Why We Should Go Back To The Imperial Measuring System

Well I live in the US so Imperial it is here. I watch different sports and some are measured in Meters. Unless I look it up I have no idea how far they are talking about.

Now if forced I could learn Metric but not what I would really want to do at my old age. My suggestion would be to make it one or the other everywhere. That would also solve the problem as I'm not sure I'm the only one that comes needs to use Metric now and then and have no idea about it. However as I mentioned at my age it doesn't matter to me anymore one way or the other. So trying to change it now makes no difference to me. 

Well to the Imperial users yes. However maybe not to the Metric people. So guess it depends on what you use everyday.

Ah, just cos you don't live where it's metric, don't mean to say you should sit on your hands and not join the good fight  And just cos it ain't metric there today, don't meaqn to say it won't be tomorrow.

If you had half an Ounce of sense [which is better than a few miligrams], you'd rise a few Inches and stamp your Foot to get worldwide Imperial equality.  Don't be complacent or I'll have to come get my Pound of flesh from you instead.

Yup, there's a Ton of good reasons to return to Imperial, tho joining the Mile High Club won't be on my list of todo's anytime soon.  They say high altitude, even in a pressurised cabin can affect Viagra and reduce one's member by Inches... and frankly,  I don't have any Inches to spare.

Now here's an interesting question.  If the UK went full on metric, would it be called Scotland Metre instead of Scotland Yard?

Slowly he inched closer to her, but by then she was miles away, he couldn’t fathom out why,  the only feeling he got was hunger so he got out his sandwich, it was a foot long, followed by two quarter pounders, he then decided to go the whole nine yards, but if he had an ounce of common sense he would have gone metric.

Slowly he centimetred closer to her, but by then she was kilometres away, he couldn’t fathom out the metric equivalent of a fathom,  the only feeling he got was hunger so he got out his baguette, it was 30 centimetres long, followed by two 454 grammers, he then decided to go the whole 8.23 metres, but if he had 28.3 grams of common sense………..

Damn it, even the British press cannot make up their mind, if it’s going to be cold It’s in Centigrade, if it’s going to be hot it’s in Fahrenheit…………….

How long before we have 100 minutes in a an hour, and 100 seconds in a minute?

It hasn't done the US any harm staying Imperial.

or maybe I'm just another Old Fart

Well I doubt that. They actually were trying in the US very hard to push it about 10 years ago or so. That plan was scraped and never heard again since so highly doubt it will ever change hare. Besides if it happens 100 years from now and I'm alive I would have set all the age records. At 71 I also doubt if I will do that. Really the way the World is going I wouldn't want it or even if the World as we know it will ever be here.

LOL. Part of the club are you. Welcome. 

stalkers, as old as you are what the hell do you even care or think about it. You have been around since dirt has been around. You must expect to be around when dirt turns into rock.

Join the club.  I grew up in the UK with feet and inches, ounces and pounds, pounds shillings and pence... then I get to Australia, where it's all gone metric, and I still prefer/relate better to the Imperial system.

Speaking of the whole nine yards, I did that once, but got disqualified for jumping the starter's gun.

Anyone who was an Architect in the early 70's will NEVER EVER want to go back to Imperial...or anywhere else.... any other change...no matter what or why.

FULL STOP.  End of discussion.

If you were not there you will never know.

Good luck with a "stalkers thread" 

Imperial doesn't sound very scientific, does it? He is six FEET tall, ugh? Why not six stones tall or six rocks tall or tall as a big fish? Just kidding, but the metric system is easier to understand because it is based on 1, 10, 100, 1000 and so on.

I have a really big problem with time because there are only 24 hours with sixty minutes each and that doesn't make much sense. Maybe we should make this more metric? Iron Maiden has a song called "2 minutes to midnight". Maybe it should be called "2 millisuns to midnight"?

The metric system is not really good as a starting point for time calculation. It should be based on 360 because the sun behaves like a circle. There can be 360 sundegrees of time any given day. Then you can have deci, centi, millidegrees. I would welcome time being measured in degrees. Hours and minutes; those are the real culprits we should revolt against. 

Gas is measured in cubic metres

Did you mean:

• Petrol?
• Diesel?
• Any other liquid fuel?

In which case the measurement is litres. Or gallons if you want to know how many miles to the gallon you are getting.

