Metric turncoats

[Flying_Monkey]

I can quite happily use both, and I don't really have any time for people who get worked up about units. We've changed them so many times over history. As long as you get to the right cafe at the right time, who cares?

 

[alecstilleyedye]

i use km, as my first ever comp (a sigma) was only calibrated for them. and as the tour de france coverage always referred to the riders' speed and distance in km, it gave a benchmark as to how slow i was.

i just do the arithmetic in my head if i need to know how many miles i've gone instead of how many km.

most modern comps handle both, so folk can just use what they want. what's wrong with that?

 

[NickM]

i use km, as my first ever comp (a sigma) was only calibrated for them...

You could have had it reading in miles by just dividing your wheel diameter number by 1.61

 

[John the Monkey]

most modern comps handle both, so folk can just use what they want. what's wrong with that?

One of the odd things with my Sigma computer is that the km/miles setting is dependant on whether you use 24hr clock or not (24hr=Km, 12hr=Miles).

Being an awkward bugger, I like the impossible combination of 24hr clock, and measurement in the old money...

 

[simoncc]

I never use kilometers. Road signs are in miles and so is my cycle computer. I never hear anyone ever referring to UK distances in kilometers. It just hasn't caught on at all, even with the young, just like telling others of a baby's weight in kilograms hasn't either, and never will.

 

[Fnaar]

I think in miles etc for distance, pounds and ounces for weight (I was overly-familiar with quarter ounces, once upon a time), but Centigrade for temps...
My kids seem to be happier with grammes and kg for weight, but do distances etc in miles still....

 

[monnet]

I use km's, weigh myself in metric (so do all my friends), cook using metric and for angry mr hippo I don't drive a car (although i do know fuel is sold in litres) and nor do I ride a mountain bike. I know and can approximate most measurements into imperial but rarely have the need to. Part of it is a legacy of living abroad so I had to get used to always using metric otherwise I would've had difficulty getting by. Overall though, I prefer the metric system anyway - it just works better for me.

I use km's on the bike for similar reasons as someone else said - it's what the professionals use so it helps me assess how crap I am compared to them. But is it really important which system we use?

 

[Arch]

I think in miles etc for distance, pounds and ounces for weight (I was overly-familiar with quarter ounces, once upon a time), but Centigrade for temps...
My kids seem to be happier with grammes and kg for weight, but do distances etc in miles still....

Somebody pointed out, on the radio the other day, that we Brits tend to use centigrade or celsius for cold, but Fahrenheit for hot, so a hot day is 90 in the shade, but a cold day is 5 below. It's one of the things I like
about this country...

Generally, I think in miles, not Km, although I tend to think in cm, not inches (except for peoples heights, those are feet and inches). pounds and ounces not grammes and kg, pints not litres.

Mostly I measure in handfuls or dollops or shedloads or some quantity like that...

 

[marinyork]

Why, when the French designed the metric system, did they not metricate time? Why do we not have a 20-hour day, with 10 hours each of day and night at the equinoxes?

But they did...

 

[Horace Goes Skiing]

When I went to school we were not taught the metric system but I know it so why don't you know the imperial system?

Because it's an outdated, ludicrous system and it deserves to die. You'll be asking me to learn how to convert my cash into shillings and florins next.

I use metric in all it's glory for work and think in metric for day-to-day stuff like cooking, building, cycling...doesn't every young person do so by now?

 

[rich p]

If I'm thinking about the length of a piece of wood it'll be in feet, yards and inches but if I'm actually measuring it with a tape I'll use cm as they're much more practical.
Planning a map route on a French map I'll do some convoluted calculation to change cms to kms and then to miles.

 

[simoncc]

Football needs to be played with the proper imperial rules. For example, the goal is 8 yards wide and 8 feet high, not 7.32m wide and 2.44m wide which are the inexact metric equivalents. All football associations around the world should be issued with imperial measuring devices which they have to use or the games should be decalred null and void.

The 12 yards from the penalty spot to the goal is 11m in the metric rules, over an inch shorter. That is unacceptable and unecessary when foreigners could easily be compelled to use the correct units.

 

[longers]

You what? 1.61 m to a km? I think not!!

Yes, I did read it wrong .

 

[Dave5N]

Football needs to be played with the proper imperial rules. For example, the goal is 8 yards wide and 8 feet high, not 7.32m wide and 2.44m wide which are the inexact metric equivalents. All football associations around the world should be issued with imperial measuring devices which they have to use or the games should be decalred null and void.

The 12 yards from the penalty spot to the goal is 11m in the metric rules, over an inch shorter. That is unacceptable and unecessary when foreigners could easily be compelled to use the correct units.

Ah. The freedom-loving SimonCC strikes another blow for liberty and diversity.

 

[NickM]

But they did...

They did? I've never heard of this (and nor have my French friends).

Pity it didn't stick!