Unilateral Declaration of Metrication

[Slim]

Older British readers might, like myself, remember the days when it was usual to receive pocket money in shillings. A shilling was a unit of currency equal to 12 pence, and there were 20 of them to the pound. Aren't you glad we got rid of that nonsense?

And yet, more than half a century later, we persist with a system of measuring distances that's similarly cumbersome. One of His Majesty's miles is equal to 1760 yards, or 5280 feet. Where's the sense in that? It is starkly obvious that the metric system, in which units are represented in multiples of ten, conforming to simple decimal arithmetic, is more intuitive and sensible. It's very easy to work out at a glance for example that 0.77km is equal to 770 metres. It's much easier to do distance arithmetic in your head.

But perhaps equally significantly - at the moment, here in the UK, we're using two systems simultaneously; sometimes in the same breath. You could talk about driving ten miles to take part in a 5000 metre race for example. One building materials site sells 2" x 2" timber in metre lengths. The UK military already uses the metric system in some circumstances, I believe. Science and engineering certainly does, as an established international standard. So does athletics.

So where's the sense in maintaining both; in teaching our children two separate systems when one would do nicely? And wouldn't it be nice to drive through France or Holland or Spain and not to have to get used to a different set of measurements on the road signs?

I understand the counter-arguments. The cost of replacing or amending the road signs and speed limits. The difficulty of getting used to it.

Perhaps some might consider the old measurements to be part of our national identity. Well, so's the blitz spirit. Doesn't mean we have to sleep in bomb shelters in the present day.

In any case: the advantages considerably outweigh the disadvantages, in my view. Clearly, proper metrication in the UK is long overdue.

But governments of all complexions have just ignored the situation for decades.

So it's time for ordinary people to take matters into their own hands. From this day forth, I will no longer use the old imperial measurements. I have already converted my GPS watches, bike computers and Strava account to measure distances in km. I'll do the same for Google Maps. I may even convert the mile counter on my Volkswagen. I will refer only to metric distances. I implore my fellow Brits to do the same.

Fun facts:

The metre isn't as old as you might think; it was defined by the French Academy of Sciences in the 1790s, so that the distance from the North Pole to the equator would be equal to 10,000,000m. The actual distance represented by a metre has changed very slightly since then, but only by 0.1 nanometres since 1960.

The modern definition of a metre (since 1983) is the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/299,792,458 of a second. A mile on the other hand is defined as 1760 yards, the yard being defined as exactly 0.9144 metres. So the old imperial distance units are defined in terms of metric distances.

[The Picnic Wasp]

Although the industry I worked in for most of my working life was always based on the metric system, one still had to remain "bilingual" as most of the customer base would make enquiries and place orders in imperial. The real fun started when dealing with American suppliers. They don't sell timber by the cubic metre or even the cubic foot. No, they used the thousand board foot method. To simplify, one thousand board feet is equivalent to a thousand linear feet of 12" x 1" measure, expressed as a multiple or part of that quantity. So, 1000 b/ft = 83.333 cubic feet. Divide that by 35.315 (the number of cu ft in a cu metre) and you arrive at the magic number of 2.3597 which helps you through the working day. Other countries/continents have their own methods and eccentricities which kept me on my toes most of the time. Good for the grey matter I suppose but worryingly I might be beginning to forget some of it. I totally agree that we should be entirely metric but I must admit to still being able picture miles and pounds measure more easily but that's just an age thing. I think some dirty jokes work less well in metric though.

[Nickslikk2112]

I'm staying old school.

If I can cycle at an average 20mph (I can't) then that's better than 20 kph. Just sayin'

Drinking a pint is just that more satisfying than drinking half a litre.

Imperial measures derived from things that people could understand easily. A foot was the length of your foot, an inch was the width of your thumb, and acre was the area of land you could plough in a day. Yes, these were all rough and ready measures and needed to be put on a standard footing, but they were readily conceptualised.

When you start defining things on the basis of how far light travels in vacuo in 1/299,792,458 of a second and a kilogram is derived from Planck's constant then you lose some essential humanity from things.

It helps keep your brain sharp and helps with the mathematical system of bases - old money certainly did.

[pxr5]

Buying fuel in litres then measuring it in mpg - crazy.

I do agree with Slim, but I can never envisage my weight or height in metric. I suppose it's too ingrained in the old grey matter. I mean what the hell does 70Kg weight even mean or 180cm tall. Nah, I'll always be stones/pounds and feet/inches.

