Imperial V Metric

[finneyb]

When my grand daughter was weighed at birth, 9 months ago, the scales measured in metric and the nurse had a chart to convert to lbs and oz !!!

Brian

 

[Jonzjob]

We went into Weldom, a French DIY shed, on the French Grandads day and I was presented with a petit cadau, a present. It was a totally metric 16 foot 5 inch tape :mrgreen: The first one I have had.

I'm like you Roger, if someone tells me "oh, about 300 mm" it goes into the vacuume and comes out as a foot!

We have switched to ºC though, especially for the pool and don't go in there until at least 26ºC, preferably 28 :?

I also deal in lbspersqinch pronounced lubs-per-sqinch. For me a bar is something to lean on with a glass in hand. 8)

 

[woodfarmer]

Having lived in France for about 12 years now I am getting to be near bilingual with weights and measures. What I am learning is that the French have never really gone metric.
example, wine is often sold by the case of 1/2 a dozen bottles. Ie a gallon, because wine is mostly in 75cl bottles and 6 bottles make a gallon. so they are still using dozens (Douzaines). Even eggs are sold by the dozen, although often to comply with the law they sell a carton of 10 eggs with another two free (in the box).
the old measurements evolved for practical reasons. a dozen is easily divisible by 2, 3 4 and 6.

you can't really navigate in metric, as angles are non metric, nor is time. so latitude and longitude are not metric. now minutes of angle are actual nautical distances as are nautical miles.

ATM I want to make a new tool rest for my new metric lathe with metric headstock threads, but the tool rest bar diameter is 1 inch, difficult to find here in France.

 

[mailee]

I was born in the 50's so have imperial instilled in my grey cells...but having said that I also work in both. Imperial for lengths and metric for small measurements. I can't judge anything in metric so think in Imperial to access a size of something.

 

[Grahamshed]

Yes. I can't visualise 1 metre 75 either. How tall is that? Centimetres are the work of the devil, and all users should be shot at dawn.

Why wait ? Shooting at sunset works as well

 

[bugbear]

I notice that people often claim the imperial system is more human related somehow.

But I've never heard of anyone who was born to metric, who later adopted imperial because of all the virtues so often claimed for it. (the other direction is common, especially for calculation).

The only people who claim that imperial is "natural" seem to be the people who grew up with it, and are hence (very) familiar with it.

So I suspect that metric will become "natural" as the generation clock ticks over.

BugBear

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Surely I can't be the only one to use tads, smidgeons and gnat's todgers as units of adjustment or inaccuracy?

I was quite young when we went decimal, but I still miss thripenny bits. Nice, friendly little coins. Even the modern four-bob bits don't make up for them - too thin and not enough corners.

In the supreme self-assurance (now thoroughly excised) of my early professional life, I was a stickler for keeping to one measuring 'language', depending on what I was doing - metric at work, and imperial for restoring old steam engines. Then one day I was perambulating in the general direction of the canteen at work, and passed the little Irish general foreman, who was instructing two large gentlemen with a pneumatic drill and shovels on where and what size he wanted a hole digging in the pavement. "Oi want it four foot by a metre" were his exact words. Since then, I've mixed and matched imperial and metric as I feel appropriate (though I do have to be a bit careful for anything official).

Consulting a structural engineer once on the load one of my pipes was calculated to exert on his steelwork, I told him a vertical load of half a kilonewton. Structural engineers like kilonewtons. Well, I thought they did, until he said, "Hmm, that's about two bags of cement. Ok, I can live with that."

 

[No skills]

Metriperial!!! At last theres a word for it, and I'm not alone

Nearest on the tape measure often works for me, I will also mix measuring units as previously mentioned (13" 7mm). I will also use metric fractions eg 85 and 3/4 cm.

Sometimes I'll use imperial to save the hassle of remembering a big metric number...

 

[MARK.B.]

I can work easily in both metric and imperial , the end result is always the same \/
B ugger it thats not big enough :-" :-" :-" #-o

 

[Jonzjob]

An exact approximation is always good for me so there :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Someone on here has the correct signature in that he has cut twice and it's still too short. Sounds like my measure once, cut twice

 

[MMUK]

Surely I can't be the only one to use tads, smidgeons and gnat's todgers as units of adjustment or inaccuracy

I use those as well, along with fanny hairs (equates to somewhere between 1/128" and 1/64") . I also use witches tit as a measure of flatness :mrgreen:

 

[pip1954]

hi i was born in 1954 so had some time with imperil then went metric
so now i end up using imperic like a lot i don't use either or both i use part of each like so many height is in inches, very often i guess in inches then work out in metric, but still can't use centimetres just millimetres
it does not help that i am sure now that i am dyslexic (i think that's how you spell it )
pip :lol:

 

[nanscombe]

Yes. I can't visualise 1 metre 75 either. How tall is that? Centimetres are the work of the devil, and all users should be shot at dawn.

Would that be .303 to 7.62 rounds. :wink:

Born and brought up in the 60s but I prefer to use metric, for woodworking at least.

I once dropped a box of imperial sockets which were not quite as simple to replace as metric.

3/16, 1/4, 5/16, 3/8, 7/16, 1/2 :shock:

Much easier with 4mm, 5mm, 6mm, 7mm etc :lol:

 

[Jonzjob]

Definately .303! A longer range :mrgreen:

2 lessons to learn about the sockets here.

1. don't drop a box full

2. no problem with either metric or imperial, just look at the working end of the socket and put them in size order :roll: :wink:

 

[Grahamshed]

Measurements on rulers are all very well but did the ruler cost you 75p or 15 bob ?

 

[MMUK]

Measurements on rulers are all very well but did the ruler cost you 75p or 15 bob ?

My stainless one cost me £2 7s 10d :mrgreen:

 

[PhillyDee]

Measurements on rulers are all very well but did the ruler cost you 75p or 15 bob ?

I pinched mine from work

 

[Jonzjob]

Jeyes fluid and his 12 mates :shock: Over 2 beer tokens of real money for a measuring stick :shock:

It ain't got a Silver Ghost on one end has it :?:

A few of mine were tax relief items when I was in the R.A.F.. They have a very helpful little arrow on one end and Aunt Marys initials too. I think the arrow tells you which end to stand?

 

[MMUK]

Jeyes fluid and his 12 mates :shock: Over 2 beer tokens of real money for a measuring stick :shock:

It ain't got a Silver Ghost on one end has it :?:

Wait till I tell you how much it cost for calibration, thankfully it's on a 5 year re-cal :roll:

15 guineas, 6 goats, 2 sheep and a camel! :mrgreen:

 

[Grahamshed]

Jeyes fluid and his 12 mates :shock: Over 2 beer tokens of real money for a measuring stick :shock:

It ain't got a Silver Ghost on one end has it :?:

Wait till I tell you how much it cost for calibration, thankfully it's on a 5 year re-cal :roll:

15 guineas, 6 goats, 2 sheep and a camel! :mrgreen:

Come on MMUK, that really isn't true is it. One camel is worth 3 goats and if you tell it any different it will get the ump.