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What went wrong with the metric system in the UK?


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Last night I was in a pub contemplating a pint that had cost £2.90 and wondering how much cheaper it would be in a supermarket. The problem is I don't know because supermarkets sell beer in about 20 different measures but a pint is rarely one of them. Yet 40 years ago we had a great system where beer was only sold in pints halves and nips.

 

Similarly I wonder about how much petrol I need to stick in my car to do a 100 mile journey. It should be simple because the car does 24mpg. Unfortunately I have to buy petrol in litres and I haven't a clue how to work it out.

 

The whole system is a disaster. You can't even compare theprice of beans in supermarkets because they are packed in 410 grams 420 grams or425 grams. WHY?

 

What was wrong with eggs costing 3d each so they were 3 bob a dozen. A pint at half a crown meant a skin full cost a quid.

 

What a shame they cocked it all up.

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Last night I was in a pub contemplating a pint that had cost £2.90 and wondering how much cheaper it would be in a supermarket. The problem is I don't know because supermarkets sell beer in about 20 different measures but a pint is rarely one of them. Yet 40 years ago we had a great system where beer was only sold in pints halves and nips.

 

Similarly I wonder about how much petrol I need to stick in my car to do a 100 mile journey. It should be simple because the car does 24mpg. Unfortunately I have to buy petrol in litres and I haven't a clue how to work it out.

 

The whole system is a disaster. You can't even compare theprice of beans in supermarkets because they are packed in 410 grams 420 grams or425 grams. WHY?

 

What was wrong with eggs costing 3d each so they were 3 bob a dozen. A pint at half a crown meant a skin full cost a quid.

 

What a shame they cocked it all up.

 

you should go with the flow, not live in the past. The metric system is fine.

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I agree. Metric system is OK. It's not the systems fault if you can't convert or work things out. Litres to gallons is one of the easiest to convert,

 

Or they could just sell you petrol in gallons so you don't need to do your 4.54609188 times table in order to work out how many gallons you bought.

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Or, you could do your calculations in km/l.

 

Then you will only need to know your ten times table.

 

I learned my science in a mixture of imperial and metric measurements. I can tell you which is eaier to use.:)

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Similarly I wonder about how much petrol I need to stick in my car to do a 100 mile journey. It should be simple because the car does 24mpg. Unfortunately I have to buy petrol in litres and I haven't a clue how to work it out.

24 m/g = 10 km/l

 

There you go, metric makes it even easier to do the sums in your case. :)

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To be fair on every single label in the supermarket it tells you how much the products are per 100g or 100ml.

 

You're asking for simplicity but saying we should go back to imperial units? That makes no sense at all.

 

£1 = 20 shillings (20s)

1 shilling = 12 pence (12d)

£1 = 240 pence

 

What?

 

Half crown (2/6)

Florin or two shillings (2/-)

Shilling (1/-)

Sixpence (6d)

Threepence (3d)

Penny (1d)

Halfpenny (½d)

 

What?

 

What could be more simple than decimalisation and metrics?

 

£1 = 100p

1Km = 1000m

1Kg = 1000g

 

etc.

 

You're stuck in the olden days man, this isn't the olden times this is nowadays man.

 

As everyone knows, by mixing metric with imperial, you might get an interdenominational..hangover of, that kind.

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