Items for sale with "imperial" dimensions

I concur but

And how many pilots continue to report their true air speed rather than indicated or just ask for ground speed checks?

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North Korea uses the metric system!! (Like everywhere else…)

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Americans might say ‘2 x4’, but we always gave the larger dimension first, hence we called it a ‘4 x 2’, and similarly with other sizes.

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On my Austin Sevens (sadly long gone), the threads were a mixture of BSW (Whitworth) and BSF (British Standard Fine). The nuts for the same size thread were also different sizes, although Whitworth spanners fitted both, just use the next size smaller for BSF. I seem to remember that the spanner sizes were related to the thread size using some arcane rule, not the hex nut size. What a confusing system. At least US and metric spanners are labelled ‘across flat’ (AF in the US).

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The insidious spread of American cultural imperialism is all around us. I deny being a plant to propagate it although I ‘miss’ now and then.

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I bought a tv 8 years ago, it was 104 cm. That’s the size I measured up and purchased. I have no idea how big it is in inches and I have no reason to look it up.

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And that’s a choice you made to measure it in a non standard way so why should the rest conform for you?

Hi hitspacebar:
What you say is my whole point. I am fully metricated but I when i looked for a new TV they were all advertised in “inches”! I have had to force myself to understand what the number of inches represent so I can pick the right size TV. After 50 years of using metrics I am annoyed I am now needing to revert to imperial!
I am not trying to make everyone else conform to me, I would just like to have the accepted standard form of measurement (ie metric) used and not a mishmash of systems.

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I’m surprised no one has mentioned furlongs, chains, rods, poles, or perchs yet. We had to recite the imperial measurement tables at school. Imperial Measures of Length

Obviously I grew up in the imperial system and went through conversion. It didn’t take long to have no doubt that metric was easier as it is all consistent to the base 10.

Then later I had to learn to calculate in binary, octal, and hexadecimal, and convert between them. But that was better than the imperial system.

On a note of irrationality, I notice on my trip to Bunnings that the air tools are sold with imperial fractional measurements, but the sanding discs on the tools are metric, The air hose couplers/joiners are sold in imperial with a choice of BSW and BSP threads, but the hoses they attach to are metric.

Confusing.

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For the same reason we allow governments to decide and enforce matters like which side of the road to drive on, the use of the EM spectrum and where can fly your plane. There are many arbitrary rules like that where consistency of application is as important, or more important, than the actual rule. Of all the ways that one might choose to signal one’s refusal to conform choosing to ditch such standards makes the least amount of sense.

You could wear your undies on the outside (provided they are red), affect a flowing cape at the supermarket or say the letter ‘b’ everywhere instead of the letter ‘c’, especially when buying a bolour television. But why on earth claim the benefits of nonconformity over something as obviously sensible as measurement standardisation?

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It’s ok if as a child you were attacked by a Siamese Bat …(obligatory Monty Python reference :wink: )

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Yeah well … given that a chronometer measures time, the “er” bit seems reasonable IMHO. :wink:

FWIW, my much more recent Omega Seamaster is also a “chronometer”.

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I agree that the use of imperial measures (and American spelling) is unnecessary and infuriating.

That said, it could be worse. In Britain, you buy fuel in litres, but the speedo on your car is in miles!! Food is sold in kilos, but people are weighed in stones and pounds.

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Oh, I know all about that. Silly Europeans! I do a fair bit of work around import sailplanes. Ones from europe have metric altimeters and airspeed. Ones from north america have imperial units, but then use inches of mercury on the altimeter pressure subscale, and we want to be different again and use hectopascals for the subscale, but feet for the height… I’ve got my next headache arriving in about 8 weeks from Canada, who like to be halfway between USA and Europe, but never consistent on which half of each they like to take!

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In the real world in Oz we have both the metric system and the duodecimal system -IMO the latter being much more sophisticated than the former.

There are always going to be anomalies - the USA is predominantly non-metric - yet when it comes down to human health switches to the decimal system ie Blood Pressure is measured in mm/Hg and not say psi!

We accept time in the duodecimal system without a problem but don’t like measurement. can you imagine 100 seconds in a minute and say 20 hours per day, weeks of 10 days and so on. BUT if we want to measure less than one second or portions of a second we usually switch back to the decimal system!

Its not a bad thing to learn both systems.

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Australia has the remnants of the imperial measurement system. This includes a few elements of counting by twelve, such as 12 inches to the foot, but incorporates many other customary multiples and sub-multiples.

Sticking with linear measures; fractions of inches are successive binary divisions, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth, thirtysecond, sixtyfourth etc. The unit was selected according to the level of precision required but that left you to grapple with questions such as, what is the sum of 3 3/8 and 5 35/64? Linear measure of more than an inch went; foot, yard, chain, furlong and mile, which were multiples of 12, 3, 22, 10 and 8 respectively. None of this is sophisticated nor easy to work with and it isn’t duodecimal. The same sort of problems happened with area, volume and weight measures but one example will do.

Time is not duodecimal either it is based, in part, on 60 (sexagesimal). Time is not decimal but it is metric.

Perhaps you are thinking of the advantage of duodecimal arithmetic, where the factor between each digit is 12 instead of 10. This has the advantage of having more sub-multiples as 12 can be factorised to 2,3,4 and 6, but 10 only has 2 and 5. While it might have that small benefit you are never going to replace decimal arithmetic with duodecimal. The basis of our arithmetic is a separate issue to measurement systems and the imperial system never worked that way. Only computer geeks have ever needed to use arithmetic with any base but 10 and that is more conceptual and logical than computational as mostly the machines do the sums.

I am quite fluent in both imperial and metric but I wouldn’t wish that need on anybody. The sooner we stick to metric and remove the need to translate the better.

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… apparently all the answers are here:

http://www.measurement.gov.au

http://www.measurement.gov.au/measurementsystem/Pages/MeasurementLegislation.aspx

Of critical importance when it comes to the sale of dead animals, hare meat must be sold by mass, but rabbit meat must NOT be sold by mass. No mention of tortoise, but frogs must also be sold by mass.

SI units or derivatives? who knows … maybe metric carats … but the legislation mentions other units, including imperial … clear as mud. Schedule 2 of the National Measurement Regulations 1999 covers the 42" tele I guess …

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When you undertaker plants you 1.89m under, you will wish you had specified 6ft. It’s much more comfortable.

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Pity the American scientist - daytime they quote their height in ft and inches, but they can’t publish anything unless they use SI units - at least in health (and I assume other disciplines). Except for blood pressure - still in mm of mercury. A considered decision that there would adverse clinical consequences (ie confused doctors) if the SI units were adopted. Weird, but I know when to go “oo ah” socially about a baby’s weight in lbs and oz, but clinically I know that under 2.5kg is not so good. Pooh Bear should have the last word. His description of Tigger - “Whatever his weight in pounds shillings and ounces, he always seems bigger because of his bounces.”

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If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, then where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

Having that peck would tell us what quantity a peck consists of.

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