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http://news.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=804942004 Down is the entire nonsencical article: Gag away!: Who would really be so extreme as to want to 'metricate' something like the Royal Mile of Edinburgh? Is this guy really that stupid or is he just pretending? A housing estate at the village of Beuningen, about 2 km west of Nijmegen is called Viermorgen. That means 4 Acres, it was the name of an old townland in that area. And in Deventer to the north, you can buy Ellekoek; it has the name of the old unit ell and also its length. Han If the world went metric Craig Brown IMAGINE waking up one morning to find that the whole world had changed completely: it would no longer be possible to order a pint of beer and, if giving directions, telling someone it "is just a couple of miles up the road" would result in a blank look. Well, if it was up to the United Kingdom Metric Association, this could happen sooner rather than later as it has just launched a campaign to force Britain's population to make the full transition from imperial measures to metric. Lord Howe of Aberavon, the former Tory Chancellor who is the patron of the association, led the charge yesterday when he claimed it was time to end what he described as "a very British mess" of a half metric, half imperial system. In the association's new pamphlet, he writes: "British weights and measures are in a mess. Litres for petrol and fizzy drinks, pints for beer and milk, metres and kilometres for athletics, miles per gallon for cars. "And this muddle does matter. It increases costs, confuses shoppers, leads to serious misunderstandings, causes accidents, wastes our children's education and, quite bluntly, puts us all to shame." But if the country was to convert suddenly and irreversibly to the metric system, with no quarter given to existing traditions and standards, what would change? And how would we cope? Well, for a start, overnight Edinburgh's central tourism area, The Royal Mile, could well vanish in a puff of bureaucracy only to be replaced by the Royal 1.609344km. How many people know their exact weight and height in kilogrammes and metres or can envision what a kilogramme looks like, or how long it takes to travel a kilometre? The issue of distances and travelling suddenly takes on a whole new light. For a start it would no longer be 46 miles to travel from Edinburgh to Glasgow, it would be 74.029824 kilometres, while London would suddenly become a distant 650.174976 kilometres, instead of 404 miles. Of course, the conversion would mean that there would have to be a countrywide re-signing project to make sure that every road sign showed distances in kilometres. And the speed limit signs would also have to change - but what to? There's no easy conversion - 30mph becomes 48.28032kmph, 70mph turns into a scarily fast sounding 112.65408kmph. Bert Morris, deputy director of the AA Motoring Trust, says: "If it was to happen overnight, then obviously it would be a nightmare. As far as the speed limits go, we just don't know what would happen. In mainland Europe they are set at 50km, which is just over 31mph. "If we were to change the road signs to metric, the ones that would be affected would be direction, width and height, and it would be beneficial to motorists if they had the imperial and metric signs together to start off with. "There is a good case to argue that road signs should be changed from imperial to metric but there is no sound economic sense or any road safety benefits. "The idea of changing road signs to metric was first thought of back in the 1970s and children have been taught in metric rather than imperial for the last 30 years. "Also, four million British motorists travel to mainland Europe each year and are used to seeing metric road signs when they drive on their roads. "It can be confusing for a generation of drivers who have been taught metric at school and then when they begin driving every sign on the road is in imperial." AND it's not just drivers who would find themselves trying to cope with a new set of references - certain sports would find their own special terminology outlawed. For instance, in horse racing, distances would no longer be measured in furlongs but in multiples of 0.01168km. And to measure a horse, it would no longer the number of hands, but multiples of 0.1016 metres. In theory, the UK made the move to abandon imperial measures and join the rest of Europe more than 150 years ago, when in 1862 a Commons committee recommended the adoption of the metric system. However, it took more than a century for any government to act on this advice. Metric measures began to be introduced in 1965, but in 1979 the then Conservative government decided to go slow on the process. If our world did become metric overnight, there is one part that wouldn't change - as it has already been forcibly turned metric. Four years ago, the European Parliament passed legislation demanding that grocers work only in metric measurements. Traders across the country rebelled against such a demand, resulting in many being prosecuted by trading standards officers. The