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Because they are a weird middle ground. UK uses metric paper, metric weights and measures for _most_ things, metric temperature. Where Imperial starts to slip i

Because they are a weird middle ground. UK uses metric paper, metric weights and measures for _most_ things, metric temperature. Where Imperial starts to slip in is distance when driving (but not when running...), volumes of Beer and Milk (mainly cause we want more beer than 500ml) and body weight (where we use Stones, which is weird). There are probably some other things as well, but metric is the dominant system (for people under 60) for sure.

sgjohnson 4y ago
But so is the United States. In all industries where it matters (science, technology, military, medicine) metric is virtually the only measurement system that's used, not to mention that a lot of products are sold in round metric quantities, not imperial.
- mcjiggerlog 4y ago
  The difference is that in the UK nearly everything you interact with in your daily life is in metric. You won't find anything in a UK household in imperial measurements other than the bottle of milk in the fridge.
  - timrichard 4y ago
    For supermarket milk at least, I can only remember seeing both units for quite a while. I had a glance at the one in our fridge, and it says "2.272L 4 pints" on the label.
- Symbiote 4y ago
  There is a huge difference. Ask an average American to give you the length of their car, size of their kitchen or weight of a brick in metric and they'll have no clue. The average British person can do this, because education has been metric for 50+ years and the least-technical industry (e.g. construction, DIY) is metric. (See e.g. https://www.diy.com/ https://www.diy.com/, the largest consumer-facing DIY shop in Britain. It's 20kg of 10mm gravel, doors in millimetres, paint in litres. I can't even see a button offering an imperial conversion.)
  - CogitoCogito 4y ago
    /u/sgjohnson said metric is used in "in all industries where it matters". Have you maybe considered that "the length of their car, size of their kitchen or weight of a brick" are all examples of where it _doesn't_ matter?
    - Symbiote 4y ago
      Exactly. That's the huge difference. The USA only uses metric in some important industries. Britain uses it for lots of "unimportant" things, like construction/DIY, medicine, health care, cooking, sport/fitness.
      - CogitoCogito 4y ago
        > Exactly. That's the huge difference. I’m not really sure what your point is. If we take as a starting point that the US used the metric system where it matters, then why is it an issue that it isn’t used ubiquitously? I’m not saying you need to agree with the claim “the US used the metric where it matters”, but if we just take that on face value, then why isn’t that enough? Why do you care if Americans talking amongst themselves speak in their own vernacular and system of measurements? What exactly is the problem?
        Symbiote 4y ago
        The comment I first replied to said the US was in the same middle-ground as the UK. That is not true -- it's in a different middle ground, much further from a fully-metric country. That's all my point was. > Why do you care if Americans talking amongst themselves speak in their own vernacular and system of measurements? It's fine if they keep it to themselves. I'm never bothered by traditional Japanese floor area measurements, for example. But Americans attempt to use their own, private system when communicating to the rest of the world, in commerce, software and media. (Search "Weather Taipei" on Google while in Taiwan, with a browser set to not-US-English, and you end up with Fahrenheit etc. Set Windows to "English Ireland" and random bits of stuff will still be in miles/°F.) This even leaks to non-Americans (or maybe English translators). It's annoying to go to a museum in, say, Brazil and see the Portuguese text uses metric, but this has been translated to pounds and feet in the English text. Most of the tourists reading the English aren't even American!
- mihaaly 4y ago
  Except engineering/architecture. Making design software for architects and civil engineers in Europe then (trying to) introduce it to the US market is a b**h!
gadders 4y ago
Height is nearly always feet and inches.

sgjohnson 4y ago

But so is the United States. In all industries where it matters (science, technology, military, medicine) metric is virtually the only measurement system that's used, not to mention that a lot of products are sold in round metric quantities, not imperial.

mcjiggerlog 4y ago
The difference is that in the UK nearly everything you interact with in your daily life is in metric. You won't find anything in a UK household in imperial measurements other than the bottle of milk in the fridge.
- timrichard 4y ago
  For supermarket milk at least, I can only remember seeing both units for quite a while. I had a glance at the one in our fridge, and it says "2.272L 4 pints" on the label.
Symbiote 4y ago
There is a huge difference. Ask an average American to give you the length of their car, size of their kitchen or weight of a brick in metric and they'll have no clue. The average British person can do this, because education has been metric for 50+ years and the least-technical industry (e.g. construction, DIY) is metric. (See e.g. https://www.diy.com/ https://www.diy.com/, the largest consumer-facing DIY shop in Britain. It's 20kg of 10mm gravel, doors in millimetres, paint in litres. I can't even see a button offering an imperial conversion.)
- CogitoCogito 4y ago
  /u/sgjohnson said metric is used in "in all industries where it matters". Have you maybe considered that "the length of their car, size of their kitchen or weight of a brick" are all examples of where it _doesn't_ matter?
  - Symbiote 4y ago
    Exactly. That's the huge difference. The USA only uses metric in some important industries. Britain uses it for lots of "unimportant" things, like construction/DIY, medicine, health care, cooking, sport/fitness.
    - CogitoCogito 4y ago
      > Exactly. That's the huge difference. I’m not really sure what your point is. If we take as a starting point that the US used the metric system where it matters, then why is it an issue that it isn’t used ubiquitously? I’m not saying you need to agree with the claim “the US used the metric where it matters”, but if we just take that on face value, then why isn’t that enough? Why do you care if Americans talking amongst themselves speak in their own vernacular and system of measurements? What exactly is the problem?
      - Symbiote 4y ago
        The comment I first replied to said the US was in the same middle-ground as the UK. That is not true -- it's in a different middle ground, much further from a fully-metric country. That's all my point was. > Why do you care if Americans talking amongst themselves speak in their own vernacular and system of measurements? It's fine if they keep it to themselves. I'm never bothered by traditional Japanese floor area measurements, for example. But Americans attempt to use their own, private system when communicating to the rest of the world, in commerce, software and media. (Search "Weather Taipei" on Google while in Taiwan, with a browser set to not-US-English, and you end up with Fahrenheit etc. Set Windows to "English Ireland" and random bits of stuff will still be in miles/°F.) This even leaks to non-Americans (or maybe English translators). It's annoying to go to a museum in, say, Brazil and see the Portuguese text uses metric, but this has been translated to pounds and feet in the English text. Most of the tourists reading the English aren't even American!
mihaaly 4y ago
Except engineering/architecture. Making design software for architects and civil engineers in Europe then (trying to) introduce it to the US market is a b**h!

gadders 4y ago

Height is nearly always feet and inches.