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Author Topic: Bring back feet and inches...  (Read 13373 times)

Bunkerbarge

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #25 on: March 13, 2009, 08:13:27 am »


The problems arise when using US designed or made gear, as they won't change to metric  >>:-(


Ahhh.. but GB gave the USA the Imperial system... and you know how long it takes the USA to catch up with the rest of the world..  O0

We also gave them the English language but they couldn't work out how to use that correctly either!!
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toesupwa

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #26 on: March 13, 2009, 08:33:35 am »


We also gave them the English language but they couldn't work out how to use that correctly either!!

LOL Bunkerbarge...

Divided by a common language..  O0
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grandad

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #27 on: March 13, 2009, 08:48:16 am »

U-33
 hear  ye hear ye  >>:-(
right on!!! I am an ole' codger who deplors the metric system I am 5 FOOT 3 INCHES tall and I weigh 149 POUNDS
whats that in the metric system??
who gives a rip!! certainly not me HA HA HA {-)
the old foot inches, weight system was good enough for our forefathers its good enough for me

Grandad
larry
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Bob_V

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #28 on: March 13, 2009, 10:24:13 am »

I buy Petrol/Diesel in litres but calculate the fuel consumption in Miles per Gallon!!!

Where's the sense in that?

Bob.
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Bob Vaughan

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #29 on: March 13, 2009, 11:17:17 am »

So the youngsters are taught in metric? Yes, and they don't use it!
In electrical work we started to change to S.I. late 60's/early 70's. What a hotch pot idea!
The basic metric system is reasonable enough (although the human mind still reverts back to what you learned "x" years ago) but even in a forum such as this you find that the system is being abused. The old centimetre? How can that be used as a unit of measurement since ALL units are in powers of THREE?
So all the comments of x cm. for this or that, sorry, it's either metres or millimetres guys.
Which now makes me wonder about the use of cubic centimetres for volumes......

Oh dear, is it just me or has my grey cell gone into warp drive?
PS At the time of the changeover, busy learning to use SI, working in M.O.D. land (they were still using C.G.S.), I had been brought up on M.K.S. and was trying frantically to go into SI. No wonder my mind is a mixture of apples, oranges and whatever! Having just got the hang of SI, I went to work in one of our former colonies... Yup, they didn't want to know about metric. Back to square one.
There is (by rumour) one road in the USA that is actually calibrated in metric terms. Quite good fun driving a car with imperial gauges and trying to calculate distances / times by mental arithmetic. {:-{   
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KitS

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #30 on: March 13, 2009, 11:28:26 am »

In Ireland there was a situation in recent years where the distances were in miles and the speed limits in kph!  ok2

Or the other way round, I can't remember properly, but I think they've now gone 100% Metric in that area anyway.
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Regards
Kit

Peter Fitness

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #31 on: March 13, 2009, 09:41:07 pm »

We also gave them the English language but they couldn't work out how to use that correctly either!!

The same could be said for Australians. Crikey, anyone who doesn't understand the metric system must be a dead set galah, fair dinkum  {-) {-) {-)

Peter.
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Malcolm Reade

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #32 on: March 13, 2009, 09:47:05 pm »

The USA does not use Imperial Units.

Hmmmmm

"The United States uses a hodgepodge of metric and customary units. The customary units in use there are historically derived from units which were in use in England at the time of settlement. The measurements of most of these units in England itself were subsequently changed.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_units

You tell 'im Toes - they don't even have soap in France!

 {-) {-) {-) {-)

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Roger in France

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #33 on: March 14, 2009, 06:04:37 am »

I will not have the French maligned over their cleanliness!

After coming out of the dark ages with inadequate plumbing I have to tell you that French facilities are now far superior to those in the UK. My local truck stop has taps for the drivers to wash their hands which are operated by a "magic eye"; the lavatory seat has an auto paper seat cover dispenser and there are two showers - all facilities are unisex.

The supplied equipment is well used. It is quite common to see taps operated by a push button in the floor or a knee pad.

I was not sure if I was being attacked over my comment that in the USA the gallon used is not the Imperial Gallon. If so allow me to assure you it is not, being considerably smaller. If you want to know the reason it is quite simple. Early British settlers to the Americas took with them their local measures (the UK was not then standardised) the gallon used is the Winchester Gallon.

Roger in France

(former Chief Inspector of Weights and Measures)
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toesupwa

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #34 on: March 14, 2009, 06:11:35 am »


I was not sure if I was being attacked over my comment that in the USA the gallon used is not the Imperial Gallon.

http://www.sizes.com/units/gallon_winchester.htm
But it originally came from England?...

Thanks Roger, i didnt know that..  :-))
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Malcolm Reade

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #35 on: March 14, 2009, 07:10:50 am »


The supplied equipment is well used. It is quite common to see taps operated by a push button in the floor or a knee pad.


Hi Roger

Surely the French would be more sensible to install push buttons at hand height?  It must be really unhygienic having to crawl around a toilet floor to operate the taps?   {-) {-)

(said he, tongue in cheek)...

Did anybody see the article in that good old left-wing rag, The Daily Mail yesterday about France rejoining NATO? - Hilarious!

One of the many completely derogatory jokes in the article (the following one on a nautical theme)...

Q: Why do the French have glass bottom boats in their Navy?

A: To see all their other ships

Malc
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Bunkerbarge

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #36 on: March 14, 2009, 07:49:46 am »

Malc, shouldn't a comment about the French and being sensible be in the humour section?