British Weights and Measures Association, which is still fighting this legislation, claims the changeover has been used to "round" the amount contained in packaging down by between ten and 15 per cent while maintaining original prices. For Davie Shaw, who owns Edinburgh fruit and vegetable shop Tattie Shaw on Leith Walk, the issue of metrification is one that won't go away. "Basically, when it really kicked in two years ago, I asked my customers how they felt about it, and I can say that 98 per cent of the people who come in here said that they didn't understand it and didn't want it; I would say that 80 per cent still don't. "People just don't think in metric when it comes to vegetables. I can say that when customers come in here, even if they've been brought up on the metric system, they still ask for a pound of potatoes." But Shaw believes the prospect of a metric-only Britain is not as far away as people imagine. "Now that the EU has won its case against those people who were fighting to retain imperial, I have had visits from local officials, telling me to use dual scaling. But come 2010, all references to pounds and ounces will disappear, and this will affect those people over a certain age, the 35-upwards age group, who tend to think in imperial." There is also the great British tradition of the pint of beer; overnight, hundreds of thirsty customers would find themselves unsure of what to ask for at bars. Paul Waterson, chief executive of The Scottish Licensed Trade Association, says: "It would certainly be a major loss to Scottish culture and tradition, that's for sure. I think one of the possible problems could come from the fact that people have learned to gauge their drinking through pints; they know how many they can take. I think the introduction of litres and half-litres in their place could pose problems in this sense, as people could find themselves drinking them without a sense of the quantity." Strangely enough, though, there is at least one everyday item that will retain its imperial heritage: that of the McDonalds' Quarter Pounder. According to a McDonalds spokeswoman, it has actually trademarked the weight measurement, so metric or not, you would still be able to ask for one, even if you had no idea of what the name actually meant. Even aspects of our lives which are not quite so, er, measurable could change. For instance, would The Proclaimers' famous I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) becomes I'm Gonna Be (804.672 Kilometres)? In years to come, could the twins be singing: "And I would walk 804.672 kilometres, And I would walk 804.672 more, Just to be the man who walked a 1609.344 kilometres, To fall down at your door." At the moment, though, there are no immediate plans to turn the country upside down. A spokesman for the Department of Transport says: "We are not going to change the roads. We looked at it 18 months ago, but we decided there are too many people who have been educated in miles to consider it. "Also, there are massive cost implications for changing the signs, which would have to be dual anyway." The Department of Trade and Industry took a slightly more forthright view on metrification in business. A spokesman says: "As far as we are concerned, we don't think there is a 'metric mess', as Lord Howe said. The UK is almost completely metric except for a few cases, for instance buying a pint in a bar." But a final word of comfort for those living on the Royal Mile concerned that centuries of tradition may disappear at the stroke of a pen. When an Edinburgh City Council spokesman was asked about the potential for conversion, he replied: "I think that's highly unlikely." ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, 2004-08-12 18:37 Subject: [USMA:30722] Weigh up the pros of metric > Weigh up the pros of metric > > http://news.scotsman.com/features.cfm?id=804942004 > > > AS a northern lass who was lucky enough to grow up in Australia, it was embarrassing to read in the Evening News the ludicrous article by Craig Brown ("If the world went metric", News, July 9). > > What an insult to the intelligence of us all! When signs and weights change to metric, as happened in all our Commonwealth nations and now even Ireland, there are no such things as 112.65418km/h speed limits. > > Signs are rounded up or down to the nearest sensible amount, as we all see when driving abroad, like Australia's national limit of 110km/h. London will be just a round figure 650km away (not 650.174976km away). Furthermore, there is no issue with companies rounding DOWN sizes either. > > Most companies rounded the old pound (454g) to 500g amounts and advertised the "no extra charge" accordingly. The pint never disappeared in Australia, either. It is still called a pint, but rounded up to 600ml from the little English one of 568ml. > > You'd enjoy it a lot more if we were allowed the litre! > > Please don't be silly, Mr Brown. You merely play into the hands of nasty-minded "Little Englander" types who would have us back in shillings, groats, bushels and hogsheads and perpetually at war with our good neighbours! > > Riane Martin, Campden Houses, Peel St, London > >
