Imperial Or Metric?

1.4k · April 14, 2006

I think measuring anything according to a rod of platinum in the Sorbonne goes against the grain as well

The original French metre was intended to be defined as exactly one ten millionth part of the distance from the Equator to the Pole, but they soon realised that their geodesy was a load of bolleaux and that the Brit geodesists were much better at measuring the semi-major and semi-minor axes of the Earth, so they abandoned the idea.

They do make some good wine, though!

Edited April 14, 2006 by The Forester

2.5k · April 14, 2006

Does it matter? As long as the end results are the same i.e. cache retrieved

April 15, 2006

When on a ship I am usually the only westerner on board, so apart from vessel's speed which is always knots, everything has to be in metric, or no-one can understand me, Filipino's and most arabs are strictly metric, and wouldn't know and inch if it bit them in the foot <_<

Here in Kuwait, everything is metric, and when at home I use whatever comes to hand and have no problem thinking and working in either imperial or metric, guess I am just lucky <_<

stay safe

Bill

April 15, 2006

48 yo - When caching I use feet/ miles.

at home I use a mixture - whichever takes my fancy at the time or what I'm working with (if it states metric or not)

I used to be a draughtsman and drew in metric but was brought up on Imperial, and so I got used to converting back and forth in my head.

When describing measurement to others I tend to use metric (just like Blue Peter).... except for cachers!!

April 15, 2006

Metric. Before caching, as an engineer I was completely confortable with metric distances up to 100m but beyond that I thought in imperial. When taking up caching I deliberately decided to use metric and am now comfortable with metric distances also.

April 15, 2006

For travel in the car Miles but once on foot it has to be metric! An OS grid square is a km!

April 15, 2006

40 year old - Proper feet and inches for me! Even my retractable steel tape measure is an American import so it doesn't have Eurobabble measurements on it to confuse. No truck with Eurobabble here!

1.2k · April 15, 2006

Age 38 I can work in either imperial or metric in everyday situations.

Length/distance - mm,cm,inch,ft,yd,m,km,mile I'm OK with. (A nautical mile, in my head is 'a bit longer than a mile', likewise a knot is a 'bit more than 1mph'.)

Weight - gm,oz,lb,kg,ton - as I would tend to be cooking for weights I use grams as most recipes use grams and I measure them, equally though I would weigh them in oz so no difference. However, you can estimate an oz/25g of fat or flour easily so for these I don't weigh at all, but I do always convert 25g to 1 oz - I was taught to cook in imperial.

A ton - I visualise this - most people when they order sand/gravel etc from a builders merchant will have a ton, so a ton looks about the same as your average pile of sand that you see one someones drive. If you see a big pile, it might be two or three tons. Of course alot of people use those bags that can be craned off a flat bed truck, to a ton is the same as a bag of sand/gravel in modern terms.

Area - no concept at all (through having no need), I would have to pace/measure it out and check.

Fractions/decimels/%ages - completely happy with all.

Caching - miles and feet. Just what I selected when I set up my GPS. I wonder whether I should change it to metric or leave it for the kids sake. Should they be confused, or become bilingual in imperial/metric?

Haven't thought about this before, thanks for the topic.

8.6k · April 16, 2006

Ah, whilst awake you may use imperial or metric, but what units do you dream in?........

April 16, 2006

Incidentally, have you noted that when decsribing weather, we tend to adopt the unit which makes the measurement sound more extreme? In winter "Brrrr...it's only about 1 or 2 degrees out there" sounds better than saying it's in the low 30s" But in the summer it's "phew what a scorcher - it's in the high 90s out there".

How true! I understand zero in centigrade/celsius - that's cold! Once it gets to a certain point, I double it and add 30 to change it (I know it's not quite right, but near enough) into fahrenheit. Weird!

There was only metric when I was at school, but I still have my GPS set on miles and feet except when a cache description says it's xxx metres away and then I switch...briefly.

I always measure small distances in centimetres though.

