Metric-ish

[David Lang]

In the timber merchant today.

"I want some 4 x 2 please,"

"What length?"

"2.4 metre."

"Anything else?"

"Some 18 mm ply."

"What size?"

"4 ft x 2 ft."

We haven't quite adopted this metric lark, have we?

[Davey]

Good! My first boss at work called it 'metrifuction'. (Spelling optional).

I was, in 1977, at the Hope Slide in BC, Canada. There was an information board at the site, which had clearly been written in Imperial units. But then Canada had got metricated, and somebody had come along and nailed a small piece of wood over each measurement (yards, gallons, tons, etc) and written the metric equivalent on this.

Nuts. It looked absolutely stupid.

[spuorgelgoog]

Speaking as someone whose house was built in Imperial, I don't want Metric as it just doesn't fit.

Especially conduit and knockouts.

Owain

[Simon Mason]

In 1977, I wrote all of our lab C of As in SI units, so flash points were in Kelvin.

Nobody was impressed.

[The Natural Philosopher]

anyone got a 3.2mm drill bit?

[PeterC]

I've a couple of 3.175mm bits - any good?

[T i m]

Or car tyres. 185 (metric) x 15 (imperial). ;-(

I think even worse are when things are measured in values that are generally meaningless ... like I needed some Gripfast nails that were

3/4 x 16 gauge. WTF is 'gauge' (I know *how* I can convert them to something tangible but like 'Number' sizes for drills or screws it just adds (added?) another layer of confusion)?

Cheers, T i m

[Brian Gaff]

Often the things we put stuff into are old and not metric. But, no I still find picturing the sizes of things in adverts given in metric impossible without converting them to imperial. If we had been taught it in school it might have a helped a lot This was the

1960s. It became very awkward when working for a company who bought in sheet metal for fabrication, as different suppliers often used different ways to specify stuff. we ended up with complex charts to convert AWG, SWG metric mm and fractions of an inch for thickness. Brian

[Simon Mason]

It can even confuse the experts.

[Capitol]

No, what size TV? 65 inch!

[Capitol]

Wafer thickness, thou. Diffusion depth , micron!

[Capitol]

How about some 4 penny nails?

[Fredxxx]

Were your current social skills equally impressive in 1977?

Nothing has changed.

[Simon Mason]

As I was only 19, no. Still, I am now glad that I started a pension at that age.

[Roger Mills]

Have you tried buying curtain material? 54" wide, sold by the metre length!

[Dave W]

I can only buy jam in 454g jars and milk in 568ml containers. The argument given was that manufacturers couldn't afford to change their glass bottles to 500g and 500ml. Surprise, surprise, European manufacturers had no trouble at all creating bottles containing pounds and pints to sell in the UK.

[Brian Gaff]

Are you referring to the Mars mission they flew too low due to the conversion acalculation in the software being wrong. I do remember that. I seem to recall that part of the mission software was european and part American. so much for standardisation and testing. Brian

[Brian Gaff]

I really do not understand why in the new wide screen format we still measure corner to corner, why not just give the picture size as two measurements? After all for ages speakers have had both measurements specified. Brian

[Bill]

If it is measured corner to corner the screen sounds as if it is larger than it actually is.

[polygonum]

Interestingly, much European coffee (e.g Lavazza, Segafredo) is sold in the UK in 250 gram packages. Whereas most UK coffee is in 227, or more recently, 200 grams. This makes a noticeable difference when comparing prices. OK, not gigantic, but quite often enough to affect choice.