Is UK Stuck In Decimal Denial Time Warp

Posted by: Mike-B on 08 May 2016

I grew up in pounds & ounces but my industry worked in metric & I worked all over the world so I converted well before the 1971 “decimalisation” date. The UK however has been troubled for years moving out of the old imperial measures, we seem to be stuck in a halfway-house. Yes its nice that I can go to the local butcher & ask for 8 ounces of … or 500gr of … or a steak “yey” thick … or 6 dry cured back rashers. I buy milk by the bottle not caring if its a litre or pint & the butter comes in a packet. But its more confused with my car, it has a MPH/kph speedo, I buy diesel in litres but the display will only show me miles per gallon, & its a German car. And as we have hit some seasonally normal warm weather (at last) I see that the weather disaster obsessed comic the Daily Express is headlining that we will sizzle at 80.

Mini Rant Over …......... how do others feel about this mishmash we have in UK, I just live with it & am not that bothered, but my grand-kids have said its a bit confusing, as unlike us old timers who have converted, they have no knowledge of 16oz to the “Pound”

As a side issue it would be interesting to hear from our US readers, the whole planet is metric, your neighbours on both sides are degrees C & km; what is the mood in US to change ??

Posted on: 22 May 2016 by Bart

From here in the States -- have not seen any push whatsoever for further adoption of metric units in many many years. I can't think of any context in day-to-day life where we / I use metric.

Posted on: 22 May 2016 by sjbabbey

I think we should go back to pecks, kennings, bushels, poles, perches, rods, chains and furlongs. Much easier to work with.

Posted on: 22 May 2016 by winkyincanada

Bart posted:
From here in the States -- have not seen any push whatsoever for further adoption of metric units in many many years. I can't think of any context in day-to-day life where we / I use metric.

At least you're in good company with Liberia and Myanmar the only other two countries in the world not to move to SI/metric systems. Notwithstanding UK (and Canada) being a bit half-assed as noted by the OP.

Posted on: 22 May 2016 by DrMark

dave marshall posted:
Romi posted:
However when somebody says he is 5 metres, 8cm high, I have no clue how high the person is.....
I certainly wouldn't be disagreeing with him though!

Get that dude on your basketball team...provided he can bend over low enough to dunk.

When I had a show on the college radio station I used to give the temperature in Kelvin sometimes (with the appropriate unit identification of course)...in the words of Bugs Bunny, "Ain't I a stinker?"

Posted on: 23 May 2016 by Romi

Perhaps once we are out of EU we can get rid of the metric system forever and bring back the guinea..?

Posted on: 23 May 2016 by Adam Zielinski

That will be interesting.... UK will most likely need a new currency, once the GBP depreciates heavily, leading to a hyperinflation....

Posted on: 23 May 2016 by Don Atkinson

I’ve just got back from a training flight.....................

The Met Forecast provided Windspeed in kts; Visibility in metres; Cloud Base in ft; and Cloud Cover in Octas (eigths).

We Re-fuelled with 150 Litres from the pump but converted it into US Gals for Range/Endurance in gals/hr, and then into lbs for the Weight and Balance, (or should that be Mass and balance ?).

The Crew at 80kg each were changed into lbs and the Lever Arm/CofG are all in inches.

The Take-off Distance Required 1,600ft had to be compared with the Take-off Distance Available which is shown on the charts in metres.

Cruise/Climb/Descent speeds are in kts and Rate of Climb/Rate of Descent is in ft/min

(Atmospheric) Pressure (for the altimeters) is in Hecto-Pascals; Oil Pressure in psi and Vacuum Gauge is inches of Mercury (in Hg)

Oil temp deg F; OAT deg C

Load Factors in “G”

The Radio Nav Aids (NDB/VOR/ILS) all display Course Deviation in Degrees left or right; the GPS system provides Course Deviation in Nautical Miles left or right

Times are in UTC (my watch is set to BST !, probably like yours).......................

Posted on: 23 May 2016 by Adam Zielinski

Don - it's amazing one can actually fly at all given all that....

Posted on: 23 May 2016 by Romi

Just try not to fly when you see two moons in the sky...