Use Metric system only in discussions

W

Whiskey

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It would be good if everyone used the metric system in their discussions.

I know a lot of people still think in imperial for some things, but it's a rubbish system clearly.

Metric has been the only system taught in schools for the past 40 years.

The one that gets under my skin the most is people saying what area their house is in square feet.

Or how many miles per gallon a car does (its litres /100kms by the way)

Or people who say their weight in stones and lbs.

As for length, maybe it's ok to say you are 6ft tall, but better to say you are 182cm (or is it 183cm !)
 
I don't know. I for one still think in the Imperial system mostly. Apart from speed limits.

If I see Sq metres, I have to convert it back to square feet.

Brendan
 
I know a lot of people still think in imperial for some things, but it's a rubbish system clearly.
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It has its merits.
For example, I can get a rough measure of how many feet something is by walking toe to heel. Twelve inches in a foot. You can divide twelve by 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 - unlike rubbish ten which can only be divided by 1, 2, and 5.
For small measurements, the 'halving' system works quite well. 1/2 inch, 1/16 inch etc...
 
Alan Turing once mounted a stout defence of the British currency system of pounds, shillings and pence versus the decimal system used elsewhere:
This remark in turn gave rise to a dispute as to which system of measures and currency, the traditionally chaotic British one or the lucid decimal system used in France and Poland, could be regarded as the more logical and convenient. Turing jocularly and eloquently defended the former. What other currency in the world was as admirably divided as the pound sterling, composed of 240 pence (20 shillings, each containing 12 pence)? It alone enabled three, four, five, six or eight persons to prceisely, to the penny, split a tab (with tip, generally rounded off to a full pound) at a restaurant or pub.
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Until the experiment with the metric system is proven I'm sticking with Imperial. :)

I find rulers that only come in cms and speedometers that only have kph to be missing something.
It's nice to have a choice of standards. Each has it's own advantages.
 
That is inspiring.

Let's start a campaign to scrap the metric system and bring back the Imperial system.

We can form a committee of 12 people and have three sub-groups of 4 members.

When we rent a campaign headquarters, we can check the auctioneer's measurements by walking the rooms.

The craic will be 90, or should that be 16¾ ?

Brendan
 
The problem with having two standards is that it makes comparison difficult. Like on a typical AAM forum, one poster is saying how much a builder charges per square foot, and another poster is saying how much a builder charges in square meters. Best to have one standard.
Also, every regulation from the EU and from Ireland is in metric.

Legally as a country, we are 100% metric (except for pints in pubs and clubs only).

I noticed today as I walked to work in Dublin some butchers advertising the price of 2lbs of minced meat (with no metric equivalent). Clearly they are breaking the law.
I suppose olde habits die slowly.
 
Whiskey said:
I noticed today as I walked to work in Dublin some butchers advertising the price of 2lbs of minced meat (with no metric equivalent). Clearly they are breaking the law.
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I hope you alerted the Gardaí to this heinous crime!
 
I was taught the metric system in school; I work in the construction industry and am commonly expected to use both imperial and metric measures! I still order meat in lbs, timber in feet and inches (and metric too of course) and am only now getting to grips with litres per 100 km! Where certain building materials are concerned, imperial dimensions will always be with us (most sheet materials are still sold in 8' x 4' format). I find it useful to be able to use (and think in) both systems. I'm continually amused by the use of "centimetres"- the engineering and construction industry use metres or millimetres and never the centimetre.
 
Carpenter said:
I'm continually amused by the use of "centimetres"- the engineering and construction industry use metres or millimetres and never the centimetre.
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That's something I do daily and never even noticed it before. I'd never dream of saying 10cm, it's always 100mm (or "mil" to the cool kids ;)).

Ever come across a reason for this?

I assume I do it out of convention (monkey see, monkey do), but I'm guessing there's something behind it.
 
Hoagy said:
I don't think so.....
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I read this article differently to you.

The EU are happy to tolerate the following (indefinitely)

1. pints for milk in reusable bottles, as well as beer and cider on draught
2. mile for road traffic signs and speed and distance measurements
3. troy weight for precious measurements.

All other measurements must be in metric (and optionally also in imperial).

However, legally in Ireland, we have gone further than the EU directives, pints are only legal in pubs, and the mile is obviously not used anymore, and the troy ounce is not legal.

A butcher shop advertising the price of 2lbs of minced meat (without displaying the price in metric) is breaking the law I think.

However as other posters have said, it's hardly a heinous crime, a lot of people like using imperial.
 
Satanta said:
Ever come across a reason for this?
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I suppose if anything (from length of wood to drill bit) is less than 1M, you can talk about dimensions more precisely and less clumsily if you use mm?

With wood for example, lots of adjustments and planing goes on which will almost inevitably be in mm - e.g. "take about 4 mils of the end of that" v.s. "take just under half a cm off that"

Sections of joinery related stuff can come in all shapes and sizes I suppose, so whereas 10 cm might be fine as an alternative to 100 mm, there could also be an 11.5 cm version - better just to say 115 mils maybe.

Not a scientific explanation I know but it sort of makes sense to me...
 
Caveat said:
I suppose if anything (from length of wood to drill bit) is less than 1M, you can talk about dimensions more precisely and less clumsily if you use mm?

With wood for example, lots of adjustments and planing goes on which will almost inevitably be in mm - e.g. "take about 4 mils of the end of that" v.s. "take just under half a cm off that"
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4mils? 4ml? I presume you mean 4mm? Anyway how is 4mm any more accurate than 0.4cm? :confused:
Not a scientific explanation I know but it sort of makes sense to me...
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Doesn't make much sense to me.
 
ClubMan said:
4mils? 4ml? I presume you mean 4mm?
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Yes, of course. Was using the 'cool' vernacular - see a few posts above ;)

Anyway how is 4mm any more accurate than 0.4cm? :confused:
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I don't mean it's more accurate - I mean that the info can be imparted more accurately and more fluently if mm is used. e.g. When talking about measurements less than 1mm it's not very practical to start saying 0.05 cm etc.

I suspect also, as Carpenter says, that because a lot of materials are described/sold in dimensions of mm it becomes second nature to talk about them that way.
 
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