Are you metric or not? Why?

[gary]

I use metric because we have to since the UK agreed to become part of the European experiment. I think and use Imperial for almost all my leatherwork.

We buy litres of petrol (gas) but all our roadsigns are in miles and yards. I use miles per gallon but they try and sell us car performance at litres per 100 kilometres.

Don't hate Napoleon too much as he was the originator of riding on the right - something to do with reducing the number of sword fights from horseback I am led to believe.

My mother still mentally converts metric pounds and pence to imperial pounds, shillings and pence and nearly has a heart attack when she finds out how much something costs.

When I started nursing in the 70's we had only recently gone metric so many of the older doctors/nurses still thought and spoke and wrote in drachms and so on, so we had to learn to convert in our heads as all meds were in metric. Midwives still seem to talk about baby feeds in ounces rather than millilitres.

We've had hectares for years but everyone I know still speaks in acres and you can visualise an acre (well, I can), but a hectare?.

And metric quantities are still sold by the dozen.

And didn't the UK, at one time many years ago, want to be like Europe and drive on the right? That would have been very sporty!

Gary

[Nutty Saddler]

As the Aircraft industry is supposed to be the most advanced , you would think they would use the metric system as it is the most logical ...........

Aircraft engine thrust is measured in pounds , internal gas pressure systems are measured in Pounds per Square inch - or Bar, altimeters primary measurement is in feet , when re-filling a pilots breathing cylinder you re-fill it with cu.ft , the list is almost endless

When the space shuttle takes off ? don't they measure the takeoff weight in tonnes or pounds

To really confuse things there are two different gallons , a US gallon is 3.78 litres , an Imperial gallon is 4.54 litres - I can remember in the 80's a passanger flight ran out of fuel because someone on the ground got confused , I don't know the exact specifics but for example the ground crew were told to put 10,000 gallons( imperial or 45,400 litres) of fuel on the plane but instead they only put 10,000 US gallons on the plane ( 37,800 litres ) so the plane was 7,600 litres short and ran out of fuel - only the quick thinking pilot who happened to be an ex-military pilot and remembered where there was a disused airfield saved everyone onboard.

A ships speed is measured in Knotts , A horse race is measured in Furlongs ( in the UK ) , a horses height is measured in hands , a horse at auction is still sold in Guineas ...... confused yet

I personaly use imperial measurements for all my work - most everything is measured in 1/8 inch or multiples of that - though sometimes I do cut strips at 11/16 ( don't ask )

Edited November 28, 2010 by Nutty Saddler

[tonyc1]

I attempted to use Metric when the country swapped to metric but buggered up too many jobs, so went back to good old Imperial as I can picture so many cubic feet and not so many litres! Too old to chaange now. I must say it is hard to find wooden rulers in imperial these days. Horse rugs are sold in feet and inches and so are many other items. I'm comfortable and understand imperial so I'll stay with it now.

Tony.

[Nutty Saddler]

My bad - my memory isn't what it used to be .

The year was 1983 and a Canadian airlines 767 took off after having being re-fueled with 22,000 LBS of fuel instead of 22,000 KGS !

[gary]

And I've just remembered the military used both degrees and mils to describe an angle. 360 degrees = 6400 mils.

Everyone used degrees because it was easiest apart from the artillery who used mils.

Massive potential for confusion as an azimuth of 180 degrees (behind me) for indirect fire could be interpreted as 180 mils (almost in front of me).

Don't know if mils is a metric or scientific abberation.

Something to do with one mil angle at 1000 metres (or meters) measured 1 metre laterally.

[JLSleather]

It's only because both exist that there even is any confusion.

Wife is from New Zealand, and mostly uses "English", because the butcher would have us committed if we asked for 60 grams of sirloin. She's better at it than before, which is good cuz the speed limits are in "English".

I know that 6 mm = .234 inches. I always remember that because I spent 12 hours one night drilling out two dozen 1/4" cap screws that some genius forced into 6 mm holes in a hardened die block.

If we had JUST metric stuff, I wouldn't need to remember the conversion, So, go with just ONE ... and the one the rest of the world uses is metric. Should be easy enough ... me 'n' the kids LIKE the idea of going down the road at 100 (k).

[BondoBobCustomSaddles]

Ok, I am comfortable in both, I have worked as a draftsman, machinist, decorating engineer and seating engineer, hobbies in auto racing, sporterizing rifles, and saddle making in my life time. If I had my druthers, I'd druther stick to the sae measurement I grew up with in the 40's and 50's. Besides, that's just the way I think and am too damn old to change!

Bob

[oldtimer]

And I've just remembered the military used both degrees and mils to describe an angle. 360 degrees = 6400 mils.

Everyone used degrees because it was easiest apart from the artillery who used mils.

Massive potential for confusion as an azimuth of 180 degrees (behind me) for indirect fire could be interpreted as 180 mils (almost in front of me).

Don't know if mils is a metric or scientific abberation.

Something to do with one mil angle at 1000 metres (or meters) measured 1 metre laterally.

Correct ! But, in the Swedish Artillery we counted 6300 mils for a full circle.

/ Knut

Edited November 28, 2010 by oldtimer

[gary]

I think it's based on pi times 2000 for some reason (and then rounded-up).

[MikeCahill]

I have a random assortment of metric and imperial rules and straight edges and use both, if I start a job in metric, I stick with metric to the end, if imperial, ditto. one of the stories I remember was that British Waterways, a government agency that manages the canal system ordered as a rush job a pair of lock gates, from two of their workshops (one gate each) one gate was made in imperial, the other workshop only worked in metric, so all the dimensions were converted into both systems, I don't know which way round! surprise , surprise the gates didn't fit!