Goodbye kilometer signs

[Freuds_Cat]

Some even just say "give me 5 slices of ham, thin please". I, for one don't get all knotted up about precise measurements of luncheon meats.
We haven't even discussed breast sizes and penis length yet

Amazing as it may seem but the metric system also extends to being able to ask for 5 slices of Fritz as well

I used Lunch meats as an example because it seems as good as anything that we do on a daily/weekly basis but cars breasts and penis's......feel free to digress.

[Dave W]

For what its worth imported consumables cannot be sold in Australia without metric weight being displayed. This is usually done on American goods with the use of a sticker which is applied over the original weight.

Amercian goods show both. Almost nobody pays any attention, but it's there. In most cases the convenient imperial measurement still determines the actual size. For example, you still buy a pound of rice, and 454g is also shown, rather than the metric measure being the easy amount to remember. Except in the drink industry, where we went to liter bottles.

[Freuds_Cat]

Makes sense then why each of us prefer the system in use in our countries.   A 500ml drink here has um... whatever the fluid ounces measurement is, and because its not a round number we also ignore it.

[Freuds_Cat]

Take Freud's comments with a grain of salt - the toilets flush backwards there, y'know

Is that metric or imperial pinch we are talking about here?   

[eb2]

It was easier to change the quart upon conversion to plastic bottles to go liter and 2 liter.  The 2 liter was sold initially as "THE BOSS."  Occasionally you can hear the odd stick refer to a 2 liter bottle as a "Boss of Coke."  But I grew up with the 19th century hangover of calling it all tonic anyway.

[luve2fli]

It seems that us Australians are the only ones currently of this "era" that have actually gone through the full conversion from one system to the other.

Not true. Canada's conversion began in 1977 and took about 10 years to implement. Having grown up through this, I use both systems. I convert on the fly as required, I measure my pants in inches, my speed in km/h, my weight in lbs. (or kgs.), my height in feet/inches (or meters/centimeters) and my food and drink in kilos and litres (and it's litREs damnit ...... not litERs!). My daughter, however, and all the other "Gen Y-ers", don't have a clue about the Imperial system and probably will have much more difficulty with it than I ever did.

Canada drags its feet as well. Signs are changed, but try ordering 454 grms of baked ham somewhere. Try figuring out why the Coke and paint cans are such an odd non-metric size.

Want to know why? Because we're right beside the USA which is still on Imperial, that's why! Our biggest trading partner still dictates our internal policy and forces us to be able to readily use both systems ..... and, dare I say, we like it that way! We WANT to mix it up and to be different! We're usually so freaking boaring this gives us the opportunity to stand OUT in the crowd! Oh, and we don't order 454 gr. of ham. We order a half-kilo. We basically have abandoned the pound as a legitimate unit of weight. Inches, however, are perfectly acceptable although I don't think you can order ham by the inch. Re: coke and paint - again, the trading aspect. We manufacture, you buy from us - or at least, you might buy from us. It's easier for our production lines to market one size for both nations (ie: 330 ml. coke cans, 3.785 litre paint cans) and then just indicate metric and imperial on the labels. As Canadians, we don't question why we're getting a 3.785 litre can or paint - we just accept it and move on. Much less risky that way ....

I have to say that ordering 300gr (pretty much half a pound with the over) is proof of the pointless nature of metric.

See above. The pound means nothing to us (and most metric nations, I might add) and has been abandoned as a standard measurement.

[eb2]

The pound means nothing to us (and most metric nations, I might add) and has been abandoned as a standard measurement.


Somebody better tell most of the grocery stores and delis in Ontario then. 

[Highlander]

UK'er here...

I haven't worked on an aircraft since 1981, so British Airways (ex BEA & BOAC, also other companies they looked after at LHR) had exotics American (720, 707, 747, DC10) British (VC10, BAC1/11 and Trident) and Anglo/European (Concorde) so I had to have Imperial, Metric, BA, Whitworth, Triwing, Phillips, Allen, Torx, Spline, Bristol, and whatever else now lurks rotting in my shed...

I'm now a security engineer and I don't even know the names of half the security key tools I have...

We have Pints and Litres in bars, miles on the roads, and it would be nice if something standardised...

We did get rid of the LSD (L=£ - S=shilling - D=Pence... Pence...?) - 240 pennies to the pound, 120 pennies in ten-bob, 60 pennies in a crown, 30 pennies in half-a-crown, 12 in a shilling; then we had a farthing, ha'pennie, pennie, thruppence, sixpence, a bob/shilling, a half-crown, crown, a ten bob note, and there was/is the Guinea - one pound and one shilling...

Tell me people - is US currency "METRIC"...?

Signs...? Most of the Scottish Islands removed the English/Gaelic signs and replaced them with Gaelic only, so if you do not know the phoenetics you might as well poch-ma-hon, and that spelling varies...

[luve2fli]

The pound means nothing to us (and most metric nations, I might add) and has been abandoned as a standard measurement.


Somebody better tell most of the grocery stores and delis in Ontario then.

The point I'm trying to make is that - while there's plenty of us old guard left who understand the Imperial system and can easily slide between it and Metric - many don't use the pound as a base unit of measure. I live in Ontario and I go to deli's in Ontario - I know of what I speak from waiting behind soccer moms ordering 125 grams of blackforest ...... or 350 grams of mortadella. The point is, as a unit of measure in Canada, the pound is really quite obsolete.

[bobyoung]

The point I'm trying to make is that - while there's plenty of us old guard left who understand the Imperial system and can easily slide between it and Metric - many don't use the pound as a base unit of measure. I live in Ontario and I go to deli's in Ontario - I know of what I speak from waiting behind soccer moms ordering 125 grams of blackforest ...... or 350 grams of mortadella. The point is, as a unit of measure in Canada, the pound is really quite obsolete.

We started using grams way before the government tried to force us to use the metric system. I know it pretty well, I took a lot of chemistry in school and work in the medical field. It is nice for tiny amounts but Km's and Kg are ridiculous for measuring large weights and long distances. Why? Kilos are too big and kilometers are too small.

[Freuds_Cat]

Honestly tonight I wish the Kms were even smaller when I had the tread on one of my trailer tyres come off on the freeway on my way home.  Took me 30 mins to do 7 kms. Felt like I had square wheels