Re: OT - Metrication

Robin Somes wrote:
In article <43889263$0$1461$ed2619ec@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Marjorie Clarke <dontusethisaddess@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes

They really do need to bite the bullet. You can't wait for all the old
people who won't understand to die; there'll always be old people.


And if they'd bitten the bullet several decades ago, the old people would have got the hang of it long ago, just as they did with New Money. They were starting to use Celsius when I was at school 40 years ago, and yet they're still messing about with this dual system, as if it was somehow helpful to know that it was not only 11 but also 52. 


Might not come as much surprise to learn that I disagree ;)

I'm equally capable of working, and working efficiently, in metric or imperial, or a mixture of both - a concept which some pro-metric people seem to find impossible to grasp - but for general everyday use, I prefer imperial. I don't care which units anyone else chooses to use themselves; in return I'd really rather not be told which units I should employ myself, or that I'm some kind of reactionary for making the choice I have. I'm therefore pleased that the BBC continue to give heights in feet.

What's more, I can very easily see how it's useful to know that the temperature is both 11 and 52. 11°C means I know just about how warm (or cold) it is. 52 °F means I can tell a chum in the USA just about how warm (or cold) it is.

I'm afraid I group it along with the pound, GMT, licensing laws, driving on the right, and so many other things, used to support the illusion that if we only got rid of the G*d-awful [insert hobby-horse here], we could all be sitting outside small cafes on tree-lined boulevards, owned by someone called Gaston, sipping coffee and munching baguettes. No, we couldn't...

<languid wave> Amazing how in France you can still by things in pounds in the markets, here they have a measure "etti" (sp?) which is 100 gms, which is about 1/4 of a lb. Pounds, pints, inches - they're all just natural measures...
.

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