Imperial or Metric system?

[bben46]

The system I use depends on what I'm doing with it. For engineering work, usually metric. However in my current job - working with large electric motors and motor controls I use horsepower instead of KiloWatts - neither of which is actually a very good way to rate a motor. (examples on request - PM - as it gets confusing very fast)

 

For carpentry or cooking Imperial. Primarily because here in the US houses and furniture are built using imperial. Try going into a lumber yard and asking for a 3 meter shelf board and you will get a blank look instead. Recipes are also in imperial - although I have found a few metric recipes. Having lived and worked in both Europe and Asia I can switch to whatever system is convenient at the time.

 

IMHO, Metric is simpler, But try telling that to a US elementary school teacher who has the job of teaching US children metric. - In my experience instead of actually teaching metric they only teach converting between the systems.

[phoneyLogic]

It's kind of funny. Who the hell managed that we measure the time all together with the same units, like hours, days, seconds, weeks .... Sounds like being impossible, but it has been managed though. In almost all cultures a week thankfully has 7 days and a day 24 hours. Even americans measure in miles per hour, not in miles per breath or miles per microsleep. :laugh:

 

Sometimes I'm glad, that it is only weight and stuff. Could have been worse ^^

Edited November 21, 2010 by tortured Tomato

[The1Doc]

*clears throat and places tongue firmly in cheek*

 

As for Americans and what did someone say.....Imperial Money? Does that mean if we had British Pounds or Euros? Or not metric countable money(based on 10, 100s?)? Because we have nickles and quarters and even pennies still....which come in handy on that 6% sales tax on things. LOL

 

Anyway..my

yup that was me.

 

since i was born post-conversion (1973), i plead a bit of ignorance since if i had learned any of it in school i wouldnt have remembered it anyways since imperial money isnt something we use these days thankfully. so i searched for some info.

 

first table is the the old UK imperial coinage & the 2nd table is the what the equivalent would be today

 

4 farthings = 1 penny

2 ha'pennies = 1 penny

12 pennies = 1 shilling

240 pennies = 1 pound

20 shillings = 1 pound

21 shillings = 1 guinea

2 shillings = 1 florin

half a crown = 2 shillings and 6 pence.

 

 

* Half penny (½p; £0.005) 1971–1984, demonetised since then.

* One penny (1p; £0.01), 1971–present

* Two pence (2p; £0.02), 1971–present

* Five pence (5p; £0.05), 1968–1990 (reduced to present size); 1990–present

* Ten pence (10p; £0.10), 1968–1992 (reduced to present size); 1992–present

* Twenty pence (20p; £0.20), 1982–present

* Twenty-five pence or crown (25p; £0.25), 1972–1981 (special issues, not in common circulation)

* Fifty pence (50p; £0.50), 1969–1997 (reduced to present size); 1997–present

* One pound (£1.00), 1983–present

* Two pounds (£2.00), 1986–1997 (special issues); 1997–present (general issue)

* Five pounds or crown (£5.00), 1990–present (special issues, not in common circulation though still legal tender)[24]

 

source here My link

 

for schooling, teachers (good & bad) are having a hard time as it is without having to teach something else they dont know about.

[ginnyfizz]

I have always said all along that if, due to the fact that the monetary system in the UK has been decimalised (and therefore no-one is going to expect you to convert old to new, The1Doc), and the fact that the Imperial System of measurement is no longer taught in British schools, there may well come a time when an elective decision is taken to convert completely to the metric system. That's fine. It's the element of compulsion that "You have to convert" and the implication that metric is better because the EU says so, that I object to. (As good a reason as any I can think of to avoid it like the plague, hehe.)

 

Roquefort, I am aware that eggs have always been graded by weight and then packed into boxes - I am a yokel (ouch, really bad pun) who realizes that eggs come out of a chicken, not out of a standard mould. It's still idiocy to require the weight in grammes to be displayed on the box, total waste of money and will just be an excuse to add to costs, because when I set out to buy eggs to make a cake, all I am interested in is whether the little blighters are large, medium, or small. I ain't interested in the total weight in grammes, and my recipes tend to be in pounds and ounces anyway. And the way our daffy officials do things over here (they zealously apply EU dictats in a way that makes the rest of the EU snigger in delight at our rolling over like puppies)I wouldn't bank on not having to have your eggs weighed individually at the till.