April 17, 2006

Ah, whilst awake you may use imperial or metric, but what units do you dream in?........

Togs.

April 17, 2006

A 63 year old here....and whats all this imperial and metric ?

What is wrong with the good old... Rod/Perch/Chain method of measuring

B.

1.5k · April 17, 2006

I use metres for the simple reason that my GPS reads down to 0.01 of km or miles (yes it's an old but faithful GPS12!) and it is a lot easier to visualise 0.1km than 0.1miles (or 176 yards).

April 17, 2006

What is wrong with the good old... Rod/Perch/Chain method of measuring

I can't find the page on my GPS for them

April 17, 2006

but what units do you dream in?........

nanoseconds and yoctoseconds

April 17, 2006

Ah, whilst awake you may use imperial or metric, but what units do you dream in?........

Togs.

Radio 2 listener?

April 17, 2006

both i guess

GPS set to metres and KM, but gc.com left set to caches within N miles of my postcode - probably cause roadsigns are in miles so i have an idea how far from my house the caches are, but when walking can visualise 100m far easier, and kilometres disappear faster than miles so its a morale thing

temp in centigrade but weight and height in feet-inches/stones-pounds

and im 26

April 17, 2006

What is wrong with the good old... Rod/Perch/Chain method of measuring

B.

What are rods, perches and chains? And bushels and pecks? Imperial is a total mystery to me sometimes was and I just don't get it...............although I have a vague memory that chains have something to do with cricket wickets...... ?

......think i'll stick with metric!

April 17, 2006

What is wrong with the good old... Rod/Perch/Chain method of measuring

I can't find the page on my GPS for them

Well i guess you must have a very old model

B.

April 17, 2006

Ah, whilst awake you may use imperial or metric, but what units do you dream in?........

Togs.

Radio 2 listener?

I wouldn't mind being wrapped up in my duvet when Terrys on, but hey the joys of shift work.

BTW at 39 and an orienteer I've had to adjust to metric for distances as this is the the standard unit. When I first started geocaching it just seemed natural to me to set my GPSr to metric. I have no trouble visualising distances in m or km in fact it annoys me that British signs are only in miles.

3.9k · April 17, 2006

No truck with Eurobabble here!

Apparently China, Australia, Canada, Japan, and indeed most of the rest of the planet doesn't feel that their adoption of a perfectly logical measurement system - to the extent that counting in tens is logical, roll on the day when we have four or eight fingers per hand! - involves ceding sovereignty to "Euro"-anything. Nor, it seems, does that well-known bastion of EU bureaucratic hegemony, the US Army, where the term "click" for "kilometre" was invented. (I prefer "click" because if I say "kilo-metre" my wife replies "it's kil-ommeter" and the rest of the journey gets a bit frosty.)

I was born in 1960 and we didn't see feet or inches at my primary school, let alone furlongs, rods, poles, and perches. From 1966 on everything in the classroom was metric, because one day, "very soon children", the whole country was going to switch over to metric. We watched in awe as Canada and Australia did it overnight, and we waited and waited. Then we left school and had to find out how many inches there were in a mile.

April 17, 2006

No truck with Eurobabble here!

I was born in 1960 and we didn't see feet or inches at my primary school, let alone furlongs, rods, poles, and perches. From 1966 on everything in the classroom was metric, because one day, "very soon children", the whole country was going to switch over to metric. We watched in awe as Canada and Australia did it overnight, and we waited and waited. Then we left school and had to find out how many inches there were in a mile.

It's interesting that we managed decimalisation without too much problem but bottled out of full metrication.

3.9k · April 17, 2006

It's interesting that we managed decimalisation without too much problem but bottled out of full metrication.

Officially the UK is fully metric; more info at http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/metric-system-faq.txt, including the exceptions, most notably miles on the road (the cost of changing all those signs...), pints in pubs (a nod to John Major's bucolic vision of England, village greens and all), and pints for (returnable) milk bottles.

