Anglefire Posted December 26, 2017 Report Share Posted December 26, 2017 I'm in engineering and worked at my Uncles factory after I left Uni (well Poly, but they no longer exist!) and they mostly used imperial because it was considered more accurate - or at least easier to work in small numbers - they were into precision machining so worked down to a thou (sandth of an inch) routinely - but did go to microns when tolerances were very tight! I actually work in anything - but tend to use mm then inches, feet and yards/meters, miles - I don't recognised cm as they are not an official SI unit which are multiples of 1000 - and I don't care if this is actually factually incorrect Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerguzzi Posted December 26, 2017 Report Share Posted December 26, 2017 Hello All I remember going to a wood yard years ago and asking for a 6 foot post and the reply was do you want a 6 foot metric or 6 foot English! Plus I think wood in UK is still sold IMPERIAL or why would we have 1.8m,2.4m etc ????? They do not make sense MR surveyor or they would be 2m or 3m etc !!!!!!! Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gully Posted December 27, 2017 Report Share Posted December 27, 2017 24 minutes ago, rogerguzzi said: Hello All I remember going to a wood yard years ago and asking for a 6 foot post and the reply was do you want a 6 foot metric or 6 foot English! Plus I think wood in UK is still sold IMPERIAL or why would we have 1.8m,2.4m etc ????? They do not make sense MR surveyor or they would be 2m or 3m etc !!!!!!! Roger That's exactly the point Pete made - we continued to make 6ft and 8ft fences after metrication and simply expressed them in metric sizes. However, as someone brought up with the metric system, I can visualise what 2.4m looks like, but if someone said 8ft I'd need to ponder and convert to metric. And I get completely lost with oz in a lb and all those eighths, sixteenths, thirty-seconds and sixty fourths. Thousandths of an inch make sense, although without a set of feeler gauges I'd have no idea how much ten thou was! I guess your affinity is always to the system you find intuitive. Gully Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted December 27, 2017 Report Share Posted December 27, 2017 A pot to piss in? Aye, that were luxury. We used a rolled up newspaper. Cue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKHFZBUTA4k John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted December 27, 2017 Report Share Posted December 27, 2017 14 hours ago, Chris A said: Typical British compromise, love it. If metric is so wonderful, how come I can buy a 13mm socket - when I have to - but with a 1/2 inch drive? Imperial is still the 'power behind the throne' as it were.... Plus: you can walk into Subway and buy a 'footlong', and I've never seen a 30cm pizza.... it's all 10 12 or 14 inch... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted December 27, 2017 Report Share Posted December 27, 2017 13 minutes ago, Colin Lindsay said: If metric is so wonderful, how come I can buy a 13mm socket - when I have to - but with a 1/2 inch drive? Imperial is still the 'power behind the throne' as it were.... Plus: you can walk into Subway and buy a 'footlong', and I've never seen a 30cm pizza.... it's all 10 12 or 14 inch... I never said metric was wonderful, just pointed out that , as others have also said, Britain mixes the 2 systems. Not only Britain - Tyres the world over : diameter is in inches but width in mm. I wouldn't buy a "footlong" in Subway, I wouldn't go into a Subway at all. Even if they sell the sandwich in an imperial length the nutritional information is in metric (I've just looked at their web site). It does also work the other way around, here in the land of the Kilo it does happen that on markets you will see occasionally in season certain fruit sold by the "livre", and they don't mean by the book put by the pound, don't ask me why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted December 27, 2017 Report Share Posted December 27, 2017 6 hours ago, Chris A said: I never said metric was wonderful I wouldn't buy a "footlong" in Subway, I wouldn't go into a Subway at all. Even if they sell the sandwich in an imperial length the nutritional information is in metric (I've just looked at their web site). Sorry Chris, didn't mean to imply that you did, it was the compromise I was pointing out - the mixture of both systems where Imperial still plays a huge part. Anyone for a quarter-pounder? The nutritional information may be metric, but you still pile on the pounds... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave.vitesse Posted December 27, 2017 Report Share Posted December 27, 2017 Hmm - A UK car's top speed is still measured in MPH and fuel consumption MPG. But the fuel pumps measure in litres. Some road signs give distance yards and others meters! Distance on a sign post is given in miles. Ho Hum. Double standards? Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted December 27, 2017 Report Share Posted December 27, 2017 The little distance posts on the side of motorways have been a hundred meters apart since the 1980s. In fact this so-called double standards is the same as the way English works. It coopts and uses words from other languanges to its own purposes, and so do the English. I don't just mean Latin, because the status quo is not pro bono, but ballet, cafe, entrepreneur (Fr), Delicatessen, Kindergarten (G), Guerilla. mosquito (Sp), Khaki (Hindi), Gung-ho (Ch), Tattoo (Polynesia) et cetera. etc. etc. Hence "Perfidious Albion"! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted December 27, 2017 Report Share Posted December 27, 2017 Bungalow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted December 27, 2017 Report Share Posted December 27, 2017 2 hours ago, JohnD said: The little distance posts on the side of motorways have been a hundred meters apart since the 1980s. In fact this so-called double standards is the same as the way English works. It coopts and uses words from other languanges to its own purposes, and so do the English. I don't just mean Latin, because the status quo is not pro bono, but ballet, cafe, entrepreneur (Fr), Delicatessen, Kindergarten (G), Guerilla. mosquito (Sp), Khaki (Hindi), Gung-ho (Ch), Tattoo (Polynesia) et cetera. etc. etc. Hence "Perfidious Albion"! John QED Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave.vitesse Posted December 27, 2017 Report Share Posted December 27, 2017 John, I totally agree that the English language evolved and to be over critical is wrong . However, The metric system was imposed (in 1960's/70's) or parts were that what can be confusing to many. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted December 28, 2017 Report Share Posted December 28, 2017 I remember when changes started coming in and going to the wood yard (should that be wood 0.9144 metres?) and having to buy in lengths that were multiples of 30 cm but the cross section was still in inches. Oh happy days Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted December 28, 2017 Report Share Posted December 28, 2017 Metric confusing? What's confusing about "divide by ten", instead of 12. 14, 16 , 112, 8, 20. And don't start talking Imperial tons (2240lbs), US Tons (2000lbs), 1/640th of a square mile (acre) etc.etc. etc. In the workshop, try taking 5/16th from 1 and 3/8 inches, in your head, and compare 35 - 8mm. The first does my head in! It was expedient, but lazy, to restate old imperial lengths/widths of wood in metric, so that the machines that cut them didn't have to be reset, and to go on drawing pints of beer - as Orwell said in 1984, half a liter is too little and a liter too much (it doesn't stop the Continentals!) Embrace metrication! Keep the old measures where they're needed, but not in engineering! The US lost at least one Mars probe because an engineer did rocket science in Imperial when it would have been Metric! John 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted December 28, 2017 Report Share Posted December 28, 2017 1 is 16/16ths, 3/8ths is 6/16ths, total is 22/16ths. Minus 5/16ths is 17/16ths. Quite easy if you were brought up on the stuff. Interestingly, at one point, the only glass manufacturer of dimpled pint glasses with a handle was in France! Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted December 28, 2017 Report Share Posted December 28, 2017 51 minutes ago, JohnD said: The US lost at least one Mars probe because an engineer did rocket science in Imperial when it would have been Metric! That's because Mars is now smaller than it was back then.... A standard Mars Bar was 65g back in the 1990s, but nowadays they've reduced it to 51g. Think of the effect that must have had on an entire planet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted December 28, 2017 Report Share Posted December 28, 2017 1 hour ago, JohnD said: as Orwell said in 1984, half a liter is too little and a liter too much (it doesn't stop the Continentals!) Embrace metrication! John Ah, but in French bars the standard measure for draught beer is 25cl called a"demi" ( a demi what I have no idea), or if not thirsty a" galopin" which is 12.5cl. Bottled beer comes in either 25cl or 33cl, mind you my local artisan brewery bottles there stuff in 33cl & 50cl. And yes they use cl not dl or ml... Think I need a drink. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave.vitesse Posted December 28, 2017 Report Share Posted December 28, 2017 The confusing area is where we used Metres to measure length but still use Miles and yards to measure distance. A length of road can be measured in Metres, say 100 Metres to the next junction. But the distance to the next junction has to be in Miles and yards e.g. 1/4 mile or 440 yards. The point being we don't use Kilometres for distance. Speedo must express speed in the UK as Miles per Hour not Kilometres per Hour. Also we still use Miles per Gallon even though fuel is now not sold in gallon measures. I was told years ago we stuck with Miles for distance as it would cost too much to change all the signs and car speedo. Its a mixture of imperial and metric Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted December 28, 2017 Report Share Posted December 28, 2017 20 minutes ago, Chris A said: Think I need a drink. You certainly can't order a pint in metric. However to show my tolerance of these new fangled measurements, I'll combine the two. Consequently I'll drink pints and pee in litres. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Twitchen Posted December 28, 2017 Report Share Posted December 28, 2017 But when is a mile not a mile? As we know, or most of us, a statute mile is 1,760yds but afloat a tactical mile is 2,000yds and a nautical mile is 1 minute of latitude, which varies where you are relative to the equator and North or South Poles. 'Johnny foreigner' still uses nautical miles for distance but we all tend to measure depth in Metres, although some charts still use Feet and failure to check the chart annotation can be problematic! A bit like checking which datum is in use for your GPS position, which must be 'true' but when was the chart produced and using what method. Still, this cold weather means a tot of rum is socially acceptable to keep warm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted December 28, 2017 Report Share Posted December 28, 2017 1 hour ago, Dick Twitchen said: A bit like checking which datum is in use for your GPS position, which must be 'true' but when was the chart produced and using what method. My datum is decades old but still works, I just look out of the window and read the roadsigns. Anyway a metre is a musical term, so do we drive along in time to the music? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Caswell Posted December 28, 2017 Report Share Posted December 28, 2017 22 hours ago, dougbgt6 said: Bungalow! The builder ran out of bricks so he said "bung a low roof on it!!" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted December 28, 2017 Report Share Posted December 28, 2017 Doug, "1 is 16/16ths, 3/8ths is 6/16ths, total is 22/16ths. Minus 5/16ths is 17/16ths. Quite easy if you were brought up on the stuff." The last bit may be true, but so is quantum chromodynamics! Compare the metric version, 35 - 8 = 27mm! Like measures of beer, but in reverse, 1/16" is not small enough to provide an accurate measure and 1/32 is too small to conveniently measure. Dammit, 1/32" is 32 thou! (31.25 for pedants). A millimeter, and a half if pushed, is quite accurate enough for most purposes. Vive le Metric! John PS Ben, wrong thread? Cracker jokes? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris A Posted December 28, 2017 Report Share Posted December 28, 2017 2 hours ago, Dick Twitchen said: Still, this cold weather means a tot of rum is socially acceptable to keep warm. Here the standard measure for rum in a bar or restaurant is 5cl, a tot of rum is 1/8th of a pint. A pint is 568.26125 ml, therefore a tot in ml is ... Just pass me the bottle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted December 28, 2017 Report Share Posted December 28, 2017 John, Yes, but, I have no vision what 27mm is, until I divided by 25.4 and, blimey! It's an inch and a bit, probably an inch and a 1/16th. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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