John W. Kennedy wrote:
Jim Allan wrote:
John W. Kennedy wrote:
Peter Hillier-Brook wrote:
By the way, it's not animosity about the metric system per se, but
an argument for useful support of Imperial measurements,
There is no such thing. The Imperial system has been obsolete since
1995.
I use OpenOffice.org professionally in Canada in a company which among
other things does a lot of printing for clients. Most paper sizes
available and used are the standard imperial paper sizes: letter size,
legal size, and ledger size. I believe this is also true in the USA.
Those are US paper sizes, not "Imperial". There never were any
"Imperial" paper sizes. (There used to be English non-Metric paper
sizes, but they were not the same as the US sizes, and they weren't part
of the Imperial system, anyway -- which is probably one reason that
Canada uses US paper sizes.) And the US does not and never did use the
Imperial system, which did not even come into being until several
generations after the Revolution.
The measurement in inches normally used for the standard US paper sizes is
often called "Imperial". You are correct that English non-metric paper
sizes were different from the US sizes and I ought to have written
"fit standard imperial measurement" rather than "are the standard
imperial paper sizes".
The US still commonly uses inches which is what everyone else but you is
talking about here, not differences in gallons or other differences
between the strict imperial system and the US system. (The difference of
the inch between US international measurement and US survey measurement
is too small to matter in respect to measurements of paper used within
OpenOffice.org.)
Also from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_unithttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_unit
:
Almost all traders in the UK will accept requests from customers
specified in Imperial units, and scales which display in both unit
systems are commonplace in retail trade. Metric price signs may
currently be accompanied by Imperial price signs, (known as
supplementary indicators) provided that the Imperial signs are no larger
and no more prominent than the official metric ones. Supplementary
indicators will not be permitted after 31st December, 2009.
The United Kingdom completed its legal transition to SI units in 1995,
but a few such units are still in official use: draught beer must still
be sold in pints, roadsign distances must be in yards and miles, and
speed limits are in miles per hour, therefore interfaces in cars must be
capable of displaying miles per hour.
...
The railways are also a big user of imperial units, with distances
officially measured in miles and yards or miles and chains, and also
feet and inches, and speeds are in miles per hour, although many modern
metro and tram systems are entirely metric, and London Underground uses
both metric (for distances) and Imperial (for speeds).
...
Milk is available in both litre and pint containers, with appropriate
conversions as well. Most people still measure their weight in stones
and pounds, and height in feet and inches- but these must be converted
to metric if recorded officially, for example as on passports. For
example petrol is sometimes quoted as being so much per gallon, despite
having been sold exclusively in litres for two decades. Likewise, fuel
consumption for cars is still usually in miles per gallon, though
official figures always include litre per 100 km equivalents. Fahrenheit
equivalents are sometimes given after Celsius in weather forecasts,
especially for high temperatures (e.g. temperatures will reach as high
as 90 degrees tomorrow).
Jallan
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