Imperial vs Metric

[Uncle Grumpy]

43 years ago Britain went decimal, that's plenty of time to get the hang of the new fangled dosh. I suspect many still have fond memories of the old coinage from a gentler age before computers, credit cards, mobile phones, NuLabour and the European Union.
It's puzzling to me that the impressive mechanism that introduced the new currency in 1971 wasn't similarly deployed to bring about full metrification as we remain neither one thing nor the other. Whatever the official policy through the decades, it smacks of political inertia and the feeling of a job half done.
One can understand the reluctance of any government seen to be introducing an unpopular
Euro-standardisation as we cling onto so much of our imperial past.
The biggest disappointment for me with the painful metrication process was when the Ordnance Survey hastily replaced feet with metres, when the mighty 3,000 foot mountains of Britain suddenly became a meaningless 914 metres high.
I'm just about old enough to remember the bob, tanner and thruppence and I must confess to not having a clue how many KG's I weigh, how any metres high I am, how many kilometres to London it is, or how many litres of beer is going to give me a headache in the morning.
When the annoyingly metric BBC weatherman predicts an 8cm fall of snow, it can't be just me who attempts an instant conversion into inches using thumb and forefinger.
I think it's 3 and a bit inches.

[Fife Flyer]

Sadly I am old enough to remember that big day
I have to confess I am still an Imperial user and recently have been using google to convert a few things from metric to imperial so that I can then visualise/understand how far or how heavy.

Agree with your post that as a nation we are well & truly mixed up & confused, speed limits in MPH & we still work out MPG's but buy fuel in litres

[Essan]

I am 48

I am prety sure that at school we must have used metric measurements. But they still mean nothing to me and I think in inches, feet, yards and miles. Though I do use mm for very small measurement (but get very confused when people use them for anything over 10mm ..... )

That said, as an amateur meteorologist I also think in centigrade and hectaPascals. But also mph ....

[Gythral]

Actually coinage was 4 years late changing to something sensible, the metric system of measurements was adopted in 1967, but I still drive miles and walk kilometres, fly at 30000 feet but climb 50m pitches.

[StevieC]

I remember decimilisation day well, but the only time I use imperial these days is for driving - everything else is pretty much metric. I think having such a ubiquitous hold-out as the "mile" is holding most people back from full conversion, but I don't suppose we'll be switching to kilometres any time soon given the current climate

[gaffr]

The climate in Yorkshire seems fairly gloomy. Maybe trailside waymarkers will be metric soon, see image, in Scotland that will cheer-up Mr. Grumpy Did you use the old 1" maps to travel round the Munros?
But haven't the O.S.maps always been metric, well it was set-up with an metric grid but the British, we off-shore islanders, used it for a very long time converted into say 1" to 1 mile or having a RF of 1:63,360 now how difficult to use is that especially when the grid lines on the map were 1.6 cms for each kiometre?
Now what could be easier to use than the 2 cms or the 4 cms for each kilometre maps that we all now use?
914 metres or 3,000' they are all munros..our favourite frigid mistresses

The sign of things to come?

[Caberfeidh]

What was wrong with good old pounds, shillings and ounces ? As for other measurements, when I worked in hospitals (adds a whole new terror to illness and injury, eh?) I "helped" a medical student who was being shown around the Intensive Care Unit; she was asked by the consultant which unit of measurement the suction was measured in. I whispered " Lewinskis" to her, and she duly gave this answer to the consultant... Laugh? I nearly paid my professional registration fee.... The consultant was unimpressed.

Lewinsky

[Uncle Grumpy]

[b]

I think it's 3 and a bit inches.

Is this a boast or an expression of regret?

Ha Ha, Last time I looked it must have been many, many mm's long.

