Back to the future?

[Nick]

11 hours ago, ozjohn said:

I think these were US fluid oz. as a UK pint is 16 fluid oz. and if it is water weighs a pound.

A pint in the UK is 20 fluid ounces.

[blakeyboy]

The US used 16 fl oz to the pint, hence the pint/quart /gallon being .83 of the size of the UK equivalents.

 

The one thing with Imperial is that it evolved to fit humans- some measurements like rainfall end up with double or even triple figures,

difficult to envisage, when using millimetres, whereas "Bloody hell, we had 3 inches of rain yesterday" makes sense, especially when the exact amount is not important.

'75mm' means '75mm', whereas '3 inches' can often mean an amount that just looks about right, but may be actually 2 3/4" or 3 3/8", but who cares?

'75mm' is what a person running a weather station would say, but '3 inches' simply means it pissed it down.

 

You have to look beyond the figures, and how the units relate to people.....:-)

 

[Peckris 2]

9 hours ago, blakeyboy said:

The one thing with Imperial is that it evolved to fit humans- some measurements like rainfall end up with double or even triple figures,

difficult to envisage, when using millimetres, whereas "Bloody hell, we had 3 inches of rain yesterday" makes sense, especially when the exact amount is not important.

'75mm' means '75mm', whereas '3 inches' can often mean an amount that just looks about right, but may be actually 2 3/4" or 3 3/8", but who cares?

'75mm' is what a person running a weather station would say, but '3 inches' simply means it pissed it down.

That's all very true .. but if they said 7.5 cm of rain instead of 3 inches, then you'd know it REALLY pissed it down!

[ozjohn]

On 9/25/2021 at 7:52 AM, ozjohn said:

Australia changed to the metric system in the early 1970s and is now entrenched.However many things retained their imperial size and were soft converted. For example 3” x 2” timber became 75 mm x 50 mm. Drinks in pubs stayed the same as a midi or pot was half a pint or 10 oz.a schooner three quarters of a pint or 15 oz and a pint or 20 oz. I think these were US fluid oz. as a UK pint is 16 fluid oz. and if it is water weighs a pound.. Having said that I think the adoption of the metric system has led to a marked decline in arithmetic skills in this country as the imperial system required an understanding of units to survive. For example when school leavers were confronted with a time sheet they were incapable of performing the calculations necessary to complete their weekly time sheet. For the most part they could not handle a system based on 60 rather than 10. Not only that a good understanding of units is essential for anyone considering a science based career. Imperial units are still in the language ie missed by miles, give or take an inch etc. Babies birth weights and the surf have also retained their imperial units

I noticed that said the beer measure was US fluid oz which was incorrect. An imperial pint is 20 fluid oz. and the US pint 16 fluid oz. Sorry for the mistake. I guess 16 fluid oz to a pint does make sense as it weighs a pound for water as does a liter of water weighs a kilo.

As to returning to pounds, shillings etc. I think there is a distinct possibility COVID may have dealt a death blow to circulating currency. I’ve had bills in my wallet for six months without spending them while inflation has made circulating  coins worthless.  Most transactions seem to be tap and go nowadays.

Edited September 25, 2021 by ozjohn
More info.

[blakeyboy]

14 hours ago, Peckris 2 said:

That's all very true .. but if they said 7.5 cm of rain instead of 3 inches, then you'd know it REALLY pissed it down!

It is odd that centimetres seem to get ignored most of the time.....

[ozjohn]

Nothing unusual with 3” of rain in eastern Australia. 10” of rain (25.4 cm. or 254 mm.) is not un common but it’s usually a feast or famine with rain fall. At the moment in Brisbane we are being threatened with restrictions and in Sydney the dams are 100% full.

Edited September 26, 2021 by ozjohn
Typo

[1949threepence]

On 9/25/2021 at 9:35 PM, Peckris 2 said:

That's all very true .. but if they said 7.5 cm of rain instead of 3 inches, then you'd know it REALLY pissed it down!

That's the kind of rain those stationary hurricanes just off the US Southern coast drop. Biblical levels.

[ozjohn]

A couple of “metric” anomalies in Australia. In aviation altitude is in feet, distance in nautical miles and speed knots and finally although all the Whitworth and BA threads have been replaced by their metric equivalents pipes and gas fittings are still BSP British standard pipe.