Imperial units are stupid

[unbeliever]

Asda milk has 2272ml. 4pints on the label.

 

Depends where you buy it. Others sell in whole litres.

I thought we were discussing whether we should use imperial units. This seems to be about whether we do use them.

It's up to you but I don't think you'll find anybody to take the position that we don't use them, so you'll have nobody to debate with.

Edited September 23, 2016 by unbeliever

[gomgeg]

I thought we were discussing whether we should use imperial units. This seems to be about whether we do use them.

It's up to you but I don't think you'll find anybody to take the position that we don't use them, so you'll have nobody to debate with.

Exactly, I'm just reinforcing the point that both are commonly used and most people are quite comfortable with that.

[unbeliever]

Exactly, I'm just reinforcing the point that both are commonly used and most people are quite comfortable with that.

 

About half the people who have voted on the poll are not comfortable with it.

It make no sense at all to teach 2 sets of units indefinitely. Everybody else in the world bar the USA can see the vast improvement that the 18th/19th century French system has over the bronze age nonsense you seem to be supporting.

Apart from anything else, the units are substantially different between the UK and the US even now so you're actually dealing with 3 systems: metric, US imperial, and UK imperial.

 

There was no issue in the bronze age with the ridiculous arithmetic from the imperial system because almost nobody could read, write or do basic sums anyway.

Why hang on to such an archaic and awkward system whilst almost everybody else has long moved on?

[Detetcive]

Quarter of an ounce is 7 grams. I can't remember now why I know that.

 

[gomgeg]

About half the people who have voted on the poll are not comfortable with it.

It make no sense at all to teach 2 sets of units indefinitely. Everybody else in the world bar the USA can see the vast improvement that the 18th/19th century French system has over the bronze age nonsense you seem to be supporting.

Apart from anything else, the units are substantially different between the UK and the US even now so you're actually dealing with 3 systems: metric, US imperial, and UK imperial.

 

There was no issue in the bronze age with the ridiculous arithmetic from the imperial system because almost nobody could read, write or do basic sums anyway.

Why hang on to such an archaic and awkward system whilst almost everybody else has long moved on?

You're putting words in my mouth. I haven't advocated anything, I merely said most people are comfortable with both. I can see that ten foot is about three metres etc, and as someone said earlier most of us still speak of MPG.

I seem to remember there was a movement in the USA sometime in the 70s or 80s to go metric but it didn't take off. Whether that was because of public opinion I'm not sure.

[unbeliever]

You're putting words in my mouth. I haven't advocated anything, I merely said most people are comfortable with both. I can see that ten foot is about three metres etc, and as someone said earlier most of us still speak of MPG.

I seem to remember there was a movement in the USA sometime in the 70s or 80s to go metric but it didn't take off. Whether that was because of public opinion I'm not sure.

 

There's an economic impact as well. Effort is required and sources of error are created during conversions. I'm not just talking about conversions between metric and imperial either. Any engineering matter involves manipulating quantities between units and in imperial it's a just plain @#£€%*&.

[RootsBooster]

Imperial units are stupid. Ask somebody how many yards in a mile (1760 wtf?). How many pounds or stones in a ton. Oh is that a short ton (2000 lb) or a long ton (2240 lb) by the way. Mad as a box of ferrets.

If the remainers had promised full metrification I might well have voted for them.

The French do units far better than the Romans did. It's a no-brainer.

What on earth are we waiting for?

 

I believe that imperial units are the reason why Imperial Stormtroopers are so bad at aiming, they get so confused when calibrating their blasters that by the time they're done the aim's a mile off

[unbeliever]

I believe that imperial units are the reason why Imperial Stormtroopers are so bad at aiming, they get so confused when calibrating their blasters that by the time they're done the aim's a mile off

 

That's just silly. It's because somebody made a mistake converting from inches to barleycorns when making the helmets and the eye holes are in the wrong place.

[apelike]

Quarter of an ounce is 7 grams. I can't remember now why I know that.

 

 

To be exact its 7.12g the same as a 2p coin = twice a 1p coin @ 3.56g.

[Obelix]

This is the sort of cretinous behaviour that drives me mad with Imperial units. If you are going to make a penny equal to a division of the ounce, then why make it an eighth - why not a tenth so you can have ten pennies to an ounce, and hundred pennies make ten ounces.

 

That way a pint of pennies is two pounds. Except it would weigh only a pound. But they can't even get that sort of crap right.

 

Imperial? Fah. They are not known as Fred Flintstone Units for no reason.

 

---------- Post added 23-09-2016 at 14:02 ----------

 

That's just silly. It's because somebody made a mistake converting from inches to barleycorns when making the helmets and the eye holes are in the wrong place.

 

Yup. They get it so badly wrong they even smack their bonces on the door because someone got the door acceleration wrong having to pig around with poundals and jerks and whatnot.