The climate in Yorkshire seems fairly gloomy. Maybe trailside waymarkers will be metric soon, see image, in Scotland that will cheer-up Mr. Grumpy Did you use the old 1" maps to travel round the Munros?
But haven't the O.S.maps always been metric, well it was set-up with an metric grid but the British, we off-shore islanders, used it for a very long time converted into say 1" to 1 mile or having a RF of 1:63,360 now how difficult to use is that especially when the grid lines on the map were 1.6 cms for each kiometre?
Now what could be easier to use than the 2 cms or the 4 cms for each kilometre maps that we all now use?
914 metres or 3,000' they are all munros..our favourite frigid mistresses

The first metric sign in Scotland (640x478).jpg

I used the 1 1/4 '' to the mile, 2cm to 1km Landranger series which are depressingly metric.
I inherited some glorious old fabric backed 1'' maps published in 1955, now they were proper maps!

In my more recent forays into the hills, I still use my tatty old Landrangers with GPS backup which, of course, is set up in feet.

[gaffr]

Oh! cheer yourself up a bit Mr. Grumpy. Set your GNSS device thing to metric and then you will be in sync. with your metric map and with the rest of Europe. Do you really convert your height gains into feet after consulting the map contours when setting yourself up for a walk in the hills?

[Sgurr]

In my pre-pensioner incarnation when I ran a 2nd hand bookshop, as soon as I got in any 1" maps they disappeared to hillwalkers who were only comfortable walking non metric.

[Uncle Grumpy]

We're born in lb's and oz's so confusion from kick off then...?

Oh! cheer yourself up a bit Mr. Grumpy. Set your GNSS device thing to metric and then you will be in sync. with your metric map and with the rest of Europe. Do you really convert your height gains into feet after consulting the map contours when setting yourself up for a walk in the hills?

Hell no, I prefer the map and compass for navigation, maybe digging out the GPS from the bottom of me rucksack to cross-check the grid ref.

[Lightfoot2017]

she was asked by the consultant which unit of measurement the suction was measured in. I whispered " Lewinskis" .

Lewinsky.jpg

Genius! If I had a cap, Sir, I'd doff it in your direction....

[Red Peak]

914 metres or 3,000' they are all munros..our favourite frigid mistresses

It's always baffled me why Munros (and other mountain groups) are so often listed with their heights given in metres. Even here on walkhighlands, if you look at the Munro list, the heights are given in metres. Given that the main criterion for Munro eligibility is to be 3000 feet or over, why not give the height in feet?

When asked by our non-hillwalking friends and colleagues what a Munro is and why do we 'collect' them, how many of us say they're the mountains of Scotland over 914.4 metres in height? Ok, so there's bound to be one awkward bugger that does, but you get the point

[Dan Scheer]

When asked by our non-hillwalking friends and colleagues what a Munro is and why do we 'collect' them, how many of us say they're the mountains of Scotland over 914.4 metres in height? Ok, so there's bound to be one awkward bugger that does, but you get the point

Hi! Awkward bugger here, nice to meet you!
I have to admit, I am very confused why people still cling on to the imperial system! I really do not want to offend anyone here but in my opinion it really doesn't make any sense. I am not saying this because I am from the continent and grew up in a metric system, because I spent about 14 years in the UK now and quite happy using both systems interchangeably, but having spent most of my uni years doing sciency stuff which all use the metric system as it is simply more accurate and convenient. While the imperial system is perfectly fine for your general day to day stuff, as soon as anything needs to be accurate or precise, you use the SI metric system (or can anyone tell me what a micro/nano/picometre etc is in imperial?) So why make your own life complicated by using two systems? I have encountered more than enough examples of things going wrong here because people got confused or miscommunication because of having people work in two different systems. ie the old Aberdeen Uni swimming pool which ended up being a useless 17.5m metres or something like that because whoever built it planned in imperial and build in metric or the other way round... or even in general conversation I come across so much confusion because people cannot seem to make their mind up over which system to use...
As a 'foreigner' here, I saw it as my duty to adapt to my new 'home' country and made sure I learned to use the imperial system, so I am happy using either and not trying to have a go at the imperial system here, just tyring to understand what makes people stick to an, IMHO, outdated system?

[CharlesT]

If asked what a Munro is I say a mountain in Scotland 3000 feet or over.

If then asked what a foot is I say twelve inches.

If then asked what an inch is I say that within which you are in peril of your life if you persist.

Couldn't do thst in metric.