Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Gups]

Like others, I'm a mess of part metric and part imperial.

I think in miles for long distances, but have internalised kms as well. Middle distances are metres or fractions of miles, never yards or furlongs. I think in feet and inches for height and have to calculate in my head to convert to metres.

Centigrade for temperatures. Farenheight means nothing to me.

Grams for measuring food. Stone and pounds for measuring my weight.

I'm bilingual on pints and litres.

It's not very sensible and I hope metric takes over eventually. Except in pubs.

[Valmy]

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 was talking about your 'intuitive sense' thing. Outside of that narrow band of commonly used measurements, the Imperial system is actually very cumbersome to use.

And yes they can take the time to look it up. But that does not make it not cumbersome or difficult to use. Most people are not great at dividing and multiplying by factors of 4 and 16 and so forth.

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.

Those cases may not be rare at all depending on your job or hobby though. So it is not like we really use an entirely different system, we just have a small number of commonly used measurements we sometimes use. Outside of that narrow band we use the metric system. Thus there is not really a huge issue as far as globalization is concerned.

[Richard Hakluyt]

We don't want to lose that extra 68mls.



(if we gave up pints in pubs that is )

[garbon]

I was talking about your 'intuitive sense' thing. Outside of that narrow band of commonly used measurements, the Imperial system is actually very cumbersome to use.

I'm not sure what to say about this. Surely 'intuitive sense' is that which you are familiar with. Knowing my weight in kg might rationally make more sense but it isn't intuitive as someone who has had little use/exposure to kg.

And yes they can take the time to look it up. But that does not make it not cumbersome or difficult to use. Most people are not great at dividing and multiplying by factors of 4 and 16 and so forth.

Yes a benefit of metric is bases on 10, sure - and again I'm not trying to take a stance that Imperial is better - far from it. Having been here in the UK though, I find it easier to use my imperial measuring spoons rather than weighing everything on a scale.

Those cases may not be rare at all depending on your job or hobby though. So it is not like we really use an entirely different system, we just have a small number of commonly used measurements we sometimes use. Outside of that narrow band we use the metric system. Thus there is not really a huge issue as far as globalization is concerned.

Once they become common in your life, it isn't an issue then. You'll just have down pat what all the various bits are into other bits, as you use them often.

I don't agree with that last bit at all. I don't think outside of a narrow band that we typically use the metric system. It might be labeled on my products but I completely ignore it in the US - beyond perhaps 2 liters.

[Valmy]

I'm not sure what to say about this. Surely 'intuitive sense' is that which you are familiar with. Knowing my weight in kg might rationally make more sense but it isn't intuitive as someone who has had little use/exposure to kg.

Absolutely. Even Brits and Canadians still often weigh themselves in pounds I think.

Yes a benefit of metric is bases on 10, sure - and again I'm not trying to take a stance that Imperial is better - far from it. Having been here in the UK though, I find it easier to use my imperial measuring spoons rather than weighing everything on a scale.

That would be true since spoons is a measurement of volume not mass. They don't have equivalent mL spoons? How annoying.

Once they become common in your life, it isn't an issue then. You'll just have down pat what all the various bits are into other bits, as you use them often.

I don't agree with that last bit at all. I don't think outside of a narrow band that we typically use the metric system. It might be labeled on my products but I completely ignore it in the US - beyond perhaps 2 liters.

You use metric units all the time. We have 60W light bulbs and 8 volt batteries do we not? I dare you to use Lb feet^2 per second^3. So no we do not have an entirely different system. It just depends on whether that small group of commonly used measurements is involved.

[Zanza]

You use non-metric units every day as well, even in "metric" countries - the day for example is 86400 seconds.

[Tamas]

And at the end of the day it's not that big of a deal.

Since I have started driving over here, I have grown accustomed to measure and approximate longer distances in miles. In Hungary, I'd still be measuring in kilometers. Shorter distances, I measure in meters as measuring in feet seems unnatural, even though I know its roughly 0.3 meters

[garbon]

That would be true since spoons is a measurement of volume not mass. They don't have equivalent mL spoons? How annoying.

Just asked everyone in my office and apparently here in UK, spoons exist but only in Imperial.