 

The fact is that I don't say Imperial is better than metric, or vice versa. What I do say is that those in positions of Government (ie like the EU, for example) who are proponents of the metric system do themselves no favours at all by their sheer bossiness and occasional rank loopiness, not to mention time and money wasting ideas (which is why I reference the example of the eggs.)

[The1Doc]

I have always said all along that if, due to the fact that the monetary system in the UK has been decimalised (and therefore no-one is going to expect you to convert old to new, The1Doc), and the fact that the Imperial System of measurement is no longer taught in British schools, there may well come a time when an elective decision is taken to convert completely to the metric system. That's fine. It's the element of compulsion that "You have to convert" and the implication that metric is better because the EU says so, that I object to. (As good a reason as any I can think of to avoid it like the plague, hehe.)

 

Roquefort, I am aware that eggs have always been graded by weight and then packed into boxes - I am a yokel (ouch, really bad pun) who realizes that eggs come out of a chicken, not out of a standard mould. It's still idiocy to require the weight in grammes to be displayed on the box, total waste of money and will just be an excuse to add to costs, because when I set out to buy eggs to make a cake, all I am interested in is whether the little blighters are large, medium, or small. I ain't interested in the total weight in grammes, and my recipes tend to be in pounds and ounces anyway. And the way our daffy officials do things over here (they zealously apply EU dictats in a way that makes the rest of the EU snigger in delight at our rolling over like puppies)I wouldn't bank on not having to have your eggs weighed individually at the till.

 

The fact is that I don't say Imperial is better than metric, or vice versa. What I do say is that those in positions of Government (ie like the EU, for example) who are proponents of the metric system do themselves no favours at all by their sheer bossiness and occasional rank loopiness, not to mention time and money wasting ideas (which is why I reference the example of the eggs.)

sorry, but i actually wasnt really trying to state a case for a conversion to, or staying with the system in place now. since i dont remember seeing any comments about pre-decimal money, i thought i would throw it in there.

[WeissYohji]

Imperial/American all the way. I was born using the Imperial system, and I'll die using the Imperial system.

 

Sure, you've got powers of ten with the metric system, but the Imperial system uses a base-12 and base-16 system which evolved naturally. From 12, you can have half, a quarter, a third, a sixth, a twelfth, etc., before having to use decimals. From 16, you can have half, a quarter, an eighth, sixteenth, thirty-second, sixty-fourth, etc., going even further before resorting to decimals.

 

The Imperial system evolved naturally. The metric system was imposed from above.

The day I use the metric system is the day hens give milk. There is no way America will ever embrace the metric system. Just like how we'll never embrace the dollar coin (You could put John Wayne's face on the damn thing and people still wouldn't spend it).

[Balagor]

Imperial/American all the way. I was born using the Imperial system, and I'll die using the Imperial system.

 

Sure, you've got powers of ten with the metric system, but the Imperial system uses a base-12 and base-16 system which evolved naturally. From 12, you can have half, a quarter, a third, a sixth, a twelfth, etc., before having to use decimals. From 16, you can have half, a quarter, an eighth, sixteenth, thirty-second, sixty-fourth, etc., going even further before resorting to decimals.

 

The Imperial system evolved naturally. The metric system was imposed from above.

The day I use the metric system is the day hens give milk. There is no way America will ever embrace the metric system. Just like how we'll never embrace the dollar coin (You could put John Wayne's face on the damn thing and people still wouldn't spend it).

 

So how is you dollar divided into dimes? 96 cents= 1 dollar or 100 cents = 1 dollar :P

[marharth]

I don't really care what system we use, I just wish everyone everywhere used the same one...

[ginnyfizz]

I just don't buy that about everyone having to use the same system. Why do we need to?

[Balagor]

I don't really care what system we use, I just wish everyone everywhere used the same one...

 

I´m in for that. It goes for electricity too. It`s better now, but before you had to carry a bag full of adaptors for your shaver, hairdryer, etc. just to cope with the multiple designs of plugs in Europe. :pinch: