imperial
 

why does everyone still use them?

at school they teach nothing but metric and yet i leave and go into work and i have to learn imperial, i have learnt all inches 16ths, 8ths ect ect but wonder why all suppliers use them even though where not meant to? :confused:

Re: imperial
 

we're allowed to use imperial again, after the EU watchemacallit over-ruled it a year or two back.

Must have been the thought of all them old ladies handbags hitting them cause they couldn't buy a pound of flesh

Re: imperial
 

I always wondered why we measure fuel consumption in MPG but buy it in litres?

Re: imperial
 

Re: imperial
 

I use imperial a lot. A foot can be divided by 3,4 or 6 very conveniently unlike those foreign centimetres. I can picture an acre, furlong and chain in my mind easier than metric stuff.

Re: imperial
 

SI units FTW...

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SI units for me

Re: imperial
 

I measure my fuel consumption in miles per litre travelled. Its about 10 mile/l

Re: imperial
 

Because we won the war. Next question.

Re: imperial
 

Some of us are still working to drawings drawn in the 1950's. The oldest drawing I've worked to personally was drawn in the 1920's. Imperial measurements will be here for a long time yet.

Re: imperial
 

could i have a 7/10th of your finest bitter please
its just wrong
pint for the gentleman fruit based drink for the lady
gggggggeeeeerrrrrmmans

Re: imperial
 

Yeah but in Ireland they still accept potatoes as currency...

;)

Re: imperial
 

of course we do dumbass how else do you think we make the potchein

Re: imperial
 

20 year old bottle of that up in the loft I'm very tempted to liberate... Mmmmm.

Re: imperial
 

I'm one of the uneducated confused.

Back in the mists of time I was taught in both SI units and imperial.

It gets worse.... If I'm working in big lumps, e.g. a 6ft 7inch piece of wood. Or small lumps, e.g. 8mm spanner.

I have even been known to ask for a bit of wood, 3ft 4mm...

To help with conversions. 2 1/4 lbs of jam weigh about a kilogram, or a litre of water is a pint and 3/4.

Re: imperial
 

Imperial measurements make sense to me as they're on a human scale, despite working on metric vehicles for many years and being entirely comfortable with that, (I very rarely pick up the wrong spanner - I have carefully calibrated eyes :)), I always revert back to proper measurements when I can, and I never 'think' in metric.
When I ride abroad and read road signs I only feel like know how far away somewhere is when I've done a quick conversion in my head.

Re: imperial
 

UK uses mpg's, EU land uses litres/100km

Re: imperial
 

I was taught both, working on any type of construction site when i left school everybody used imperial, but i was taught mainly metric, but learned imperial as well.
It gets more complicated when you start getting into precision measurements in imperial, thats when i have to think a bit more.

0.004 = 1mm (4 thousands of an inch to 1mm)

Phil

Re: imperial
 

Being educated in England over during the 80's & 90's I work in:

millimetres, centimeters, meters, kilometres and miles per hour.
millilitres, centilitres, litres, and pints.

The fact is that when we move from academic, to practical circumstances, people like to use the most familiar units. I've become quite happy and fairly inconsistent in using either system as needed.

Jambo

Re: imperial
 

i work with valves and 98% of the stuff we do is imperial.

Re: imperial
 

when i went to work all the machines where still imperial as they were so old so i had no choice but to learn, but now when i order timber ect i use imperial measurements instead of metric as thats the way it is?

Re: imperial
 

Try buying plaster board - One measurement is metric & the other Imperial - heavens knows what the thickness is!

Re: imperial
 

I visualise in imperial, calculate in metric.

I am comfortable working in either system. most of my measuring equipment, mics, bore gauges etc are imperial. Not a problem I own a calculator if I need to convert.

Now years ago I had one guy who could not get his head round hexidecimal. FFS I said you are English we have been working at base 16 for centuries. He looked at me like I was stupid.

Pounds and ounces.

The sad thing is they don't bother teaching kids 11 & 12 times tables as there is no need since we dumped LSD.

Re: imperial
 

Is it that hard to multiply by 25.4?

I think in some imperial stuff, but do all calculations in metric. Imperial is a pain in the 'arris for calculations, you end up with constants popping up everywhere to deal with the fact that the scales are based on the weight of a donkey or something.

Science, SI. Beer, imperial.

Re: imperial
 

oi...less of the geerrrmans or I revoke your sheep cover on your insurance:rambo:

Re: imperial
 

I do !!! all the time, its normally in metric but sometimes displayed as 3/8 = 10mm (albeit its 9.52mm) and 1/2 = 12.5mm ( again really 12.7mm)

Re: imperial
 

What the hell is a furlong or a chain?

Americans don't understand metric either. Canadians do, probably because of the French influence. It's so easy - if you can count in tens, you've got it sussed.

I only ever use metric, except for in the pub. But wifey always uses imperial, cos she was taught to cook in pounds and ounces. So the kitchen scales (electronic) are always set to imperial. It irritates me cos when did you last buy 8 ounces of butter? Everything is sold in g and kg, or in ml, not in ounces or fluid ounces.

Re: imperial
 

I still insist on lbs 1/2 lb etc at the deli counter.

Sad was the day when I ordered a quarter of midget gems and the boor kids behind the counter ask how many grammes was that. How should I know I want a quarter of a pound. My butcher prices everything by the pound but weighs it on metric scales

Re: imperial
 

Does anyone get told a measurement or weight then mentally convert it to a unit they can visualise.
Weight in stones is the one for me, if somebody tells me there are 100 kilos, its hard for me to visualise, but 16 stones i can.

Re: imperial
 

73kg here:D

Re: imperial
 

Certainly sir that will be £12 4/- and 8d

Re: imperial
 

Lightweight :D

You need more mass behind the ass, im approx 98kgs ;)

Re: imperial
 

SI units for me. However at uni I do like to use odd units for speed of light just to confuse people. 1.8x10^12 furlongs per fortnight. Gotta love odd units. :)

Re: imperial
 

Fat *******

Re: imperial
 

I am ten stone, and proud of it :-)

Re: imperial
 

cheeky barsteward.
No fat on me matey, 6'1" of pure muscle, i wonder what 6'1" is in metric ;)

Re: imperial
 

I think YC and TW have got it spot on. Human vs science. I do about the same - if you gotta judge or guess, its imperial. If you gotta calculate, its metric. Horses for courses.

Re: imperial
 

Never watched a horserace or played cricket?

22 yards in a chain, 10 chains in a furlong, 8 furlongs in a mile

Re: imperial
 

About 1.84 metres I'd think :)

Re: imperial
 

At work I use metric, the rest of the time I tend to use imperial. I am perfectly comfortable using both as the situation demands.

Pounds, shillings and pence, anyone? ;)