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

Myanmar Shave just doesn't have the same ring to it

F S

The number of potential rhyming roadsigns that spring to mind at this point are all your fault now, FS.

Has anyone covered Burma Shave in the edited guide? I read about them in Bill Bryson, but the wider world needs edjicatin'.

The UK still uses imperial units. Speed limits there are still in miles per hour!

Are there any imperial relics left in Ireland?

Myanmar is the official name of the country.

According to a survey of democracy and corruption in all the countries of the world, Myanmar is the least democratic and most corrupt.

Many people say that we should reject the imposed name of Myanmar and call it Burma in support of the opponents of the government. That's the reason the news reports can't make up their minds.

{Dmitri: "I wonder how much else we have in common with Myanmar and Liberia?"}

Still wondering?

Not after last night's 'debate'.

There are lots of imperial relics left in Ireland. Although we're officially metric, having finally changed to km/h for speed limits a few years ago, people still think in imperial units:

- the weigh-ins on weight loss TV programs are done in stones and pounds rather than kilograms
- people express their height in feet and inches
- car tyre pressures are given in lbs / square inch rather than Bars

Somebody explain 'stones' to me.

Growing up, the only reason I knew about this measurement was comic singer Allan Sherman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2Cut3XwJxM

Yes, I realise that is unedifying.

Thanks anyway, Dmitri. I love that schtick! Allen Sherman can get away with fat jokes because he aims so many at himself.

Yes, I'm glad that youtuber included the photo.

He is sorely missed.

Imperial Weight is simple. There are:

16 ounces in a pound
14 pounds in a stone
8 stones in a hundredweight
20 hundredweights in a ton

So a ton is 2240 pounds

Coincidentally making it with 2% of 1000kg, so 1000kg is usually called a tonne.

To get around the problem of two very similar units with identical-sounding names, some people pronounce tonne as "tunny".

Okay, so a stone is 14 pounds.

The US does not have these 'stones'. And we were taught that a ton was a mere 2000 pounds.

Aha! A delightful educational site called 'Math Is Fun' - so you know it isn't from the UK, where maths are fun, I suppose - has all of this explained by Maggie the Alien from the planet Micron. For some reason best known to herself, Maggie is dying to learn about US weights and measures. (We suspect collusion with teachers.)

http://www.mathsisfun.com/measure/us-standard-units-introduction.html

You will notice these units are also called 'English units'. Not 'British units', which they aren't, or 'UK units', but 'English units', because they are the fault of some English people who infested North America in the 17th and 18th centuries...

Tonnage is not at all simple.

In the US we have both short and long tons http://www.onlineconversion.com/faq_09.htm

If you start talking about ships and boats tons get very confusing http://www.themaritimesite.com/a-guide-to-understanding-ship-weight-and-tonnage-measurements/

The most common usages are a measure of volume rather than weight.

I once knew a man who had a 32 foot wooden sailboat. The main beam had the registration number carved into it followed by 8 net tons. he hired a to crane to lift it out of the water. When they tried to lift he found it it actually weighed far more.

F S

This is going to give people headaches.

Or seasickness.

Here's an Imperial Units trivia question.

Which weighs more, an ounce of feathers or an ounce of gold?