I recall a story from the Falklands back in the early 80s when the RE had to build the roads around Stanley. For drainage they needed to dig pits either side of the roads. Well, the survey was done in metric and the work carried out in imperial so instead of say 60cm ditches they ended up as 60 inches. Guess how many Landrovers have ended up in those ditches over the years.

[The Picnic Wasp]

Buying fuel in litres then measuring it in mpg - crazy.

I do agree with Slim, but I can never envisage my weight or height in metric. I suppose it's too ingrained in the old grey matter. I mean what the hell does 70Kg weight even mean or 180cm tall. Nah, I'll always be stones/pounds and feet/inches.

I recall a story from the Falklands back in the early 80s when the RE had to build the roads around Stanley. For drainage they needed to dig pits either side of the roads. Well, the survey was done in metric and the work carried out in imperial so instead of say 60cm ditches they ended up as 60 inches. Guess how many Landrovers have ended up in those ditches over the years.

I could show you what 70kg looks like if I could post a photo of my dog. 11 stones in old money. As good as gold but not the brightest. It's like having a charging rhino on a lead.

[Slim]

I asked https://claude.ai/ which countries still use the old imperial measurements:



That last one is interesting because I had the impression, subconsciously at least, that Canada used miles. I checked using Street View and found an 80 km/h speed limit.

So I tried an experiment : I searched for "mile" in My Effin' Life and found seven or eight references to distances in miles - some of them location-appropriate, ie referring to distances in the US. Some of them general. Some referring to distances in locations in Germany, where the metric system has been in use since the 19th century. But not once does he refer to the humble "kilometre", or "km".

So: 45 years after his country went metric, Geddy still uses the old imperial measurements in general parlance. I'd guess a lot of older Canadians (and Australians, they went metric a few years before Canada) do the same.

Well: I'm ahead of the curve. I'm using the metric measurements in general parlance years before my country goes metric.

Sometimes, you just have to go that extra kilometre.

[The Picnic Wasp]

No doubt just like the old LSD money, everything else will switch over ar some stage. Perhaps we'll even do a Sweden one evening and make the decision to drive on the right the following day. It might help soften our car prices if cars were completely standardised internationally. However, as Nick stated earlier, there's a comfort and also a cultural basis to our different ways. I think these imperial methods did come with the benefit of giving us greater mental ability which I doubt the generations which came after the changes could hope to deal with. I'm very glad to have that knowledge and I've never considered it a waste of time or brain space. I'm pleased to have been born into one world and been able to adapt to the new, not improved one. I still haven't managed to post a picture on here as yet so I still have a way to go.

[pxr5]

Does anyone remember, at school, learning the decimalisation in 70/71 with little carboard coins? I thought it was super exciting at the time. But it was never quite the same as having the old pennies to go to buy sweets with.

[The Picnic Wasp]

Does anyone remember, at school, learning the decimalisation in 70/71 with little carboard coins? I thought it was super exciting at the time. But it was never quite the same as having the old pennies to go to buy sweets with.

Yes, I remember that and the excitement of seeing the actual coins when they started to appear. Also the conversion charts that were posted all over the place to let people know how much they were paying for things against the old currency. Even with the half pence, prices very often couldn't align with an exact correct LSD amount. Those copper coins seem a complete waste of time nowadays. I suppose they'll disappear before long.

[Slim]

Even with the half pence, prices very often couldn't align with an exact correct LSD amount.

I'd forgotten that. You're right, for example Something costing 9d for example would convert to 3.75p. So inevitably, the new price was 4p. But the general feeling was that retailers took advantage of the confusion to put up prices even if they converted exactly.

I seem to recall the habit of referring to the new prices in "new pence" persisted into the '80s.

[Slim]

Oh yes and right up to decimalisation, some items were priced in guineas. My mum used to get a catalogue with clothes advertised as costing 9 guineas, or 11 guineas, or whatever. Insane.

[Slim]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenger_2

"Challenger 2 tanks require two sets of tools, as the hull is built using imperial measurements and the turret is built to metric measurements"

Insane. Stop this madness NOW.

[Slim]

[Slim]

By the way I've just read that the speed of light is roughly 1.8 terafurlongs per fortnight, or put another way, 1.8 megafurlongs per microfortnight.