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The UK is supposedly metric most people still think and talk in imperial - most shops give both measurements. I think the EU gave up enforcing it. edit: sorry

The UK is supposedly metric most people still think and talk in imperial - most shops give both measurements. I think the EU gave up enforcing it. edit: sorry, by most people I mean people I know who grew up before metric was introduced.

kjjw 12y ago
Really does not paint a true picture. Living in the UK I use metric for everything except driving distances, driving speed and measures of beer (pints). And what measurements are still signed / represented in some way in imperial measurements in the UK? Road signs, speedometers and beer at a bar in a pub. Everything else is presented in metric and everybody I know uses metric for everything else.
- grahamel 12y ago
  Ah but your different opinion/use of measurement does highlight how gradual these kinds of change can be - similar to changes to word meanings over time. I didn't say everyone does. Milk is still sold multiples of pints, with the litre value listed. Laptop screens are measured in inches.
room271 12y ago
As a member of the younger generation, I rarely think in imperial and I think the same is true for most of my social group at least. For example: - I struggle to visualise feet or inches, we always used metric units at school so metres and cms are what I understand - kilograms for weight is much more natural to me than stones or ounces (really, I have no idea how much an ounce is, although I kind of know a pound is a small bag of sugar-ish) - miles are probably the only imperial unit I'd use, but even still, I find km much easier to reason about, perhaps because I have lived in Europe in the past. - oh, and the trusty pint of course!
soneil 12y ago
I don't think it's anywhere near that bad. It's a gradual transition and it's working (imho). In my mind, miles for roads is really the only standout left. I don't think of pint as a measure, but the name of a particular type of glass. Outside of that I've just never found a practical use for the imperial system. It's bad enough trying to translate things to american and back, let alone trying to keep track of a US gallon being 4/5ths of an imperial gallon ..
- grahamel 12y ago
  It's still a transition that's slowed down. I guess it's a generation thing. People I know still talk about baby birth weight in pounds and ounces and height in feet
- to3m 12y ago
  The pint glass is a perfect fit for 500ml of ale. If you tip it into the glass with a modicum of care, you end up with the head not quite reaching the top. (Of course, had we switched to 500ml glasses, leaving ale in 568ml bottles, we'd be stuffed. A point to bear in mind if contemplating a piecemeal transition.)

kjjw 12y ago

Really does not paint a true picture. Living in the UK I use metric for everything except driving distances, driving speed and measures of beer (pints). And what measurements are still signed / represented in some way in imperial measurements in the UK? Road signs, speedometers and beer at a bar in a pub. Everything else is presented in metric and everybody I know uses metric for everything else.

grahamel 12y ago
Ah but your different opinion/use of measurement does highlight how gradual these kinds of change can be - similar to changes to word meanings over time. I didn't say everyone does. Milk is still sold multiples of pints, with the litre value listed. Laptop screens are measured in inches.

room271 12y ago

As a member of the younger generation, I rarely think in imperial and I think the same is true for most of my social group at least. For example: - I struggle to visualise feet or inches, we always used metric units at school so metres and cms are what I understand - kilograms for weight is much more natural to me than stones or ounces (really, I have no idea how much an ounce is, although I kind of know a pound is a small bag of sugar-ish) - miles are probably the only imperial unit I'd use, but even still, I find km much easier to reason about, perhaps because I have lived in Europe in the past. - oh, and the trusty pint of course!

soneil 12y ago

I don't think it's anywhere near that bad. It's a gradual transition and it's working (imho). In my mind, miles for roads is really the only standout left. I don't think of pint as a measure, but the name of a particular type of glass. Outside of that I've just never found a practical use for the imperial system. It's bad enough trying to translate things to american and back, let alone trying to keep track of a US gallon being 4/5ths of an imperial gallon ..

grahamel 12y ago
It's still a transition that's slowed down. I guess it's a generation thing. People I know still talk about baby birth weight in pounds and ounces and height in feet
to3m 12y ago
The pint glass is a perfect fit for 500ml of ale. If you tip it into the glass with a modicum of care, you end up with the head not quite reaching the top. (Of course, had we switched to 500ml glasses, leaving ale in 568ml bottles, we'd be stuffed. A point to bear in mind if contemplating a piecemeal transition.)