Britain Wants to Bring Back the Imperial Measurement System

[Frodo]

Britain Signals Intent to Revert to the Imperial System
The government announced plans to allow shops to sell produce in pounds and ounces, rather than using the metric system, as part of an effort to “capitalize on new Brexit freedoms.”

The British government said it was taking steps to return to its traditional system of imperial weights and measures, allowing shops and market stalls to sell fruits and vegetables labeled in pounds and ounces alone, rather than in the metric system’s grams and kilograms, a move it hailed as an example of the country’s new post-Brexit freedoms.

The plans, which David Frost, the minister overseeing Brexit, announced on Thursday, were cheered by Brexit supporters, many of whom had argued that the switch to the metric system over the decades was a sign of unwelcome European Union interference in daily life in Britain.

While the European Union currently requires members to use the metric system alone, it had allowed Britain, when it was a member, to label its produce in imperial units alongside metric units. There were also exceptions for traffic signs and beer.

As part of its exit from the European Union, the British government is now reviewing thousands of E.U. rules that it retained and determining whether they best serve the national interest. Those rules include the E.U. ban on sales in imperial units, which the British government said it would legislate changes to “in due course.”

[Damocles]

😂

[Big Abraham]

I say go for it. They already use the imperial system probably more than half the time already (beers are pints, roads are measured in miles, height measured in feet and inches, and so on and so on)

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I guess they're tired of minding their half liters and liters.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

I say go for it. They already use the imperial system probably more than half the time already (beers are pints, roads are measured in miles, height measured in feet and inches, and so on and so on)

Don't some people even use Fahrenheit in the UK?

[Conservatopia]

I say go for it. They already use the imperial system probably more than half the time already (beers are pints, roads are measured in miles, height measured in feet and inches, and so on and so on)

Don't some people even use Fahrenheit in the UK?

Never heard of that.

[parochial boy]

I say go for it. They already use the imperial system probably more than half the time already (beers are pints, roads are measured in miles, height measured in feet and inches, and so on and so on)

Don't some people even use Fahrenheit in the UK?

Never heard of that.

Not strictly speaking related to the topic at hand - but please change your username to La Parfaite Albion. Albion is feminine so the adjective needs to be too, and it's giving me linguistic insecurity.

[Battista Minola 1616]

I say go for it. They already use the imperial system probably more than half the time already (beers are pints, roads are measured in miles, height measured in feet and inches, and so on and so on)

Don't some people even use Fahrenheit in the UK?

Never heard of that.

Not strictly speaking related to the topic at hand - but please change your username to La Parfaite Albion. Albion is feminine so the adjective needs to be too, and it's giving me linguistic insecurity.

L* Parfait·e Albion* (woke)

[parochial boy]

I say go for it. They already use the imperial system probably more than half the time already (beers are pints, roads are measured in miles, height measured in feet and inches, and so on and so on)

Don't some people even use Fahrenheit in the UK?

Never heard of that.

Not strictly speaking related to the topic at hand - but please change your username to La Parfaite Albion. Albion is feminine so the adjective needs to be too, and it's giving me linguistic insecurity.

L* Parfait·e Albion* (woke)

Russia is the motherland, Germany is the fatherland, and England is the non-binary (weights and measures) parentland.

[THG]

Based.

[Former President tack50]

Here's hoping they bring back pre-decimal currency while they are at it

[GeorgiaModerate]

I say go for it. They already use the imperial system probably more than half the time already (beers are pints, roads are measured in miles, height measured in feet and inches, and so on and so on)

Don't some people even use Fahrenheit in the UK?

Never heard of that.

I have a colleague in England and when we're chatting we usually mention our local weather.  He's fond of saying things like "it's raining and 10 degrees here, that's 50 in old money".

[Conservatopia]

I say go for it. They already use the imperial system probably more than half the time already (beers are pints, roads are measured in miles, height measured in feet and inches, and so on and so on)

Don't some people even use Fahrenheit in the UK?

Never heard of that.

Not strictly speaking related to the topic at hand - but please change your username to La Parfaite Albion. Albion is feminine so the adjective needs to be too, and it's giving me linguistic insecurity.

My goodness you're right.  See it was supposed to be similar to "La Perfide Albion" so it's terribly stupid of me not to notice that.  Guess the English are just a bunch of monolinguists after all.  Oh well time to suppress my francophilia and change back to my usual username.

[parochial boy]

I say go for it. They already use the imperial system probably more than half the time already (beers are pints, roads are measured in miles, height measured in feet and inches, and so on and so on)

Don't some people even use Fahrenheit in the UK?

Never heard of that.

Not strictly speaking related to the topic at hand - but please change your username to La Parfaite Albion. Albion is feminine so the adjective needs to be too, and it's giving me linguistic insecurity.

