Paphos Life

With the UK leaving the EU next March 2019, will the UK stop using metric measurements and go back to the good old fashioned imperial system(s)?
Those of a certain age can remember these measurements of course, thou/inch/foot/yard/chain/furlong/mile and if you are old enough a league!
For area, will we go back to using perch/rood and acre.
For volume, will we go back to fluid ounce/gill/pint/quart and gallon?

The next issue of course is how will the younger people in the UK manage as it appears that most can only use the metric system.
As the UK will be free to trade with many other nations, there are plenty that still use imperial measurements ie USA/India/Hong Kong/Canada/Australia/New Zealand/Ireland.
Will we be again be able to buy a pound of spuds etc.
More info re imperial system - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_units

I notice in the UK newspapers they are already using the Fahrenheit scale for weather for reports of extreme weather.
It is a much bigger number if they say the heat it will be plus 95 degrees today

A yearn for a pint of bronze maggots to go fishing with.

Good God no..... Even the US talk of Metres, KMs and Kgs....... Imperial is far too inaccurate and difficult. Yes, I still talk of miles and gallons, Stones and Pounds, but measurement cannot regress....

Yes, having shafted our children and our children's children lets make them learn a whole new system of measurement !!!

I am guessing this debate is slightly tongue in cheek............but nobody in the right mind would prefer units of measure made of of totally random multiples, 14's, 16's, etc when you can use multiples of 10's for everything.

But it's so simple:
12 inches = 1 foot
3 feet = 1 yard =36 inches
22 yards = 1 chain = 66 feet = 792 inches
10 chains = 1 furlong = 220 yards = 660 feet = 7920 inches
8 furlongs = 1 mile = 80 chains = 1760 yards = 5280 feet = 63360 inches
(if my aged memory serves me correctly!)

As far as I know the only thing the whole world agrees on and uses is not metric .... the time !!!! 60 seconds to the minute , 60 minutes to hte hour and 24 hours to the day

Its only old people who get excited about imperial measurements. You know the ones, those who yearn for a past that never was. The young people of today are metric through and through.
There is much talk of the UKs future trading arrangements. We must use the same system of measurements as everyone else if we are to make such arrangements.

Josef

"Yearn for a past that never was", what on earth are you talking about ? We did have a past, and it was much better than the youth of today have, believe me, I was there.

Metric ? we have always bought a half of or a dozen eggs, still do.

Jackie

I am guessing, but the lovers of imperial measurements have probably never tried using it on a spreadsheet !!!

JK is that the same young people that cannot read an analog clock and an exam board had to stop the exam and change the clocks to digital ones?

Then again have you ever ordered timber in Cyprus.

- I would like some 4 x 2 planed timber.
Yes of course we do have 4 x 2. How long do you want it?
- 12ft is enough
OK thats 3.65m of 4" x 2" then.

Simples - Habits die hard.

Just because the kids see the time as numbers not what the big hand and the little hand is doing (probably because they take the time off their phone) doesn't mean that they are stupid, it just means that they interact with the world differently than our generation.

PB I did not and was not saying the young people were stupid, the point I was trying to make was that things the older generation took for granted (ie reciting tables parrot fashion etc), telling the time, tying shoelaces do not seem to be taught to the younger generation.

Boycott

Quite right. When I comes to mental arithmetic, the younger generation seem to find it very difficult. Learning times tables as we did, makes it much easier and faster. I could not believe it when children were allowed to take calculators into exam rooms, the best one is in your head.

As far as telling the time goes, the parents could make a start with analog clocks. Modern technology is all well and good when it works, the trouble comes when it doesn't.

Jackie

Sorry I thought that's what you were implying..............I think the younger generation just have a different focus, they don't see the need to learn skills that mobile technology is rendering obsolete. I can't imagine many teenagers know how to follow an A to Z !

Firefly wrote: ↑Mon Jul 23, 2018 3:07 pm Josef

"Yearn for a past that never was", what on earth are you talking about ? We did have a past, and it was much better than the youth of today have, believe me, I was there.

Metric ? we have always bought a half of or a dozen eggs, still do.

Jackie

Oh I remember it well.........frost fairies inside the bedroom window, mechanical dentists drills, fear of polio...............outside loos for half the population.............yes, sheer bliss.

PB no problem at all - Oddly enough I was talking to the other half about map reading as her daughter was visiting London and was using her smart mobile phone to get around and find places.
I would still use a good old fashioned paper map, the reason been a) I don't have a smart phone and b) I don't know how to use one!

HIC agreed re technology once I have learnt how to use it properly!