As for all the fancy gadgets described above to "automatically" wash hands, dispense paper etc..  they may seem advanced but they are actually required because if they weren't automated then nothing would get used.
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alan colson

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #37 on: March 14, 2009, 08:08:00 am »

I can cope with imperial or metric measurements. What does do my head in is when an advert applies both.
The other day I spotted something for sale in a free paper and it had a size of 650mm x 4'6". Now that is just stupid and very annoying.
Alan
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Roger in France

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #38 on: March 14, 2009, 08:58:32 am »

Bunkerbarge is, of course, making a valid comment - a point I was avoiding! While I do see the vast majority of folk use the wash facilities in restaurants in France it is their attitude to public toilets which disgust me. Many of them seem to see "depositing their waste" within the area of a public toilet to be quite OK, it not being essential to use the toilet itself!

Many years ago, while on holiday in France, our young son wrote his own guide to touring in France; no stars, just increasing numbers of "brown blobs"!

Roger in France
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das boot

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #39 on: March 14, 2009, 09:14:23 am »

This reminds me of a record by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Titch entitled "The Loos of England"..... :o


Rich
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #40 on: March 14, 2009, 09:40:33 am »

So Malc is a Daily Wail reader then.....
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Bunkerbarge

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #41 on: March 14, 2009, 09:55:39 am »

It made me smile recently to hear of a strange phenomenon that is sweeping our bacteria paranoid American friends.

Apparently women are getting to the point that they are so terrified of catching something from toilet flushing handles that they now use thier feet to operate it!! O0

So they walk all over the toilet floor, then wipe thier feet on the flushing handle that the next poor so and so is going to put her hand on! 

As usual, it defies belief.
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derekwarner

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #42 on: March 14, 2009, 11:17:38 am »

As Peter notes......the same could be said for Australians. Crikey, anyone who doesn't understand the metric system must be a dead set galah, fair dinkum 

We were trying to resolve a diametrical clearance issue between a GE 250 spherical bearing & the mating pin....after much input & debate without resolution >>:-(....I suggested that 250 mm was close to 10" ...so 1/2 of a thou per inch [0.0005"] would provide 0.005" total clearance or transitional fit....this was then accepted by a panel of degree qualified engineers who converted the dimension back to 0.127 mm clearance

Sorry Peter ....but I proudly slot/fit into the galah status  %%...as I still mentally resolve issues like these in bits & pieces of " [inches] & the little parts that maketh the whole number  :police: :-))

Bogstandard will agree with me here ...our younger trades apprentices are taught that all measurements are SI or metric, yet certain components are still manufactured in Imperial units...so what happens?

We read dimensional reports .....of 25.337 mm [as viewed from the TV set in the digital vernier] when the dimension was 1.00" - Derek  {:-{...I rest my case
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Derek Warner

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steamboatmodel

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #43 on: March 14, 2009, 02:57:20 pm »

I grew up using the imperial system, we did learn metrics in High School, but still used imperial measurements. the only problem was with the US so close we ran into there version. This always caused me some confusion, How many oz in a gallon 160 fluid ounces or 128 fluid ounces, There are four quarts to a gallon so is a quart 32 oz. or 40 oz. Back when we bought and sold gasoline in gallons here we sold in imperial gallons 160 fluid ounces, but most of our cars had fuel tanks measured in US gallons. When you went to the store to buy a Quart of milk it was 32 oz. and a pint container was 16 oz. It was all very confusing and it still is, so lets just all go to metric and confuse things more. When I learned Metrics we were told that it was based on the number 10, but when I talk to the kids about length they say you go from a millimetre directly to a metre, what happened to the ones in between,  centimetre = 1⁄100 of a metre or 1×10−2 metre, decimetre = 1⁄10 of a metre or 1×10−1 metre,  decametre = 10 metres,  hectometre = 100 metres.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quart
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pint
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_the_imperial_and_US_customary_measurement_systems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_System_of_Units
Confused in Canada
Regards,
Gerald
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Hagar

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #44 on: March 14, 2009, 03:01:00 pm »

It is my strong belife that the metric system was "invented" by some one that figured out that he (or she) only had ten digits to count with. Just a good thing that they wernt missing a finger.

In about a hundred years or two, Metric will be all that is used as "historical" objects, will no longer be in use. Well maybee still in the USA.
Where does the mesure one dozen come in this? why is a bakers dozen 13?

I Have a spred sheet on my PC that I made a while ago were it can convert inches to mm, also does fractions if I recall. If you want it PM me and I will mail it to you.
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Malcolm Reade

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #45 on: March 14, 2009, 03:21:33 pm »

So Malc is a Daily Wail reader then.....

Not really, it's way too far to the left for me...

Regards

Malc


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das boot

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #46 on: March 14, 2009, 03:42:22 pm »

So Malc is a Daily Wail reader then.....

Not really, it's way too far to the left for me...

Regards

Malc

I thought you were right handed Malc...   %)


Rich
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Malcolm Reade

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #47 on: March 14, 2009, 06:46:06 pm »

So Malc is a Daily Wail reader then.....

Not really, it's way too far to the left for me...

Regards

Malc

I thought you were right handed Malc...   %)


Rich

Absolutely!

Malc
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Bee

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #48 on: March 14, 2009, 09:19:32 pm »

Don't forget the meter and decimal system was first invented by an Englishman, John Wilkins.

Going back a few posts - Grandad are you American then, giving your weight in pounds instead of stone?

On TV there is a series called "A 4x4 is Born". At one point the presenter measures something on the Landy and declares it "25mm". Well anyone can see he's got it a 64th short.
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Subculture

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Re: Bring back feet and inches...
« Reply #49 on: March 16, 2009, 06:01:18 pm »

I was an apprentice, and I was taught in both units- it was a requirement, but I do notice that people a few years younger than me (I'm 36 BTW) are now completely confounded by imperial measurement.

Personally I've always considered metric to be a far more logical and easy to work with, and only switch to imperial if necessary (rare).

Andy
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