Agnostic.com

3 3

The United Kingdom has taken leave of its collective senses. It wants to go back imperial measurements: [abc.net.au] . How about we go back to pounds, shillings and pence, florins, half crowns and guineas, revive the groat, again use yards, feet and inches, rods, chaldrons, hundredweight and bushels? Boris Johnson has gone barking mad!

anglophone 9 June 3
Share

Enjoy being online again!

Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.

Create your free account

3 comments

Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.

0

"has gone mad" - you mean he was once sane?

3

If I remember right, the US officially 'accepted' the metric system in the late 1800s.

But the people never bought into it. Good luck finding a speed limit sign in KPH -- even after a century.

Edit --
From 'Time Line for the Definition of the Meter' by William B. Penzes


...
1866 -- By act of the US Congress, the use of the metric system was legalized in this country but was not made obligatory.
...
1875 -- On May 20, the Treaty of the Meter was signed by seventeen countries, including the United States at the International Metric Convention.

0

VOLUNTARY Imperial measurements. (Not mandatory)
The currency changed LONG BEFORE the other EU inspired changes. Engineering and science has used the metric system for even longer.
However, certain things, like a pint of beer (578cc) instead of a measly 500cc, are welcome. I still define my height in feet and inches and my weight on lbs, even though I use kilos for cement bags and kilometres for driving distances.
Anyway, it will still be mandatory to show measurements in metric units, alongside the Imperial measurement, so what's the problem?

Stupid redundancy. Pick one (the most readily understood) and go with that one.

@rainmanjr The USA still uses miles, feet, fluid ounces, pounds etc.

@Petter So do I.

@rainmanjr I use both. I measure personal data such as height and weight, in Imperial measure, but cook and drive using the metric system.

@Petter I don't. I use one because two is pointlessly repetitive. Any good Author will tell you how great being redundant is.

@rainmanjr I owned a publishing group. I avoided anything that used the same nouns or adjectives repetitively, rather than alternatives.
So I am all in favour of variety.

@Petter Anything can become cliche and who needs such lazy writing. Keep it sorta fresh and change out words. I laugh myself silly when someone writing their comment corrects an earlier point, or doesn't just correct spelling, and points out that they did it. Backspace, dudes. I have a writer's flair, if you will, and construction (at least I think that I do) so writing means something to me. Not enough to get paid for it, I guess, but I admire the good stuff.

@rainmanjr One of my short stories here.
[allpoetry.com]

@Petter Nice twist of fate and writing.

@rainmanjr Thank you. I also enjoy writing satirical poetry, such as this:-
[allpoetry.com]

@Petter I'm off satire. I know from personal experience that people don't like it and the main consequence has been that people got meaner because of it. I think they don't see it as a joke.

You can include a link to this post in your posts and comments by including the text q:669633
Agnostic does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any content. Read full disclaimer.