I remember my grandfather complaining about mm, but he then went on to tell me a story about how he was surveying a medieval building with his assistant with an

I remember my grandfather complaining about mm, but he then went on to tell me a story about how he was surveying a medieval building with his assistant with an old tape measure and they were getting all sorts of awkward dimensions, when the assistant noticed that the dimensions on the other side of the tape were all nice round numbers... in cubits![0] His point was that there would have been a time when all the builders were complaining about stupid feet and inches and how fiddly they were and what's wrong with cubits. [0] I'm struggling to remember what they were I thought I remembered cubits but I'm not sure why you would find those on a tape in the 1940's. Anyway, never let the truth get in the way of a good story.