Posted on 05/28/2022 9:52:35 PM PDT by algore
Boris Johnson will reportedly announce the return of imperial measurements to mark the Queen’s platinum jubilee, in an apparent attempt to garner support among Brexiter voters in battleground seats that the Conservatives are in danger of losing.
Britain currently uses a mix of imperial and metric measurements, with speed limits in miles per hour and milk and beer bought in pints.
The prime minister, under increasing pressure after further damaging revelations in the Partygate scandal, is expected to announce next week that British shops will be allowed to sell products in pounds and ounces to coincide with celebrations for the monarch’s 70 years on the throne.
A Cabinet source told the Mirror: “As the British people have been happy to use both imperial and metric measurements in their daily life it is good for the government to reflect that now we are free to change our regulations accordingly.”
Since 1995, goods sold in Europe have had to display metric weights and measurements. And since 2000 when the EU’s weights and measures directive came into force, traders have been legally required to use metric units for the sale by weight or measure of fresh produce, which became a recurring issue for Eurosceptics about Brussels’ supposed interference in British life.
While it is still legal to price goods in pounds and ounces, these have to be displayed alongside the price in grams and kilograms
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Considering that all the other formerly British Commonwealth countries (Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, and South Africa) all use metric, with whom will Britain trade. Rolls-Royce and Bentley are German owned, Jaguar and Land Rover are Indian owned.
English measurements have exact metric equivalents
The metric system works well if I work in a lab and I need a precise measurement to the fourth decimal point, but it’s not the most practical system for common everyday use. The metric system is a base-10 measuring system that can only evenly divide by 2 and 5, which aren’t the most useful prime numbers.
Whatever they do in that regard will be cancelled by the next Labour government.
Metric system notwithstanding, the huge majority of data about materials properties, mechanics, chemistry, and other stuff engineers rely on was formulated in the Imperial system. Conversion is a herculean task that will take a century or more.
I wonder if he’s going to bring back the shillings?
£1 = 20s
1s = 12d
etc...
The good old days.
There are over seven billion people that think otherwise.
I really Hate the metric system.
And hate schools only teaching keyboard skills.
To me this is the same. Globalization and erasure of historical knowledge and interpretation.
When are they going to stop driving on the wrong side of the road?
Good for them then.
“FPS? is that part of that European metric system?”
Lol.
I'll bet you a guinea to a groat that he won't.
So true!
There’s a country that has been to the Moon, and then there are metric system countries.
Canada’s on the metric system but we order our beer in pints, or commonly used 12 and 16 fluid ounce sizes. (20 fluid ounces is sometimes called a long pint).
Most of us can estimate what we are paying for gas in equivalent terms when across the border. Our liter is a bit larger than one quarter of a gallon. If our currency were at par with the U.S. dollar, then for gasoline to be equal in price the US price should be about 3.5 times per gallon what we see here per liter. In fact it is often more like 2 to 2.5 times, factor in the discounted Canadian dollar and we’re paying about 80% per unit of gasoline even in these inflated times. As your gas goes up in price, ours has gone from around $1.50 a liter to over $2.00 (Cdn) in some places.
As to the speed limits on highways, most cars have dual speedometers but just about every Canadian knows that 50 km/hr is 30 mph, 80 km/hr is 50 mph, and 100 km/hr is 62 mph. You sometimes hear some urban legend about Canadian visitors driving slow because they are thinking in metric, but I would imagine that’s pretty rare, I have driven in the USA a lot and as you get further into the states from the border, you aren’t passing a lot of Canadian vehicles going too slow, at least not on the I-5, which always seems to me to be going along at the same rate I am used to on a freeway in Canada.
I would say most older Canadians are more or less bilingual in terms of metric and Imperial, even when it comes to temperatures and wind speeds, but I would imagine most Canadians under the age of fifty have little or no concept of non-metric measurement and must be somewhat disoriented when watching U.S. weather when on holiday. I grew up with Fahrenheit so I still relate to it quite easily.
People who don’t believe in the imperial system, don’t believe in evolution. The imperial system developed over time to suit human perception. The metric system was created artificially, with no regard to human perception.
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