Imperial units are stupid

[unbeliever]

I suppose it would cost a fortune to change all road signs to kilometres so that's probably why they decide to stick with miles.

 

Don't see why:

1) Establish a convention for putting both on the signs

2) All new and replacement signs to follow both conventions

3) Wait for old signs to cycle out

4) All new and replacement signs to show only km or km/h (I'd prefer m/s but still)

5) Wait for old signs to cycle out again.

 

Job done.

[spilldig]

Don't see why:

1) Establish a convention for putting both on the signs

2) All new and replacement signs to follow both conventions

3) Wait for old signs to cycle out

4) All new and replacement signs to show only km or km/h (I'd prefer m/s but still)

5) Wait for old signs to cycle out again.

 

Job done.

 

Agree with that. They should have started years ago.

[barleycorn]

Best thing is to measure waist size in barleycorns.

You called?

As a rule of thumb, always used 7kg to a stone.

 

(Google says it's 6.35 and, to my great shame, in 20-odd years I honestly never looked this up until now).

 

I've always found the relevance of 'stone', in the great and enduring debate about the correct pronunciation of 'scone' [which is 'scone' as in 'stone', not 'scon'...be said!], much more interesting

 

The Queen pronounces it scon (to rhyme with con), nuff said.

[L00b]

The Queen pronounces it scon (to rhyme with con), nuff said.

So, can I take it that your Queen is happy to sit on her thron, licking her 99 flake from a con?

[barleycorn]

I asked the maid in dulcet tone

To order me a buttered scone;

The silly girl has been and gone

And ordered me a buttered scone.

[Anna B]

What gets me is 'miles per gallon,' when we buy petrol in litres. All we need to add to the mix is distance measured in Kilometres and that's me stuffed.

 

Isn't it great to be British..?

[unbeliever]

What gets me is 'miles per gallon,' when we buy petrol in litres. All we need to add to the mix is distance measured in Kilometres and that's me stuffed.

 

Isn't it great to be British..?

 

I mentioned earlier that there are 2 tons, the long ton (2240lb) and the short ton (2000lb). This actual difference arises from the 2 hundredweights (cwt), the short hundredweight (mostly US) of 100lb and the long hundredweight (traditional in the UK) of 112lb. The ton is 20 hundredweight, so the size of your ton depends on the size of your hundredweight, short or long.

Under the UK convention there exists the stone (1 stone = 14 lb and 8 stone = 1 cwt), which is missing from the US convention as you would have 100/14=7.14285714285714 stone per hundredweight which is too stupid even for the imperial unit system.

It so happens that the long ton is only 1.6% different from the metric tonne, but I digress.

 

There are also 2 gallons arising from the fact that there are 2 pints.

One pint is 16 floz used mainly in the US, and the other is 20 floz used mainly in the UK. A gallon is 8 pints in either scheme. So the gallon and therefore the mpg differ between the US and the UK by 20%.

Now according to the US convention 1 pint (16 floz) of water weighs 1 lb, this arises inevitably from the fact that 1floz of water weighs 1oz and there are 16 oz in a lb. This is handy sometimes as in the metric system where 1l of water weighs 1kg.

 

So I leave it to the reader to judge whether the UK pint, having come first, or the US pint, having added convenience is the least monumentally stupid.

Edited September 8, 2016 by unbeliever

[Obelix]

I mentioned earlier that there are 2 tons, the long ton (2240lb) and the short ton (2000lb). This actual difference arises from the 2 hundredweights (cwt), the short hundredweight (mostly US) of 100lb and the long hundredweight (traditional in the UK) of 112lb. The ton is 20 hundredweight, so the size of your ton depends on the size of your hundredweight, short or long.

It so happens that the long ton is only 1.6% different from the metric tonne, but I digress.

 

There are also 2 gallons arising from the fact that there are 2 pints.

One pint is 16 floz used mainly in the US, and the other is 20 floz used mainly in the UK. A gallon is 8 pints in either scheme. So the gallon and therefore the mpg differ between the US and the UK by 20%.

Now according to the US convention 1 pint (16 floz) of water weighs 1 lb, this arises inevitably from the fact that 1floz of water weighs 1oz and there are 16 oz in a lb. This is handy sometimes as in the metric system where 1l of water weighs 1kg.

On the other hand, under the UK convention there exists the stone (1 stone = 14 lb and 8 stone = 1 cwt), which is missing from the US convention as you would have 100/14=7.14285714285714 stone per hundredweight).

So I leave it to the reader to judge whether the UK pint, having come first, or the US pint, having added convenience is the least monumentally stupid.

 

English gallon is 10lb in weight. An early example of metrication at its finest...

[unbeliever]

English gallon is 10lb in weight. An early example of metrication at its finest...

 

So it is. 20floz*8=160floz/gallon, then with 16oz/lb and 1 oz/floz of water, a gallon comes out at 10lb.

[Robin-H]

You called?

 

 

The Queen pronounces it scon (to rhyme with con), nuff said.

 

I agree. I tend to find people say 'scone as in stone' because they think it sounds posher. They are wrong.