You use metric units all the time. We have 60W light bulbs and 8 volt batteries do we not? I dare you to use Lb feet^2 per second^3. So no we do not have an entirely different system. It just depends on whether that small group of commonly used measurements is involved.

I think you are taking 'use' to a very liberal place. Very rarely do I actually have to think about units for light - though it is true that I've internalized the difference between 40, 75 and 100W. I never ever think about the voltage of a battery - so while I use batteries that have different voltages, would be odd to suggest that I'm using non-metric units.

[garbon]

And at the end of the day it's not that big of a deal.

Well it is actually a big deal to change things over system wide. Presumably it would cost a pretty penny to bring all of the transport system in line with metric measures.

[Valmy]

And at the end of the day it's not that big of a deal.

Since I have started driving over here, I have grown accustomed to measure and approximate longer distances in miles. In Hungary, I'd still be measuring in kilometers. Shorter distances, I measure in meters as measuring in feet seems unnatural, even though I know its roughly 0.3 meters

Yeah when people ask me how long a meter is I just tell them it is about a yard, which is three feet.

I think you are taking 'use' to a very liberal place. Very rarely do I actually have to think about units for light - though it is true that I've internalized the difference between 40, 75 and 100W. I never ever think about the voltage of a battery - so while I use batteries that have different voltages, would be odd to suggest that I'm using non-metric units.

I was using very specifically the one battery we do label by voltage rather than size

I don't think we do things actually very differently than the English or the Canadians. They also use that narrow band of commonly used Imperial units. Though you live there so I could be wrong about that.

I just don't think it is really true that we are using some kind of unique and weird system of measurements. We have basically a hybrid system where we use Imperial for just a few commonly used units.

Though, as I said, even for those there is confusion. How many people instantly know that 60 inches is five feet? No they have to stop and think about it. Whereas any idiot who uses meters would know how many meters 500 centimeters is.

[garbon]

I was using very specifically the one battery we do label by voltage rather than size

I thought that batter was a 9 volt battery? Googling 8 volt got me golf cart batteries.

I don't think we do things actually very differently than the English or the Canadians. They also use that narrow band of commonly used Imperial units. Though you live there so I could be wrong about that.

They seem to use a weird mix here as some of the British posters have alluded to.

I just don't think it is really true that we are using some kind of unique and weird system of measurements. We have basically a hybrid system where we use Imperial for just a few commonly used units.

And I would disagree. I think the average person in the US typical uses the US Imperial measurements. Thinking about, or using, metric measurements is rather uncommon for those not in scientific fields.

Though, as I said, even for those there is confusion. How many people instantly know that 60 inches is five feet? No they have to stop and think about it. Whereas any idiot who uses meters would know how many meters 500 centimeters is.

A person might instantly know how many centimeters are in 5 meters but that doesn't really matter much if you don't know what either looks like as a unit of measurement.

After all, there is a difference between knowing a rote fact and actually being able to use that for any purpose. I can't do much with the amount of centimeters in 5 meters as both mean very little to me. Actually centimeters mean something to me but only to a certain extent. Past say 10-20 centimeters, I can't visual what distance is being talked about.

[Valmy]

After all, there is a difference between knowing a rote fact and actually being able to use that for any purpose. I can't do much with the amount of centimeters in 5 meters as both mean very little to me. Actually centimeters mean something to me but only to a certain extent. Past say 10-20 centimeters, I can't visual what distance is being talked about.

A yard is 90 centimeters

[Tamas]

And at the end of the day it's not that big of a deal.

Well it is actually a big deal to change things over system wide. Presumably it would cost a pretty penny to bring all of the transport system in line with metric measures.

No one is talking about the US here 

[garbon]

And at the end of the day it's not that big of a deal.

Well it is actually a big deal to change things over system wide. Presumably it would cost a pretty penny to bring all of the transport system in line with metric measures.

No one is talking about the US here 

I was talking about the UK with that statement.

[garbon]

After all, there is a difference between knowing a rote fact and actually being able to use that for any purpose. I can't do much with the amount of centimeters in 5 meters as both mean very little to me. Actually centimeters mean something to me but only to a certain extent. Past say 10-20 centimeters, I can't visual what distance is being talked about.

A yard is 90 centimeters

3 feet.