h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sorry for the misspellings, wasn't paying attention to your silly inventor's name.

Farenheit is a silly scale, period! As is measuring things in body parts *spit* (by this I mean feet, etc.)

Imagine I am a builder 1.5 meters tall and my mate Joe, also a builder, is 2m tall (a big bloke). We start work on a house. The plans call for the house to be forty foot high, and seventy feet wide. Exactly what sort of completely random pile of bricks do we end up with if we start measuring things in 'body parts'? Can I go down the woodyard and ask for timbers "three feet, two hands long, four fingers wide and two noses thick"?? What if the guy at the woodyard has a big nose? I'm in real trouble then!

Metric - a sane system for human beings, and it should be in use world wide. I don't care if y'all don't like it, it saves us having fields and fields of odd-shaped houses - have you seen any of those old beam houses? They've got lumps and strange angles and sticky-out bits all over them, perfect example of what happened before we invented metric.

H&K
Z

?! Is that a draught, or is it just something going over my head?

I know it's daft to answer my own message, but just to point out that Zed managed to get in ahead of me. I was actually replying to the message before his. I fully understand, and to some extent concur with him, except that the imperial measurements have been standardised over the years, and do NOT rely (except in a very approximate sense) on the person doing the measuring, trust me I'm a weights and measures inspector

Something going over your head? Yeah, Panthera uncia

Actually, I think I won't trust you . But firstly Imperial has been standardised several times so now different counties use different standards. So a British ounce isn't an American pound leading to confusion. There has only been ONE standard of metric. Metric always uses multiples of 10 and weight, mass & volume are all connected logically through the most common element on Earth, filling ²/3 of the planet. Therefore one doesn't have to remember how many chains there are in a mile and how many yards there are to a furlong or how many grains to the pound. There is no use for this inaccurate jumble anymore. Our brains are advanced enough to be able to cope with measurements based on a "abstract" size. An Inch is no more easier to remember than a centimetre. So what if an inch is "based" on a thumb - is your thumb an inch wide??? Is your foot exactly a foot??? The Imperial system has become as abstract as metric but just more confusing. So dump it already! The world need a fixed standard so the Mars Mission faliure can be avoided in the future. Imagine someone miscalculated the trajectory of a nuclear waste missile we decide to send to the sun to burn. Wouldn't that be fun?

Dear Cynic. I'm afraid the metric sytem has been modified over time, and I believe the meter in particular has had a number of definitions (6 or 7 I think) The only reason the definition of the kilogramme hasn't changed is that it is defined as a lump of metal locked away in the basement of the Louvre in Paris, so since no matter how careful they are, the mass of the piece of metal will change over time, then so will the Kilogramme, and the volume measures are all based on the meter, so they have also changed 1cc is now defined as being equal to 1ml, but that is a relatively recent innovation (within the last 20 years or so) so the metric system is also being continually revised. Having said all that, I should I suppose nail my colours to the mast and say that I do prefer the metric system for its simplicity. (Once you realise that you've got ten fingers the rest is easy. Unless of course you're an eight fingered Plinkoid from the planet of Ploomfest) I also challenge anyone who tells me that they don't understand meters, to demonstrate for me their understanding of the term "yard"

Ok, but the metric system now has one standard, not two or more. I don't care if the innovation occurred in the last 20 years but the metric system should no longer be dependant on that block of metal. If so, they we have been mistaught that a litre of water at 20-something celcius is 1 cubic decimetre which weighs 1 kilogram. All so perfect and easy to remember.
Finally, take it a step forward to those who "don't understand" the metre. Start questioning them how many feet there are in a chain and what is a furlong. Most will be stunned silent.

I understand metres, litres and kilogrammes. My preference for Imperial measure is that it's what I grew up with - pure and simple. I'm not interested in feet in a chain or yards in a furlong. Those measurements aren't in everyday use (although I think the distance between the stumps on a cricket field is one chain, and furlongs crop up in horse races). When I go shopping I buy my milk in pints, not litres - for now at any rate. I'm not unhappy having to buy things in kilos - half a kilo is only just over a pound after all, but the error increases the more you buy. Dress fabric and flooring materials are the only things I can think of that I would buy by the metre, and both have been sold by the metre for so long that I just accept it. However, I cannot think of my height in metres or my weight in kilos because I've always been measured in feet and inches, and weighed in stones and pounds. I also tend to think of long distances in miles and speeds in miles per hour, because that's what I grew up with and that's what my car's speedometer and odometer measure. So it's not a question of 'understanding' or 'ease of calculation'; it's purely psychological. (Why does that word contain 'logical' when the way most people's minds work is anything but? And that includes mine!)

It also contains "psycho".

Yes. Good ol' pro-Metric me also has your problem. In school I was taught my height (or shortness) in feet and inches. I also think of speeds and long lengths in miles as you do. My weight I know only in stones and I like pint bottles of milk. However, I think it is right to get rid of these awkward measurements you seems to attach the word "simple" to. I think the next generation should be subjected to metric over imperial so in two generations time imperial could be dumped. There is NO beauty in imperial. There is NO reason to keep imperial. The only reason we should keep double measurements for a while is for the sake of those that cannot comprehend metric. Once they are deceased (which may include you), metric should be made the only system as it is so much easier to understand and so much less risk of error. I do not propose to stop all double measurements. I propose to slowly eliminate imperial - gradually.
Ok, that's enough for now...back to eating.

As for getting rid of Imperial, the British Government has been doing this for years. It is now illegal to sell anything in pounds, so far as I am aware. Milk and beer can still be bought in pints, but everything else is sold in litres. BUT British cars still have their speedos and odometers in m.p.h. and miles, British speed limits are still in m.p.h. and British road signs still give distances in miles. So as far as consumables are concerned, we will soon be buying everything in metric, it's just our roads that will be Imperial.

HOWEVER, all my recipe books give quantities in Imperial, with newer ones giving metric equivalents, so I'll be doing all my cooking in Imperial 'cos I like it!

P.S. I don't attach the word 'simple' to Imperial measurements. I attached the word 'simple' to my reason for preferring Imperial measurements. The difference is subtle, but important!

In answer to a previous comment. I'm afraid that the international standard kilogramme is indeed a physical standard (ie "a lump of metal") and a cubic decimeter of water (even at 20 C doesn't weigh exactly a kilogramme. Apart from anything else it would depend on the purity of the water, altitude, how close you were to the equator, etc. Just for information, the exceptions to metrication here in Britain include draught beer and cider, the troy ounce for precious metals, miles, yards, etc for roads, the nautical mile for distances at sea, and the acre for land registration. So even though we started towards the metric system around 1890 (eighteen ninety) We're still a long way from being only metric. How's that for gradual.