Road Signs: Time to change to Metric?

[green van man]

Originally Posted by DaveNP

Aah but we're British and we'll never bow to those eurocrats who want us to buy metric wood, we'd rather have our independence and buy it in American sizes (even if it's actually sold in sheets 2440mm x 1220mm)

It isn't actually, plasterboard is 8x4 ft converted to mm, the cost of changing all the moulds ment they carried on making it the same size and just called the measurements mm, get away with it because all timber and sheets are approximate sizes.

Paul.

[DaveNP]

My previous post was tongue in cheek as I suspect that plywood, a lot of which is produced in Asia, is made to imperial measurements to satisfy the American market. But having done some interweb checking I don't know where in Mallow Landshark is buying his 2500x1250 boards as the Irish DIY stores I looked at have it on their websites at 2440x1220. Looking at Germany gets even funnier both their plywood and plasterboard are sold in a dog's breakfast mix of 'true' metric sizes derived from 2500mm and metricized imperial measurements derived from 2440mm/8ft, and some plasterboard peices are a mix such as 1250x600. If one works regularly with something I would think you would get used to the sizes it comes in, nuts and bolts on Volvo's are metric and I don't suppose many of us would struggle to tell a 6mm spanner from a 15mm or 22mm, telling a 1/2" from a 12mm would be tricky and then the problem starts as you round off the 12mm nut with a 1/2"spanner, similarly the German carpenter used to a 2500mm board would be annoyed when the 8ft board came up short.

A sufficient standard of education also goes a long way, a local timber yard used to offer a cut to size service, so I went in for some pieces of timber cut to 2.03m long, the young herbert in the yard said would 2.4m do as it was close to 2.3m, I couldn't get through to him that 2.3m was significantly different to 2.03m, I don't think we got as far as since the timber was still sold in metricised feet 2.1 would be closer, before I asked him to bring his supervisor.

[The Landshark]

To clarify I'm buying Stainless Steel and Aluminium sheets and they are sold here by several suppliers in 2500 x 1250 mm sheets in various metric thicknesses.
Not sure about wood and slabs, I'm not a builder.
About the only Imperial measurements still in everyday use are for selling alcohol in pubs. Even in the production of alcohol we use Litres

[DaveNP]

Again using a quick interweb search it seems stainless and aluminium sheets are sold in 2500x1250 sheets in England, those are more 'engineering' products and we were working in metric when I was a student engineer 40 years back.

But pints in pubs most definitely oddly I say that as I'm sitting here drinking my morning cup of tea frum a mug which holds about 800ml or 1 3/8 pints, so it doesn't fit either system, the kids got it for me when I complained that all of the 'I love Mum' mugs were bigger than the 'I love Dad' ones. In the context of this thread there's an imperial scale around the top and a metric one around the base, and most satisfyingly they are accurate.

[VolvoFan]

Originally Posted by Daim

I personally would say: yes.

Not that the imperial measurement system is outdated, but it doesn't make sense to use two different systems when the rest of the world (except the USA) use the metric system... Even the USA was going to adopt the metric system under Jimmy Carter, but Reagan said "nope".

The metric system is straightforward, which makes it easier to understand:

1 meter = 10 decimeters = 100 centimeters = 1000 millimeter
Deci = 10 -> December used to be the 10th month,
Centi = 100 -> Century is 100 years,
Milli = 1000 -> Millenium is 1000 years

1 km = 1000 m
Kilo = 1000 of something (10K miles -> 10 kilo miles -> 10.000 miles eventhough the Kilomile is a possible useage of the Kilo term, it isn't a commonly used version)

Now do the same with imperial measurements... Doesn't work that simple. This graphic shows the problem with the imperial system:



Everything else, but easy to understand.

Money is paid in the metric system (£1 = 100p = 10x 10p). Mathes is done in the metric system. Why not just go conform with the rest of the world (except the USA) and use a system which is easier to understand.

I'm 6'1" tall... What an awkward way to say "I am 1.82m tall".
I way 12.5 stone... What another awkward way to say "I weight 80 kg".
I am going 125 mph fast... What a yet again awkward way to say "I'm going 200 km/h"

It makes life easier. I learnt the metric system as I was in school in England in the 90ies. The teacher said - and I remember that well - "Kids, we won't be learning what a mile is or how many ounces are a pound. We are learning how many grammes are one kilogramme. How many meters are in a kilometer. And how many 10th's of a millimeter are in a decimeter!"

The only imperial measurements I can understand, are the mile and the inch. 1.6 km = 1 mile. 2.54 cm = 1 inch.

You have made the common mistake of mispelling "metre" (and its multiples & submultiples) as "meter", "kilometer", "millimeter", etc.

I believe in retaining our imperial units as part of our heritage. Anyway, I grew up with the imperial system but I was also taught the metric system at school and then in college for more years than I care to remember, but still find it difficult to conceptualise sizes in practical terms in these metric units. I can readily understand and visualise 3 inches of snow, but not 7.62 centimetres!

[rustytoba]

Interesting, when I was an engineering student I had a Chinese IT lecturer that pointed out that when he was a student (1976) China had decided to phase out there own metric system of sorts 10 inches to a foot 10 feet to something that I can't remember and 100 of those to a mile, effectively metric imperialism.

Anywho with the government being in worse financial condition than myself where would the money come from to renumber all the signposts then consider all the old signposts that are hundreds of years old and the heratige lost by replacing them.

However it could be a new job creation scheme given the thousands of more unemployed produced recently.

Scott

[ASt85]

The really interesting conversions come in replacing SWG constantan resistance wire with the metric equivalent.

There's no ohm to go to!

[Drivetest]

My Miss's say's I was less than an Inch from that Car.I tell her I have gone Metric.

[canis]

You can all take the **** (edit: mickey) all you want, but in reality:

Nobody uses furlongs unless it's horse racing circuits.
Nobody uses leagues at all, unless it's for the book title.
Nobody uses chains. Ever.
Nobody uses stones, unless it's bodyweight.
Nobody uses pico, twip, and all the other stupid stuff. They exist as a historical legacy only. So saying those who are comfortable with imperial measures are expecting everybody to learn all of them is simply not true. You don't need to know what a furlong is in chains, you don't even need to know what it is in yards unless you actually care (in which case, the back end of a dictionary under "weights and measures" is your freind), you just know how far the horse has left to run. And you really don't even need that.

Furthermore, the implication that your beer is more easily understood if it's sold in milliliters is complete bollocks. It's just beer, drink it and shut up. Seriously.

If you like metric units - use them. All I'm asking for is the choice. Why is that not allowed? Why is the display of imperial units prohibited? In what way is a metric-user's life improved by denying them?

[green van man]

A chain is 22 yds, the length of a cricet pitch.
Wether they measure it with a chain or in yards I know nor care not.

Paul.