Imperial units are stupid

[L00b]

What gets me is 'miles per gallon,' when we buy petrol in litres.

Had a funny instance about this, while on holidays in the US this summer.

 

I went to a petrol forecourt to fill up the hire Jeep.

 

Clocked the petrol price on the billboard, middle of the road relative to others I'd seen, so no worries, off I go: put the nozzle in and fuel.

 

Then the handle clicks off, a bit early to my mind, with the volume counter at 11.something and the price counter at $18.something (IIRC).

 

I pumped a bit more in, but sure enough the petrol is lapping the opening, ain't getting any more in.

 

Me scratches head, surely that car takes more than 11 litres, it's on the last quarter of tank

 

..... (duh!)

 

It was 11 gallons and the billboard price and pump volume unit were per (US) gallon, not litre

Edited September 8, 2016 by L00b

[Nagel]

In reality the best system would be Base 12 as its equally divisible by both 2 and 3 and already fits in with our 12 month / 24 hour / 60 min / sec system.

 

As for imperial, I never got it. My old mum always used to say stuff like 'a pint of water weighs a pound and a quarter' or some such. But I had no idea whether this was even true.

 

12 makes a lot of sense for some applications, being divisible by 2,3,4 and 6.

 

This is why eggs are sold in dozens.

[tzijlstra]

Had a funny instance about this, while on holidays in the US this summer.

 

I went to a petrol forecourt to fill up the hire Jeep.

 

Clocked the petrol price on the billboard, middle of the road relative to others I'd seen, so no worries, off I go: put the nozzle in and fuel.

 

Then the handle clicks off, a bit early to my mind, with the volume counter at 11.something and the price counter at $18.something (IIRC).

 

I pumped a bit more in, but sure enough the petrol is lapping the opening, ain't getting any more in.

 

Me scratches head, surely that car takes more than 11 litres, it's on the last quarter of tank

 

..... (duh!)

 

It was 11 gallons and the billboard price and pump volume unit were per (US) gallon, not litre

 

Hahaha Fuel is so dirt cheap in the US it is disgusting!

 

My brother went on a runabout with a few mates from the soccer-camp they worked for after summer, hired a 'winnebago' and took off, 15 states in 3 weeks, 5000 miles, it cost them less in fuel than a single flight to Vegas (their end-destination) for the four of them would have cost. Ludicrous...

[unbeliever]

Hahaha Fuel is so dirt cheap in the US it is disgusting!

 

I'm going to let that go as I don't want this thread diverted into a debate on fuel taxes.

 

My brother went on a runabout with a few mates from the soccer-camp they worked for after summer, hired a 'winnebago' and took off, 15 states in 3 weeks, 5000 miles, it cost them less in fuel than a single flight to Vegas (their end-destination) for the four of them would have cost. Ludicrous...

 

5000 miles you say. That's 5,000,000 double-paces then.

1667 leagues, 40000 furlongs, 400000 chains, 8800000 yards, 26400000 feet.

Roughly 8000 km, 8000000 m, 800000000 cm, 8000000000 mm.

Wow that's far.

Edited September 8, 2016 by unbeliever

[Santo]

I'm going to let that go as I don't want this thread diverted into a debate on fuel taxes.

 

 

 

5000 miles you say. That's 5,000,000 double-paces then.

1667 leagues, 40000 furlongs, 400000 chains, 8800000 yards, 26400000 feet.

Roughly 8000 km, 8000000 m, 800000000 cm, 8000000000 mm.

Wow that's far.

 

It's easy to fathom.

 

2 yards right?

[horribleblob]

...5000 miles you say. That's 5,000,000 double-paces then.

1667 leagues, 40000 furlongs, 400000 chains, 8800000 yards, 26400000 feet.

Roughly 8000 km, 8000000 m, 800000000 cm, 8000000000 mm.

Wow that's far.

 

I work in points and picas, so, at 6 picas per inch that's 1,900,800,000 picas.

 

If I had to choose one system, I'd go for metric, but I rather like being able to use both metric and imperial units – very handy when it comes to working with book formats.

[Harrystottle]

I prefer Imperial, one because that's the system I was educated in and two for cultural reasons. The words describing imperial measurements fit better into the English language than the metric ones do (unsurprisingly).

 

"How tall are you?". "Six two". It's a lot neater than "One hundred and ninety two centimetres"...

 

Also when I were a lad, petrol was 33p a gallon! Has to be better.

[TimmyR]

I prefer Imperial, one because that's the system I was educated in and two for cultural reasons. The words describing imperial measurements fit better into the English language than the metric ones do (unsurprisingly).

 

"How tall are you?". "Six two". It's a lot neater than "One hundred and ninety two centimetres"...

 

Also when I were a lad, petrol was 33p a gallon! Has to be better.

 

One ninety two is pretty easy to say which is what 1m92cm would get shortened to. Likewise Six feet two inches isn't exactly slick.

[unbeliever]

It's easy to fathom.

 

2 yards right?

 

Yes, although conventionally used for depths (mines, under water etc) rather than distances.

[Harrystottle]

Whose woods these are I think I know.

His house is in the village though;

He will not see me stopping here

To watch his woods fill up with snow.

 

My little horse must think it queer

To stop without a farmhouse near

Between the woods and frozen lake

The darkest evening of the year.

 

He gives his harness bells a shake

To ask if there is some mistake.

The only other sound’s the sweep

Of easy wind and downy flake.

 

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

 

 

This is an utterly beautiful poem. Now try it in metric.