Metric vs. Imperial
 

Which of the following do you prefer to measure by? (Poll)

royale with cheese = metric system

metric system FTW :hugesmile:

Shaun in Pro Photography
we use Inches

8" x 10"

12" x 16"

and

20" x 16"

Are all Common sizes.

As a TIBB oldie I find that difficult to answer Shaun - I do both imperial and metric dependant on the circumstance. I would use imperial when talking to my old parents or people roughly my age, but use metric when talking to the German pals or younger folks.

I guess that I am 5'9" and don't know what that is is cms automatically that I am inherantly imperial.

My pal is coming from Germany in 4 weeks and I've got her insured to be able to drive my wee sports car. I've already warned her that the speedo is in MPH, not KPH so to watch how fast she goes with it!

I probably use them all in different circumstances but the metric measurements that seem most unnatural to me are kms instead of miles for distances, metres and centimetres for heights and kgs for weights of people.

That's the one - I automatically talk (make the conversion in my head) to Euros or Argentinian Pesetos when talking to people of money things as they don't have the £ symbol on their keyboards anyway.

I use metric whenever possible. Obviously I draw the line at selling beer in litres instead of pints- that would be sacriledge, but I find metric measurements so much easier to use.

An ounce is a hell of a lot better than a gram, in my experience.

Pounds and Stones

+

cm, m, km

How many ounces to a pound?

Imperial

Don't use metric that much but metric is more logical.

I tend to work between both imperial and metric.

for box sizes, pallet loads, work related weights, etc: I work to metric.

for items such as food, curtains, personal body weight and temperature: I tend to work to imperial.

16 ounces to a pound

14 pounds to a stone

not sure after that

10 100 1000 is much better :hugesmile:

:laugh2:

When I was a wee kiddie, the UK decimalised the monetary system (1971 was it?!). For a 6 year old who had only just got a grasp of the value of money, that was a bit of a shocker to have to learn again.

I had imagined that most younger people would be almost totally metric - hence know their height/weight in cms/kgs rather than feet n inches/stones n pounds.

I also was of that opinion - that the younger generation would naturally have been taught and brought up using metric. I guess with many of their parents still being of the 'imperial' mindset, much of the imperial measurements might have been what they were hearing at home? Like you, I did think they'd be more inclined to metric.

I use all of them for different things.

I learnt metric in school but in the real world I was used to imperial because of the older people around me who probably couldn't be bothered learning the (then) new system.

I honestly couldn't tell you might height in metric without using a converter, I know some measurements e.g. 30cm to a foot etc. But weight is a bit of a weird one. I couldn't tell you how much I weigh in metric, but I couldn't go to a shop and ask for half a pound of something. For smaller measurements I tend to use metric but bigger ones I use imperial.

another weird one of using both is I'll always ask for a pint of beer or go for a pint of milk, but for petrol measurements I always use metric, I couldn't tell you how much a gallon is. I also work in ml and litres when I'm measuring stuff

I use all of them.

Here's a wee question for the younger generation (I say that as I'm interested to see if you still get taught how to gauge some sizes / length etc without use of a ruler, tape measures etc).

Any of you know how to work out the length of a room for example using your body?

the length of a piece of wood, without using a tape measure?

9/2 or 5.5 is the other one to get yer head around for those of us who gamble regularly.

I quite like going to bars in Germany you have never been to before - when you insist on ordering "grosse bier" it can be any size just depending on which glasses the have in any given bar. A woman I know owns a bar in Duesseldorf.............for the Scottish Claymores fans coming regularly (few times each year) she bought pint glasses especially for us and put the price per pint on the chalkboard as a joke - the locals couldn't figure-out what was going on :hugesmile:

Brilliant!!!! She's an honourary Scot with a sense of humour like that I take it!!