CaptainBarnicles
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And Fanny's your Aunt!
Weird old posts from 2000s lol
- Thread starter JackGulley
- Start date
also used to name various other things too.
Although we now have to measure humans in kg, a lot of us still prefer the pre-metric stones and pounds - much more meaningful than kg.
When I watch American films and a witness to a crime gives the perpetrator's weight in pounds, I have to divide by 14 to work out if he was skinny, overweight or somewhere between. Similarly, I have to divide his height by 12 to work out how tall he is as I work in feet and inches for height.
I was brought up in pre-metric days and I work in both for different things. So body temperature is 37 deg C (in the biochem lab at university, we incubated tests at human body temp in deg C) but the mid 70's F is a warm summer's day. I think of fish tanks in cm as that's what they are labelled as in the UK, but for sewing I use inches. A seam in a dress is 5/8 inch not 1.5 cm. Fish tanks' volumes are litres, but cooking volumes are pints and fluid ounces.
In the UK, a pint is 20 fluid ounces. At school in the late 1950s/early 60s we were taught the mnemonic "a pint of water weighs a pound and a quarter". A quart is 2 pints or 40 fluid oz and an Imperial gallon is 8 pints or 160 fluid oz. That's why US and Imperial gallons are different, it due to the different pint volumes.
are bigger than ours.
A lot of TV shows made overseas that get shown in Australia have metric sizes and weights. The producers normally do multiple takes of the same scene for different regions around the world. For the US version of the show they use feet, inches and pounds. For Australia, New Zealand and various other countries they use metric (kilograms, meters).
CaptainBarnicles
Moderate Pleco Tolerator
Staff member
Global Moderator ⚒️
Tank of the Month 🏆
Pet of the Month 🎖️
I just ask Alexa
We tend to do weight in pounds and height in inches, but everything else in metric. I was 15 when we changed over. For a while, all aquarium stuff was fahrenheit and gallons, and since we buy a lot from the US, that ends up hybrid. I have to convert fahrenheit (thank google) when people use it here. Weights like stones are very specific o the UK and Ireland (I think).
When I was measured up for surgery this week, the nurse said my height in metric and my weight in pounds, but she wrote kilos on my chart. Our proximity to the US leaves us mixed - miles, for example, could be anything to me. They're just a word.
Google translates measurements for me. I'll guess at fahrenheit sometimes.
When I was measured up for surgery this week, the nurse said my height in metric and my weight in pounds, but she wrote kilos on my chart. Our proximity to the US leaves us mixed - miles, for example, could be anything to me. They're just a word.
Google translates measurements for me. I'll guess at fahrenheit sometimes.
In my laboratory everything was metric. In my clinic and everywhere else it was pounds, miles, inches etc. Schizoid existence it was.
In the uk we are in a bit of a state of flux with weights and measures. Things like kilos, litres and centigrade have been gradually gaining in popular use and are now probably the dominant units used. Another generation or two and almost no one will be using pounds, ounces, stones, gallons and degrees F. Miles and pints are here to stay though, although pints probably only for beer and possibly milk. Even for milk though, now that most people buy milk in the supermarket rather than having it delivered, I can even see use of pints for milk becoming redundant. I now think of my weight in kg but it was always stone when I was younger. Can’t recall when I switched over.
For height, it seems to currently be 50/50 between feet and inches and cm. I use both.
For height, it seems to currently be 50/50 between feet and inches and cm. I use both
We buy milk in 4 pint bottles. If we need a bit extra we buy 1 pint bottles. Some milk cartons are measured in litres though.
I don't use google or alexa - I use the calculator on here
Converting between kg and pounds is easy - divide or multiply by 11, then by 2 then move the decimal point. Similarly pounds to stones, divide by 7 then by 2.
We had to learn times tables from 2 to 12 at school so all those are instinctive now, I don't have to think about them. My mother had to learn 14 and 16 times tables as well (stones/pounds and pounds/ounces).
I don't use google or alexa - I use the calculator on here
Converting between kg and pounds is easy - divide or multiply by 11, then by 2 then move the decimal point. Similarly pounds to stones, divide by 7 then by 2.
We had to learn times tables from 2 to 12 at school so all those are instinctive now, I don't have to think about them. My mother had to learn 14 and 16 times tables as well (stones/pounds and pounds/ounces).
I'm mostly able to deal with both, except in construction, If your blue print is not imperial, I will redo one in imperial system before cutting anything...
It's a lot more easy on the field to call a couple 2 by 4 than a couple forty-four by ninety-four... I think both use the term "stud", not sure about that. Also a 2 by 6 could be called a plate, but not all plates are 2 by 6, do you call that a forthy-seven by one-forty ?
I cant imagine building a house in the metric system. Loll.
It's a lot more easy on the field to call a couple 2 by 4 than a couple forty-four by ninety-four... I think both use the term "stud", not sure about that. Also a 2 by 6 could be called a plate, but not all plates are 2 by 6, do you call that a forthy-seven by one-forty ?
I cant imagine building a house in the metric system. Loll.
If someone says "a 48x15x12 tank" that is something I can picture, (okay - cheating, I had these in my house in England...), but there is a tendency to say "a 140 litre tank", which is more or less the capacity of a 48x15x12. The volume size alone, though, really is useless. What is the surface area of a 140 litre tank? You don't know the shape, but that surface area is important to know.
I was in a Canadian fish store last weekend, and asked the owner what temp he kept a bank of tanks at. He said 77, which surprised me, because fahrenheit isn't used by people his age (he was younger). Then, as I looked more, I spotted their temp controller system, and realized it was US made and not converted to Celsius. So the American brands, all made in China where they use Celsius, are set for Fahrenheit, and confuse people like me all the time. I think building and fishkeeping are among the last holdouts.
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