Tamara wrote:
<Brought with me from Poland scales which weigh in grams and
kilos, every thermometer in the house has both Celsius and Fahrenheit, >
The UK always used imperial measurements - inches, feet yards, miles - and
temperatures in Fahrenheit. The EU has tried to impose metric measurements
on us, but we've resisted certain changes so we use a combination of both
metric and imperial, which can be rather bizarre.
For a long time wood was sold in imperial widths, but metric lengths. So you
would by a 3.04 metre (10 feet) length of 2 inch by 2 inch. Now it's all
metric.
We buy petrol by the litre, but travel by the mile.
Milk is sold by both the litre and pint. I think beer (don't drink alcohol)
is sold by the pint.
Now the EU has said we can keep our imperial measurements - the government
wanted to keep them for sales to the USA.
The one rather silly combination we use is Celsius and Fahrenheit for
temperature - we tend to quote high environmental temperatures in Fahrenheit
and low ones in Celsius, probably because it sounds hotter in Fahrenheit and
colder in Celsius. I never could get the hang of how much of a fever someone
had if their temperature was over 37 degrees Celsius - much easier to judge
from 98.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
Like you, both the environmental thermometers we have at home show both
Fahrenheit and Celsius.
Jean in Poole, Dorset, UK
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