Sugar and flour went to 1kg bags in the 70s without the world coming to an end, but milk is still sold in 2, 4, and 6-pint cartons in the supermarket, although from 2009 they will have to be labelled only in metric That will look a bit weird ("mmmm... 1.136 litres of creamy Devon goodness"). Beer is in metric when sold in cans but pints in pubs.

It was a Conservative (yep!) government which introduced the laws which led to all the trouble with that market trader who claimed to be prepared to go to jail rather than price his goods in kilos. He got public support from William Hague, Tory leader at the time, for about an hour, until someone pointed out to Hague that he had been a member of the government when the laws were voted in.

2.2k · April 18, 2006

Ah, whilst awake you may use imperial or metric, but what units do you dream in?........

Togs.

Radio 2 listener?

what's wrong with radio 2? i need something to keep me reasonably sane at this time of the morning!

April 18, 2006

I use metres and miles for some reason.

Metres I can relate to an athletics track.

Miles are what you drive in the car.

April 18, 2006

"very soon children", the whole country was going to switch over to metric.

I was there to and still waiting...

My late Father was an engineer in a company who produced goods metric width and imperial lenght! Now work that one out? I'm told you buy curtains in the same way.

April 18, 2006

Sugar and flour went to 1kg bags in the 70s without the world coming to an end, but milk is still sold in 2, 4, and 6-pint cartons in the supermarket, although from 2009 they will have to be labelled only in metric That will look a bit weird ("mmmm... 1.136 litres of creamy Devon goodness"). Beer is in metric when sold in cans but pints in pubs.

Oh. I thought the "strange" beercan sizes in the UK (440ml for example) were due to an imperial measure being converted directly to a metric one.

Actually, I'm glad that pretty much the only imperial measure left here is the Pint (beer). There would be much complaning if they introduced the 500ml "pint". Those extra 68ml really make a difference

2.9k · April 18, 2006

Its quite logical to use feet on your GPS as 1 foot from the cache is much closer than 1 metre

We use miles and feet BTW casue thats what our roads and car use makes it easier to equate one to the other.

April 18, 2006

Actually, I'm glad that pretty much the only imperial measure left here is the Pint (beer). There would be much complaning if they introduced the 500ml "pint". Those extra 68ml really make a difference

In fact in most of the rest of europe, most beer is not sold in 500ml, but varies anything between 250ml, 330ml to 400ml, depending on where you go. 500ml is usually only seen in English or Irish theme pubs and is usually also called a pint (and comes in a british style pint glass).

350-400ml is actually quite a refreshing size - no need to drink like a fish to stop the last bit going stale, and of course you can drink 30% more beers in an evening 250ml does look a bit woosy, but in hot places by drinking 2x as many small beers they stay cool to the end of the glass.

But you are right... if they introduced a 500ml 'pint', there would be massive inflation in beer prices (over 10% in one go), and a lot of angry drinkers!

April 18, 2006

Ah, whilst awake you may use imperial or metric, but what units do you dream in?........

Togs.

Radio 2 listener?

what's wrong with radio 2? i need something to keep me reasonably sane at this time of the morning!

Absolutely nothing wrong at all (being a Tog myself (don' let the children know)).

Apart from whilst caching, my normal preference is Imperial for just about everything. I drive miles, my weight is in stones and pounds, a cricket pitch is still a chain in length, and an area of land is still a chain by a furlong (otherwise known as an acre).

Unfortunately I work in the engineering industry (electronic), so most things come measured metrically, and I just had to get used to it.

April 18, 2006

Metric for me as the miles seem shorter! I drove for seven years in the Middle east where it was all metric so got used to kilometres etc., also on the other side of the road. Also I sew a lot and fabric has been sold in metres for years, not easy to get a yard these days. I can now visulise a metre easier than a yard. You know when you are old when a Grandchild says 'Whats an inch Grandma?'