Q: If we have the metric system as standard, why are all the road signs in miles?
A: It would cost zillions to change all the road signs from Miles to Kilometres.

Besides, it's sounds better when you say 'doing a ton' is in MPH. I mean, my push bike can do 100 KMH...

Pint. Leave my f***** pint alone. Thank you.

But Fuzzy....that's just an English pint....and everyone knows it tastes like cat's piss....;)

....except warmer.

Imperial measurements are straight out of Middle Earth. But I like 'em. They have a certain flavor. But why not go full out Imperial? One dollar can't be 100 cents. That's way too metric! One dollar should be 47,3 pebbles.

What imperial measurements lack in logic, they make up in flavor and size. I have been to US a couple of times and it's true that things are bigger there compared to Europe. So I would say imperial measurements have a considerable size advantage.

As the saying goes: Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. Because then when you criticize someone you are a mile away and you have their shoes!

Who invited an architect, fer cryin' out loud?    Everybody knows their plans look okay on paper, but when it comes to actual builing they're an inch out, a foot out, a yard out.  It's like architects grew up a foot the wrong side of Imperial and could never get it right fer the want of tryin'

Seriously, there were some great architects back in history.  I mean, take a look at the pyramids and the Great Wall.... though things have gone off the boil a bit since then.  What's more, they used cubits... not Metric.

As for the discussion, were having way too much fun to end on a sour 'architectural' note.

Leave the damn time alone!  My mother was for ever going on about a one world time and changing the clock.  It's all I ever heard about... if she wasn't bitching about social security and government.  In fact, I'm glad she's gone back to England.  Now she won't be sucking all the oxygen out of the Aussie atmosphere with her endless nattering.

Should be cubit feet... simple as that.  If anybody knows anything about gas it's me, and there's nothing good or catchy about a cubic metre of gas.

As fer yer pint, keep it.  I want my own pint[s]... and plenty of 'em.

Ahem!  An English pint is a bit of alright, thank you.  I'll often get some imported English beers for a change... and there's nothing wrong with it, 'cept I drink it cold because of the climate difference.  I mean, seriously, you try drinking a chilled Coopers in a -6C English Winter.  I was going to say a Fosters, but that truly is cat's piss and unfit for human consumption.

I think an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Or

28.3495 grams of prevention is worth 0.453592 kilograms of cure.

Or is it a pint is worth 1000 gulps, what the hell, I dunno, I'm a redneck.

And socks!  I mean, any civilised person's gonna steal their socks as well.

And there's something more romantic with the Imperial system.  For example:

"Ten more miles 'til the end of the road.... love shack baby....."

Orright, it might've been more about lust than romance, but ya get the picture.   If the B 52's had written "Ten more kilometres 'til the end of the road" it simply wouldn't have been the huge hit it was, and the world 'd be a sadder place today for not having heard it blasting out of the radio. 

And where would the Proclaimers be without 500 miles?  And '500 miles more'?  Orright, their feet mightn't be as sore, but at least it was romantic miles and not boring old kilometres.... or a 1000 metres.  Nope, there's NO ring to metric measrements.  NONE!!!!!

Aw, don't be so hard on yerself, rednecks know something.... like sheep, for example.  Ya knows how ta raise 'em and graze 'em... how ta butcher 'em and.....  Well they make good eatin' and, before that, help keep ya warm on a cold winter's night.  

On a serious note, I'd rather have an ounce of prevention any day.  Howver, I don't practice safe sex anymore.  In fact, I don't practice ANY sex any more.  I think it's about time I found meself anuvver woman.... preferably 30 - 35 years younger, tall and bunette, with huge bank accounts

Went to an Aussie bar in New York last September....you could pick the Aussie 'wannabes' ...at the bar...drinking Fosters.

In Michigan, visiting Stardock, Brad and his wife took us and Neil out to dinner.  Waiter asked what would I like to drink... I said 'do you have an Aussie beer?' and he said 'like what?' 'Coopers'...'no...but the place across the road has....I'll be back...'

And he was.

Moral of the story....whatever your poison....the service is best in the US.

...of course...Brad probably is a regular...;)

Yeah, the Poms drink a lot of Fosters.  Apparently they make it there under license these days.  Still, I don't care wot country it's in... wouldn't put it in my mouth.  It's worse 'cat's piss' than anything brewed in England.

