[USMA:53964] A Very British Mess
The UKMA has coined the term a very British mess for the metric muddle (as they also say) in the UK right now. Little did I realize how bad things actually were until I saw this post on Metric Views ( http://metricviews.org.uk ) from which I pass along the key excerpt (as a comment to the Old Habits Die Hard post): [I]t is quite normal for UK people to use kg for weight gain, however weight LOSS is measured in stones, get it right please!! Kg for gain, stones for loss, right? Distances of less than a few metres are given in feet, thereafter in metres. Longer distances are of course in miles. Lengths of less than 30 cm are in inches until it is down to 3 cm, then it is OK to use mm so long as it is compared to a finger nail or something. Degrees Celsius (centigrade to me) is used in winter, Fahrenheit in summer, that makes it all sound better. Snowfall is in cm up to about 2.5 cm, then in inches or even feet if it is in USA. Flood water is always in feet, it sounds better then metres. Tide height is metres as is normal water depth, unless it is very deep, then feet sound better. What a shame they've let things slide so badly over there. If we ever get started in a serious way here, let's hope we follow the good examples of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc. instead. -- Ezra
[USMA:53965] Re: A Very British Mess
The further irony is that Canada, which is constantly bombarded with US Customary via American media, is excellent when it comes to weather information (metric only) in official media. Much better than the UK. Plus Canadians regularly use kilometers since they changed their road signs up there decades ago. (I even had one Canadian tell me that, even though he has been working in the USA for several years as an adult, he still hasn't got the hang of Fahrenheit and has to convert back to Celsius. If only we were even that far along down here! ) Ezra - Original Message - From: Ezra, Steinberg ezra.steinb...@comcast.net To: USMA usma@colostate.edu Sent: Saturday, June 14, 2014 1:12:44 PM Subject: [USMA:53964] A Very British Mess The UKMA has coined the term a very British mess for the metric muddle (as they also say) in the UK right now. Little did I realize how bad things actually were until I saw this post on Metric Views ( http://metricviews.org.uk ) from which I pass along the key excerpt (as a comment to the Old Habits Die Hard post): [I]t is quite normal for UK people to use kg for weight gain, however weight LOSS is measured in stones, get it right please!! Kg for gain, stones for loss, right? Distances of less than a few metres are given in feet, thereafter in metres. Longer distances are of course in miles. Lengths of less than 30 cm are in inches until it is down to 3 cm, then it is OK to use mm so long as it is compared to a finger nail or something. Degrees Celsius (centigrade to me) is used in winter, Fahrenheit in summer, that makes it all sound better. Snowfall is in cm up to about 2.5 cm, then in inches or even feet if it is in USA. Flood water is always in feet, it sounds better then metres. Tide height is metres as is normal water depth, unless it is very deep, then feet sound better. What a shame they've let things slide so badly over there. If we ever get started in a serious way here, let's hope we follow the good examples of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc. instead. -- Ezra
[USMA:53966] Re: A Very British Mess
Ezra: The REAL problem is the Luddite British government policy, coupled with a press/media that refuses to move with the times. I believe that the British public is well ahead of both government and media in this respect, but are held back. I give a few recent examples to support my views. Last Wednesday I attended my monthly Probus meeting, in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, some 300 km from London. (Probus is for retired Professional and Business people.) We had a talk by the local Greenthumb franchise rep. He gave his talk in almost exclusively metric units (e.g. lawn sizes in m², etc), at which point I winced, thinking that my fellow Probians would not like this. Occasionally he reverted to imperial when he realised he was talking to a group of people with a median age probably north of 70. He needn’t have bothered. Nearly all the questions from this audience, where the questioner made reference to a quantity, were in metric units (including that from one questioner, a retired engineer, who used mm in describing