3.9k · April 18, 2006

Its quite logical to use feet on your GPS as 1 foot from the cache is much closer than 1 metre

That reminds me of a letter to the Independent a few years ago - not on April 1st - when all the phone numbers in the UK had to change (adding an extra digit). THis letter stated, apparently quite seriously, that the problem would never have happened if the GPO(!) had stuck to the old usage of letters for exchange names (ours was SOU for South Birmingham), as there are 26 letters to choose from but only 10 digits.

But you are right... if they introduced a 500ml 'pint', there would be massive inflation in beer prices (over 10% in one go), and a lot of angry drinkers!

A few years back the standard measure of spirits went from 1/6 of a gill (OK, imperial measure lovers: how big is a gill?) to 25ml. This was an increase of about 4% IIRC. I don't recall a single letter to the Independent (or more likely, the Daily Telegraph) complaining about it, though. Nor did beer drinkers complain when the meddling unaccountable Eurocrats made the pubs tell you how much (or little) alcohol was actually in their drinks.

Wine, of course, is sold in metric measures in pubs, although judging by the size of the glasses, they've been calibrated to give the same hangover as a pint. 17.5cl "standard" or 25cl "large" are both way above what you would get in Europe. In Germany wine is typically sold by the 10cl glass.

April 18, 2006

Our garden fence blew down a few years ago.

Went out and ordered a replacement panel, you've guessed it.

I had an imperial hole and a metric fence which was about 4" or is that 100mm too small....

May 17, 2006

(and comes in a british style pint glass).

The glass is usually made in France.

I do miss the days of the 1/4 Gill Dram in the North of Scotland

Edited May 17, 2006 by SandyGarrity

May 17, 2006

My vote is for metric when hunting caches. Does no-one else use their pace number or does that smack too much of naked caching. The change over in British schools took place around 1967 and I've stopped reading Janet and John so why not feet and inches. As for our American cousins, as someone who worked in the positioning industry I can tell you that they have a strange preference for that bastardised (sorry that should read metrif-co-imperial-ficated) measuement the metric foot.

However when placing caches I like to make maximum use of every imperial measure going: ells, poles, chains, shackles, cables, furlongs - they get my vote. I have no problems using millimetres, centimetres, metres and kilometres so see no reason why all those confirmed imperialists should not be as happy to know the difference between a Board of Trade yard,British Survey Yard, Toise of Peru and of course everyones favourite the Yard of Bar A0 - don't tell me that you're unfamiliar with the basic linear measuring unit of the Grand Triangulation; I think Brigadier Guy Bomford and Sir William Everest will be spinning in their graves, the finest geodetic achievment of the British Empire, come come Sir let us have no more of this nonsense! :smile:

1.1k · May 18, 2006

Miles, yards, feet and inches for me ... I am 50+, just :unsure:

Although curiously kilos and not pounds?

I like the sign in the photo on the first post, I would have noticed that straight away if I came across it. I wonder why we are supposed to be a metric nation yet still bound my imperial speed limits?

May 18, 2006

Well I thought I was the only one who mixed up my units! :unsure:

Like others have said, any largeish distance I prefer in miles. I would like to be able to set a major unit and a minor unit on my GPS. I want it to read down to 0.1 miles away, and then switch to metres.

But since it doesn't have that ability I just leave it on imperial, since the majority of the time a cache is more than 0.1 miles away, and I can handle feet anyway for the shorter distances - I would just prefer metric.

Edited May 18, 2006 by HooloovooUK

May 18, 2006

Imperial for us too. Was taught metric at school but never did warm to it.

My GPS is set to Imperial as I tend to think in miles. I strangely think in meter for shorter distances but don't bother changing the settings. I can think of 4 cachers who use metric by default.

May 18, 2006

Fully conversant with both but normally use imperial.

2.5k · May 18, 2006

Ha ha! it's nice to know I have confused and confounded Bob!

I am happy using either measurement. My GPS is set to imperial, although I have happily used it in metric before and the jolly 'yards' measurement (as opposed to fractions of a mile) which wound loads of people up on a certain cache.

