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27-09-2018, 10:17 PM
21

Re: Measurement units

Originally Posted by Besoeker ->
So why are we Brits so inconsistent in the units we use?

We buy our fuel in litres, measure our fuel consumption in mpg. The engine capacity is given in litres, the power output in BHP. Tyres are in mixed dimensions for diameter and tread width.

Get a drink for yourself and your wife in a pub - beer in pints, wine in ml.
Tradition! British tradition.

Plus the fact that people of our age (well mine) were taught in Imperial units.

Give it another generation or two and I bet we'll be completely 'converted'.
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27-09-2018, 10:36 PM
22

Re: Measurement units

Originally Posted by JBR ->
Tradition! British tradition.

Plus the fact that people of our age (well mine) were taught in Imperial units.

Give it another generation or two and I bet we'll be completely 'converted'.
I'm in my seventies. I was taught in Imperial units. Then CGS, then MKS, and finally, SI.I'm blessed/cursed with a pretty memory for numbers and conversion factors. Quite useful as an engineer I suppose but others have leant on it

But you are probably right. I'm sometimes just a wee bit surprised how long it is taking. My kids, the youngest is 37, still use Imperial for some things.
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28-09-2018, 01:28 AM
23

Re: Measurement units

Originally Posted by Purwell ->
Rees Mogg will have us going back to Imperial Units.
Slugs and Poundals are so much easier than Kilograms Force and Newtons.
Avoirdupois for ever!
Does it not strike anybody as ironic that so called "British" measurements are called by a French name?

Britain certainly stands alone on this one.

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28-09-2018, 01:35 AM
24

Re: Measurement units

Originally Posted by JBR ->
Tradition! British tradition.

Plus the fact that people of our age (well mine) were taught in Imperial units.

Give it another generation or two and I bet we'll be completely 'converted'.
That is true of Australians of the same age but even those in their 70s think and use metric with no problems (with the occasional lapse of telling the kids to move something "a couple of inches" which could have any result). My daughter once asked me what are 'lumbs' (lbs)and 'ozzies' (oz) they have absolutely no knowledge of imperial measurements (lucky bastards)

It has to be said that metric conversion in Britain is a case study on how NOT to do it.
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28-09-2018, 02:17 PM
25

Re: Measurement units

Originally Posted by Bruce ->

It has to be said that metric conversion in Britain is a case study on how NOT to do it.
Yes. But it is SI that is in international use. There is no "metric" init of power for example.
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28-09-2018, 02:21 PM
26

Re: Measurement units

Originally Posted by Besoeker ->
Yes. But it is SI that is in international use. There is no "metric" init of power for example.
'Metric' surely only refers to measurement of length: metre.
And area and volume, I suppose.
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28-09-2018, 02:26 PM
27

Re: Measurement units

Originally Posted by JBR ->
'Metric' surely only refers to measurement of length: metre.
And area and volume, I suppose.
That's how I see it. There are no metres in 1kg of sugar or a litre of milk.
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28-09-2018, 02:27 PM
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Re: Measurement units

Originally Posted by Besoeker ->
Yes. But it is SI that is in international use. There is no "metric" init of power for example.
SI or metric? SI is a metric system. Metric just means 'based on a metre' and every metric system has four basic units.
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28-09-2018, 02:58 PM
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Re: Measurement units

I believe Napoleon was one of the instigators of metric measurements.
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28-09-2018, 08:08 PM
30

Re: Measurement units

Originally Posted by Bruce ->
SI or metric? SI is a metric system. Metric just means 'based on a metre' and every metric system has four basic units.
Time and mass are not metric.
 
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