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The UK and the US is essentially the same story. The British seemed furious that the EU mandated use of metric internally. But it did not force the UK to chan
by Svip 14y ago
The UK and the US is essentially the same story. The British seemed furious that the EU mandated use of metric internally. But it did not force the UK to change its road signs (still in yards and miles) or what beer comes in (pints).
Nothing really changed, other than confirming by directive that EU member states uses the Metric system with one another. There are still Brits who complain that the weather reports are no longer in Fahrenheit, but in Celsius. But the EU has no control over that.
So yeah; pretty much the same. Oh and the Brits still weigh themselves in stones.
- kokey 14y agoI remember during the influx of Polish workers in the UK, that a pub got into some trouble because it sold a certain Polish beer in a 1 litre glass.
- mootothemax 14y agoI remember during the influx of Polish workers in the UK, that a pub got into some trouble because it sold a certain Polish beer in a 1 litre glass. From what I recall, it was more that they were using Żywiec-branded glasses, which hold 0.3 and 0.5-litres respectively. UK law only allows beer to be sold in pint units. I doubt they were doing it on purpose, but the small difference adds up quite quickly: serve 10 drinks at pint prices for only the cost of 9 pints.
- Freestyler_3 14y agoThey have those standards so that you know how much alcohol you are drinking. 1 pint 5% (0,5L)= ~20g alcohol = 2 glasses of anything else. Wine 12% = 0,1L Whiskey 40% = 0,035L One glass is about 10g alcohol. (Posted only in liters so it easy on people who are not used to it.)
- tnuc 14y ago>UK law only allows beer to be sold in pint units. Really? What are those things called Half pints?
- tadfisher 14y ago0.5 pints is still measured in pint units.
- Nitramp 14y agoserve 10 drinks at pint prices for only the cost of 9 pints I guess being worried that you might not get your full ~5.68 litres of beer when drinking ten pints is very British indeed ;-)
- stusmith1977 14y agoThe UK did use legislation to gradually switch to the metric system, with certain exceptions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_the_United_Kingdom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_the_United_Kingd... One major way in which metrication is being introduced properly is via schools - nowadays schools generally only teach the metric system, and the generation below me genuinely do weigh themselves in kilos, and measure themselves in meters.
- ElliotH 14y agoJust to backup what you're saying, I'm the generation you're talking about. I have a vague idea of my height in feet and inches, I drink pints of beer and I drive miles in the car. That's about it. People may as well be talking to me in a foreign language if they give me imperial units outside of those contexts.
- EdiX 14y agoWhat do you measure body temperature with? Celsius or Fahrenheit?
- ElliotH 14y agoCelsius, expecting a reading of 37 degrees. I never measure anything in Farenheit (I don't actually know how to convert to it, or what a body temperature reading in it ought to be). I do basically everything in Celsius apart from occasionally during my A-Levels (16-18) where I did some conversion to Kelvin.
- onetwothreefour 14y agoNo one outside the US measures in F (since the parent post is about the UK, this is a weird question :)
- EdiX 14y agoA canadian once told me that in canada atmospheric temperature is measured in celsius but body temperature is measured in farenheit, or maybe the other way around.
- tnuc 14y ago>..or what beer comes in (pints). If you read the bottom of the glass you will see the size in ml, 568ml. You may call it a pint but officially it is a 568ml glass.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- ElliotH 14y agoThink it's actually sold by the pint, not by 568ml. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/72/section/8 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/72/section/8
- chestnut-tree 14y agoWeather forecasts in the UK changed to Celsius in the early 1960s (over fifty years ago). I don't know of anyone in the UK who complains about reports no longer being in Fahrenheit. Liquid goods in the UK are listed in milliletres or litres. In the US, fluid ounces (fl oz) are still commonly used. (The exception in the UK is pints for beer and milk). Similarly, walk into a UK supermarket and solid goods are labelled in grams and kilograms. In the US, it's common for goods to be listed in pounds (lbs) or ounces (oz). Also in the UK, dimensions for goods/products is always in metres, centimetres or millimetres. A lot of people still use feet and inches to describe a persons' height. So yes, we do use a mixture of metric and imperial in the UK. However, the UK and US are not "pretty much the same" when it comes to metric.