I was taught imperial at school, and then they decided to teach us metric but all the text books were still in imperial and you still purchased your groceries in pounds and your drinks in pints. Because I am a scientist, I am perfectly happy with metric measures. When measuring something in the house, if it does not turn out a nice round number in one measurement, I will try the other. Decorating, I stick to measuring in milimetres, and I have never yet used a decimeter!! (like I have never used a venn diagram since school!!).

The only measurement I have no idea about at all is Farenheit? What's that all about then?

May 18, 2006

The only measurement I have no idea about at all is Farenheit? What's that all about then?

Well that's named after some European, so it must be metric. Personally I prefer Kelvin, although it does seem to feel a bit cool for T shirts when it plummets to 280K :laughing:

May 18, 2006

40+ Metric and Decimal degrees for sure it's simpler to work in ten's, we should have made the permanent switch 35 years ago like the Australians and New Zealanders then there wouldn't be any confusion.

After all a metre is close enough to a yard when trying visualise distance.

:laughing:

3.9k · May 18, 2006

The only measurement I have no idea about at all is Farenheit? What's that all about then?

The story is that Mr Fahrenheit made a thermometer and set the zero point to the coldest temperature he could make, which in those days wasn't all that cold. The ice melted at 32 and there we are.

May 18, 2006

The original French metre was intended to be defined as exactly one ten millionth part of the distance from the Equator to the Pole, but they soon realised that their geodesy was a load of bolleaux and that the Brit geodesists were much better at measuring the semi-major and semi-minor axes of the Earth, so they abandoned the idea.

A Nautical Mile, a very British measure, is of course based on a distance equivalent to 1 Minute of Arc of Latitude, so there are 5400 Nautical Miles from Pole to Equator. Unfortunately as the geoid is wobbly the exact distance varies so we used 6020 feet (the length of a Minute of Arc of Latitude at Dover) until 1928 when the International nautical Mile was established as 1852 metres. Just to confuse matters in Engilsh Law, due to an uncorrected typo a Knot is defined by satute as 1853 metres.

But here is the clever bit, we all know that the French are aliens but could it be that they are in fact from Mars. For on that planetry body 1 Minute of Arc of Latitude is alnmost exactly equivalent to 1 Kilometre - spooky of what! :laughing:

2.2k · May 19, 2006

After all a metre is close enough to a yard when trying visualise distance.

until you get them mixed when planning a trip to mars like nasa did and slammed the module into the planet without slowing down. oops

May 19, 2006

Age 40 next week.

GPSr set to imperial

Distances = Miles

Lengths = Feet, inches and millimeters (strange I know)

Drink=pints

Volume=litres

Weight=pounds and ounces

Temperature=Centigrade

I am teaching the smaller RTBs imperial measurements relating to parts of the body, but with little success.

Just realised how mixed up I must look to them.

2k · May 19, 2006

My GPSr is set to imperial. I prefer to use imperial for larger distances as road signs, car odometers and speedometers etc are mainly set to miles.

2.5k · May 19, 2006

The only measurement I have no idea about at all is Farenheit? What's that all about then?

The story is that Mr Fahrenheit made a thermometer and set the zero point to the coldest temperature he could make, which in those days wasn't all that cold. The ice melted at 32 and there we are.

yeah yeah, I know THAT thanks, just don't relate to the measurement at all.

Personally I prefer Kelvin

Me too, but I cannot drag him out caching with my very often (little in joke for people who know my other half's name there).

Absolute Zero rules, OK

May 19, 2006

For the same reasons as Haggis Hunter I've been metric for years. As for measuring in feet I can no longer fathom it out!

May 19, 2006

For the same reasons as Haggis Hunter I've been metric for years. As for measuring in feet I can no longer fathom it out!

No, sorry, fathoms are Imperial, 6 feet and used for measuring depths :rolleyes: :laughing:

Imperial Or Metric?

Recommended Posts

Join the conversation