My goodness you're right.  See it was supposed to be similar to "La Perfide Albion" so it's terribly stupid of me not to notice that.  Guess the English are just a bunch of monolinguists after all.  Oh well time to suppress my francophilia and change back to my usual username.

It's a well known fact that if you try speaking french with a francophone they will either arrogantly correct you, or refuse to engage and insist on speaking in English. And who are we to question our place in the grand scheme of things?

[Boobs]

I say go for it. They already use the imperial system probably more than half the time already (beers are pints, roads are measured in miles, height measured in feet and inches, and so on and so on)

Don't some people even use Fahrenheit in the UK?

Never heard of that.

Not strictly speaking related to the topic at hand - but please change your username to La Parfaite Albion. Albion is feminine so the adjective needs to be too, and it's giving me linguistic insecurity.

My goodness you're right.  See it was supposed to be similar to "La Perfide Albion" so it's terribly stupid of me not to notice that.  Guess the English are just a bunch of monolinguists after all.  Oh well time to suppress my francophilia and change back to my usual username.

It's a well known fact that if you try speaking french with a francophone they will either arrogantly correct you, or refuse to engage and insist on speaking in English. And who are we to question our place in the grand scheme of things?

This fact does not apply in Quebec (where the francophones are so desperate for affirmation they’ll speak with you as you butcher their tongue.)

[parochial boy]

I say go for it. They already use the imperial system probably more than half the time already (beers are pints, roads are measured in miles, height measured in feet and inches, and so on and so on)

Don't some people even use Fahrenheit in the UK?

Never heard of that.

Not strictly speaking related to the topic at hand - but please change your username to La Parfaite Albion. Albion is feminine so the adjective needs to be too, and it's giving me linguistic insecurity.

My goodness you're right.  See it was supposed to be similar to "La Perfide Albion" so it's terribly stupid of me not to notice that.  Guess the English are just a bunch of monolinguists after all.  Oh well time to suppress my francophilia and change back to my usual username.

It's a well known fact that if you try speaking french with a francophone they will either arrogantly correct you, or refuse to engage and insist on speaking in English. And who are we to question our place in the grand scheme of things?

This fact does not apply in Quebec (where the francophones are so desperate for affirmation they’ll speak with you as you butcher their tongue.)

That's probably partly out of shock at discovering someone who can actually understand their incomprehensible approximation of the language

[Boobs]

Just so long as they’re not Belgian, of course.

[John Dule]

One down, 193 to go!

[Alcibiades]

This has been discussed already on the UK thread, but the practical effect of this will be approximately zero. While they may legally be allowed to do so now, no sane shopkeeper would refuse to sell in metric measurements owing to the large number of customers who are more comfortable with them than imperial.

As Big Abraham says, imperial is still in very common usage for heights, distances and beers, but increasingly little else. As you might expect, there is a big age divide at play here.

[Geoffrey Howe]

Rather misleading title; both here and in the NYT (quelle surprise).

[Fight for Trump]

I say go for it. They already use the imperial system probably more than half the time already (beers are pints, roads are measured in miles, height measured in feet and inches, and so on and so on)

Don't some people even use Fahrenheit in the UK?

Never heard of that.

I have a colleague in England and when we're chatting we usually mention our local weather.  He's fond of saying things like "it's raining and 10 degrees here, that's 50 in old money".

You're old, so I assume you're also talking with old people.

[GeorgiaModerate]

I say go for it. They already use the imperial system probably more than half the time already (beers are pints, roads are measured in miles, height measured in feet and inches, and so on and so on)

Don't some people even use Fahrenheit in the UK?

Never heard of that.

I have a colleague in England and when we're chatting we usually mention our local weather.  He's fond of saying things like "it's raining and 10 degrees here, that's 50 in old money".

You're old, so I assume you're also talking with old people.

Yeah, he's somewhere around my age (mid-sixties).

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

This isn't really a huge deal although I'm sure there are a few cranks on both sides who really want it to be a culture war thing. Except for scientific purposes (where metric is obviously superior) and baking purposes (where measuring ingredients in grams is so obviously inferior that I still can't believe even the Continent does it), any measurement system is only as good or bad as its users' own understanding of it.

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

OK, Brexit is an epic own goal, the towering stupidity of which I still can’t fathom even after my own people made an orange infomercial spokesman president.

But, imperial units  are a better system for practical uses.

[Geoffrey Howe]

This isn't really a huge deal although I'm sure there are a few cranks on both sides who really want it to be a culture war thing. Except for scientific purposes (where metric is obviously superior) and baking purposes (where measuring ingredients in grams is so obviously inferior that I still can't believe even the Continent does it), any measurement system is only as good or bad as its users' own understanding of it.

Why are grammes so much worse for baking?