the size of a discolouration patch in his grass). My neighbour (mid 60s) talks only in km when referring to his cottage in Cyprus and how far to the airport, etc. The convenience store where I buy my Sunday paper recently suggested that I must live no more than 500 m away, and that I could get the paper delivered for free (I measured it and the distance is about 550 m). And so on. I do think that the British people, as the late Pat Naughtin once suggested, somehow feel a bit embarrassed in talking in metric units if they do not know their audience/listener is also comfortable in using metric. Get over this obstacle, and the general public will be seen to be leading the way. All we need to do now is somehow harness this mind-set into forcing the government and media into catching up, instead of simply allowing such policies to sabotage the future of this country. John F-L From: ezra.steinb...@comcast.net Sent: Saturday, June 14, 2014 9:12 PM To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:53964] A Very British Mess The UKMA has coined the term a very British mess for the metric muddle (as they also say) in the UK right now. Little did I realize how bad things actually were until I saw this post on Metric Views (http://metricviews.org.uk) from which I pass along the key excerpt (as a comment to the Old Habits Die Hard post): [I]t is quite normal for UK people to use kg for weight gain, however weight LOSS is measured in stones, get it right please!! Kg for gain, stones for loss, right? Distances of less than a few metres are given in feet, thereafter in metres. Longer distances are of course in miles. Lengths of less than 30 cm are in inches until it is down to 3 cm, then it is OK to use mm so long as it is compared to a finger nail or something. Degrees Celsius (centigrade to me) is used in winter, Fahrenheit in summer, that makes it all sound better. Snowfall is in cm up to about 2.5 cm, then in inches or even feet if it is in USA. Flood water is always in feet, it sounds better then metres. Tide height is metres as is normal water depth, unless it is very deep, then feet sound better. What a shame they've let things slide so badly over there. If we ever get started in a serious way here, let's hope we follow the good examples of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc. instead. -- Ezra No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2014.0.4592 / Virus Database: 3964/7677 - Release Date: 06/14/14
[USMA:53968] Rejoining USMA
Have been away for some time and am now rejoining the USMA list. Bill
[USMA:53969] Re: Rejoining USMA
Welcome back! I am curious. Approximately how many are on the USMA list? - Message from Bill Hooper billhoope...@gmail.com - Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:04:09 -0400 From: Bill Hooper billhoope...@gmail.com Reply-To: billhoope...@gmail.com Subject: [USMA:53968] Rejoining USMA To: U.S. Metric Association usma@colostate.edu Have been away for some time and am now rejoining the USMA list. Bill - End message from Bill Hooper billhoope...@gmail.com - David Pearl www.MetricPioneer.com 503-428-4917
[USMA:53970] Re: Rejoining USMA
About 110 names. From: owner-u...@colostate.edu [mailto:owner-u...@colostate.edu] On Behalf Of cont...@metricpioneer.com Sent: Saturday, June 14, 2014 21:55 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:53969] Re: Rejoining USMA Welcome back! I am curious. Approximately how many are on the USMA list? - Message from Bill Hooper billhoope...@gmail.commailto:billhoope...@gmail.com - Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:04:09 -0400 From: Bill Hooper billhoope...@gmail.commailto:billhoope...@gmail.com Reply-To: billhoope...@gmail.commailto:billhoope...@gmail.com Subject: [USMA:53968] Rejoining USMA To: U.S. Metric Association usma@colostate.edumailto:usma@colostate.edu Have been away for some time and am now rejoining the USMA list. Bill - End message from Bill Hooper billhoope...@gmail.commailto:billhoope...@gmail.com - David Pearl www.MetricPioneer.comhttp://www.MetricPioneer.com 503-428-4917
[USMA:53972] Re: A Very British Mess
