Inches or Centimetres?

[Alan B'Stard]

Having just read an ad on the forum for an item in centimetres, it struck me (once again) how I so much prefer the imperial system of measurement, as size seems more "real" in inches. (cue Basil)

I was taught metric all throughout school and being the mathematical genius I am, achieved my Grade C GCSE as a "mature" student, obviously showing an understanding of metric.

As a young teenage boy, I worked in my parents hardware shop, selling things by both imperial and metric sizes for the younger and older customers, mostly the latter.

My parents conversed in imperial sizes and I suppose it has stuck with me.

Now, what I'd like to know is, am I alone in this?

I know what 36" or 3 foot looks like but I couldn't convert that to cm without an aid and if you quoted me the size in cm's I'd have to really think about it.

And yet it was metric I learnt at school and then restudied some years later, weird, dontcha think?

 

[Gramaisc]

I'm fairly bilingual in old and new units. I do find that I think in Celsius in the winter and Fahreheit in the summer with regard to the weather. A lot of people who say they prefer the Imperial system often have a very poor understanding of it, apart from the units they use directly - try asking 'How many feet in a mile?', for instance - or pounds in a ton, etc?

A lot of people also think that they preferred the 'old money', but they would be buggered if we had it back.

I once had a conversation along the lines of 'They should wait until all the old people are dead' - he had complained that he didn't know what a kilogram was - I asked him when he last bought a two-pound bag of sugar -'This week', he said - 'No, you didn't' - 'Yes, I did' - I then gently explained that he had been buying his sugar in kilograms since 1968 - and he still didn't know what one was.

 

[Alan B'Stard]

I know that 4.54 litres equals a gallon.

I also know that if I weigh more than 10 1/2 stone, I think I'm overweight and couldn't tell what that is in kilo's.

 

[Gramaisc]

I do think that some of it is cultural - when they changed the speed limits and distance signs in Ireland to kilometres a few years back, nobody said a word about it - there would be riots here.

A couple of years ago, I was asked for my height by a nurse filling out a form. One eighty three, I said, thinking "Well, it's 2010" - she looked utterly confused, so I said 'Six foot'...

 

[Vault_girl]

I find the need to be bilingual in measurements rather annoying. Things which are used more often like weight and height have to be remembered in each. I was always taught in metric but as I've got older and had to try to convert and use both because the older generations still work in imperial. I kind of wish we'd just choose one and stick to it.

 

[Gramaisc]

My (controversial) view is that we should have dumped Imperial in the sixties and it would all be over now - in fact, long ago.

Here we are, still worried about miles per gallon, when we haven't actually bought a gallon of fuel for decades.

 

[Alan B'Stard]

So if I buy 4.54 litres tomorrow, it's not a gallon?

I really am confused now.

 

[Gramaisc]

So if I buy 4.54 litres tomorrow, it's not a gallon?

I really am confused now.

Indeed, if you buy some fluid in a 4.54 litre plastic bottle - although a lot of these are actually 4 litres these days, in the hope that you don't notice, but buying motor fuel in gallons requires some arithmetical endeavour..

 

[shoes]

I much prefer to discuss things in imperial - you need about a foot of this, that or the other etc. however I much prefer working with metric.

The other day I was struggling to find a socket which fitted a nut... 9mm way too small, 12mm not quite, 13mm... ok that fits. Ascending numbers, dead easy. Trying to work with my imperial sockets is a chore... hmm this 5/16 is just too small... what's next then... erm...errrr....is it 3/8? is it something else... arghhhhh.

Also measuring something to cut is far more accurate in mm, in my opinion, than 1/16's of an inch. A 36% higher resolution, no less.

 

[speak65]

I'm a bit of both, depending on my mood, but to me one thing is certain hot weather is in the 80's not in the 20's.

A useful ode found on the back of a cornflakes packet many many moons ago:
"A litre of water's a pint and three quarters,
Two and a quarter pounds of ham weigh about a kilogram,
A meter measures three foot three, its longer than a yard you see"

 

[Gramaisc]

It is just a matter of usage - electricity comes in kilowatt-hours - if it was changed to British Thermal Units I don't think people would be happy..

When I lived in Cyprus, we still used the old Ottoman units - impossible to explain, but OK when you'd got used to them. And yet, most mainland Turks would find them archaic - they're Metric people, mostly, I understand.

And, shoes, you could use 1/32nds if you wanted to ....

 

[Gramaisc]

I'm a bit of both, depending on my mood, but to me one thing is certain hot weather is in the 80's not in the 20's.

I'm with you there, as I said above, yet cold weather is in single figures, not in the 30s..

 

[Withnail]

I prefer to use kilometres when on bike rides, coz it sounds like i've gone furtherer and fasterer.

 

[Gramaisc]

A strange effect that I've noticed, is that hangover potential is far lower when drinking in half-litres, rather than pints - even if one (more than) makes up the difference with an extra one.

 

[United57]

I prefer binary

 

[Wolfie Girl]

I am old enough to prefer imperial measurement because that's what I was taught. If something is shown in cms I have to convert it as I do with kilometers.

 

[Jonah]

I use a mix of both.

 

[Gramaisc]

I volunteered to go to the Bodmin Avenue Co-op for some milk for someone a couple of years back, she gave me the right money for a two-pint bottle - I hunted through the shelves for the semi-skimmed with a '2' on it, to be sure that I'd got the right stuff, and went to the counter to pay, only to find that I hadn't got enough money. I had a two-litre bottle, and had to go back to swap it for a two-pint bottle - they sold the same milk in litres and pints - it's all beyond me, that seems more than a bit unnecessary...

 

[Vespa-NL]

I prefer to use kilometres when on bike rides, coz it sounds like i've gone furtherer and fasterer.

I like your Miles when I am in England as all distances shown don't feel that far...

 

[Gramaisc]

I tried to explain the old money to a Serbian in Prague once. When I told him that we had a coin which just said 'Half Crown' on it, but that 'Crowns' didn't really exist in general circulation, and it was just up to you to know that it was really the same as two and a half shillings, I think he was just too polite to say that he didn't really believe me..