[garbon]

I can deal with pounds as they are easy to convert. I still don't know how much a "stone" is.

Stones make no sense but are easy enough. 1 stone equals 14 pounds. Of course, my one young employee knows stones but can't understand weights in pounds.

And it can't get any better than selling fuel per liter and then measuring consumption in miles per gallon 

That's one place where I wonder if it would make sense, post-EU, to change fuel back to gallons. I wonder if it was because of said EU regulations that made that necessary even while the whole transport system refused to change mpg, speeds and distances for driving.

[Zanza]

Using "Pfund" - the German word for pound - here is rather common. But since the mid 19th century, a German Pfund designates 500g, so it's just another name for half a kilogram.

[garbon]

Hasn't stopped a key country involved in globalization.

True. But it is not like anywhere we have gone over to the easier to use and sane system we have ever gone back.

On the other hand, the general populace hasn't ever really truly gone over. Sure I used celsius and other metric measurements in physics and chem class. Doesn't mean I really ever internalized them. I'm still having issues with celsius and I've been hear 1.5 years.

True. But the problem has always been that outside a narrow group of commonly used measurements most of the general populace cannot really use our system very well because it is so illogical.

'How many Tablespoons in a Quart again? Fuck!'

But that seems like making a mountain out of a molehill. Most people don't need to know that regularly and when they do, they look it up.

I'm not at all arguing that Imperial (Imperial US or Imperial UK, take your pick) is better. Not by a longshot. Just...well inertia and feeling little convinced that it is worth converting all one's knowledge just to avoid rare cases of difficulty in measurements.

[Josquius]

I can deal with pounds as they are easy to convert. I still don't know how much a "stone" is.

I'm the opposite.
I know that I'm around 12 stone.
Absolutely zero idea how pounds fit into that at all.

The point is, that if you have a generation or two who is now used to the metric system, they will not bother switching back just because some people had the imperial one in their Glory Days.

Now, of course, I mean this to things people already use the metric system for, which is far from everything.

And it can't get any better than selling fuel per liter and then measuring consumption in miles per gallon 

It does seem to be happening gradually as the years go by.
I can't remember off the top of my head when the change over was. But people in their 40s even grew up only being taught metric.... but they had to learn imperial to get by with the older people.
As you go down in years people learning imperial gets less and less in most areas (oddly except height. And of course miles).

[Richard Hakluyt]

And it can't get any better than selling fuel per liter and then measuring consumption in miles per gallon 

But why did they switch from the really convenient furlongs per noggin?

It just doesn't make sense.