I can understand some of the mess. Kilograms for gain makes sense as when one is gaining mass, the kilogram numbers being smaller makes one seem less fat. Stones don’t make sense, since if you are losing weight you would want pounds because the pound being smaller than the kilogram makes you feel like you are losing a lot. The rest is part of the bad thinking habit ingrained from English units. Innumerate people in the past couldn't count past 20 and thus big numbers are difficult for them to visualise, so they so to keep the numbers small they use metres/yards, then feet then inches then centimetres and millimetres. Of course they can always use the prefix deci to eliminate the inches and feet, but this prefix is rarely if ever used, so there is no familiarity. Celsius makes winter seem colder and Fahrenheit summer seem hotter. It all works out to how much exaggeration you want you numbers to display. In the US it is common to exaggerate forest fires by claiming they cover tens of thousands of acres when in only works out to a few square kilometres. It is as if those reporting want everyone to feel the whole world is engulfed in flames. From: ezra.steinb...@comcast.net Sent: Saturday, 2014-06-14 16:12 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:53964] A Very British Mess The UKMA has coined the term a very British mess for the metric muddle (as they also say) in the UK right now. Little did I realize how bad things actually were until I saw this post on Metric Views (http://metricviews.org.uk) from which I pass along the key excerpt (as a comment to the Old Habits Die Hard post): [I]t is quite normal for UK people to use kg for weight gain, however weight LOSS is measured in stones, get it right please!! Kg for gain, stones for loss, right? Distances of less than a few metres are given in feet, thereafter in metres. Longer distances are of course in miles. Lengths of less than 30 cm are in inches until it is down to 3 cm, then it is OK to use mm so long as it is compared to a finger nail or something. Degrees Celsius (centigrade to me) is used in winter, Fahrenheit in summer, that makes it all sound better. Snowfall is in cm up to about 2.5 cm, then in inches or even feet if it is in USA. Flood water is always in feet, it sounds better then metres. Tide height is metres as is normal water depth, unless it is very deep, then feet sound better. What a shame they've let things slide so badly over there. If we ever get started in a serious way here, let's hope we follow the good examples of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc. instead. -- Ezra
[USMA:53973] Re: Rejoining USMA
But how many actually post? Why sign up if you have no intention to post? Do you drop people off who don’t post a message after a fixed amount of time? From: Hillger,Donald Sent: Sunday, 2014-06-15 00:05 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:53970] Re: Rejoining USMA About 110 names. From: owner-u...@colostate.edu [mailto:owner-u...@colostate.edu] On Behalf Of cont...@metricpioneer.com Sent: Saturday, June 14, 2014 21:55 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:53969] Re: Rejoining USMA Welcome back! I am curious. Approximately how many are on the USMA list? - Message from Bill Hooper billhoope...@gmail.com - Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:04:09 -0400 From: Bill Hooper billhoope...@gmail.com Reply-To: billhoope...@gmail.com Subject: [USMA:53968] Rejoining USMA To: U.S. Metric Association usma@colostate.edu Have been away for some time and am now rejoining the USMA list. Bill - End message from Bill Hooper billhoope...@gmail.com - David Pearl www.MetricPioneer.com 503-428-4917
[USMA:53974] Re: Rejoining USMA
There is always knowledge to be gained from reading many of these posts, even if you never do so yourself. Mike On 15 Jun 2014, at 12:25, Harold_Potsdamer harold_potsda...@cox.net wrote: But how many actually post? Why sign up if you have no intention to post? Do you drop people off who don’t post a message after a fixed amount of time? From: Hillger,Donald Sent: Sunday, 2014-06-15 00:05 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:53970] Re: Rejoining USMA About 110 names. From: owner-u...@colostate.edu [mailto:owner-u...@colostate.edu] On Behalf Of cont...@metricpioneer.com Sent: Saturday, June 14, 2014 21:55 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:53969] Re: Rejoining USMA Welcome back! I am curious. Approximately how many are on the USMA list? - Message from Bill Hooper billhoope...@gmail.com - Date: Sat, 14 Jun 2014 23:04:09 -0400 From: Bill Hooper billhoope...@gmail.com Reply-To: billhoope...@gmail.com Subject: [USMA:53968] Rejoining USMA To: U.S. Metric Association usma@colostate.edu Have been away for some time and am now rejoining the USMA list. Bill - End message from Bill Hooper billhoope...@gmail.com - David Pearl www.MetricPioneer.com 503-428-4917