As for service, I used to get the best service ever at a place called 'The Saloon' down in Launceston.  I was a regular, so that may have helped some, but the entire staff was always polite and ever so helpul to most patrons... well those who behaved themselves. Not that there was ever any trouble while I was there.  I stayed there a couple of nights before leaving to come back up to Qld, and I could not fault the service or friendly staff.  First night I felt hungry around 10.00pm and asked the manager if there was any food available.  He said that the kitchen was closed but that he'd call in a favour from a mate... next thing I knew I had a pizza delivered and it didn't cost me a cent.  Now that's what I call service... going the extra MILE to satisfy a customer.

Another place I get great service is Jets Leagues Club here in Ipswich.  I've been a member for 10+ years and it's a great spot for a meal, a beer or 3 and some light entertainment.

As for 'poison', I'd drink pretty much any beer except VB and Fosters... cos Victorians just dunno how to make beer.

Since most beers on the planet and almost all of them in Australia are either owned by SAB or Kirin....I'll stick with Coopers as it's fair dinkum Aussie.

BTW....Kirin is Jap...and the 'SA' in 'SAB' stands for South African.

Meanwhile...my hand is now minus its 'cast' ...and all I have is adhesive webbing over the stitches...so I'm back to 2-finger typing...and don't have to do a Hendrix with the mouse...;)

Canada adopted the metric system in the 70's however there are many like myself who still use imperial. Most construction workers still measure in inches and feet. I will say though that once you get your head around it the metric system is easier to work with because everything is measured by multiple of 10's. For example 10mm = 1cm, 100cm = 1m, 1000m = 1km. That being said I am more use to 12" = 1' so I still use imperial measurements.      

I do a 'reverse' Hendrix all the time with my mouse.... being left handed but using the mouse in my right.  Yeah, I could swap the button funtions around to use it in my left, but I find it more natural to use right-handed so I can do other stuff more efficiently with the left.... my better hand for fiddly stuff, etc.

Well it made sense to me.

Yeah, same here. I prefer Imperial cos it's what I grew up with and learnt at school.

And summat I wanna know, if metric is in multiples of 10, bla, bla, bla, do those mnetric countries who've always been metric sell eggs by the 10 instead of a dozen?   For mine, it'd sound bloody stupid going into a shop: "Can I have 10 eggs, please?"

Besides, I think metric is lazy!   It was invented by a lazy person to save lazy people having to work their minds a bit harder with a proper measuring system.  Not only that, he/she probably failed mathematics, and devised a multiple of 10 system because that's how many digits he/she had on his/her hands.

Yup, metric is a bloody cop out and should be banned.

In Architecture you can come across Land Titles measured in 'links'.

Do you know what a 'link' is?

It's 100th of a Chain. <---- almost fucking Decimal.

...and what's a 'chain'?

22 yards or 66 feet.

So....

What's that link again?

Oh yes....it's zero point six six feet....

and what's that in inches?

You can stick your Imperial system up your Imperial arse.

It's rubbish.

Always was...always will be.

Oh yes....horses....measured in 'hands'....

That works well....

....but if you get it wet you might have to measure it in fathoms....

It's such fucking crap it should have been neutered at birth.

....and if you're nice I'll tell you what I REALLY think....;)

Then along came the Americans...not happy just to drive on the wrong side...they needed their own sized gallons...and tonnes .... Pommie ones weren't good enough....too big, obviously for delicate young settlements like the US of A ...;)

So they got all motor-description on us....with 'short' tonnes and 'long' tonnes  [I'll ignore the different spellings].

Made sense with a short motor and a long motor ....but short-sheeting a tonne was just a bit sneaky.

Then to keep cross-dressers of measuring systems happy there came along a 'metric tonne'.

FFS, people, enough already.

Architecture in the 70's was all about hard conversions and soft conversions....

Legislation of standards of dimension meant initially 8 feet had to be 2438 mm ... nothing more...nothing less...

Then there was a 'simplification' to 2440.

Ultimately regulations allowed 2400 [or about 7 feet 10 and a half] to 'become' 8 feet.   That was the 'soft' end of the transition....

But during the 5 years or so it was total mayhem...;p

I remember the reports of rioting and looting accompanying that...