Having been educated at school in entirely imperial, and with Australia (trust me) entirely metric, I frequently say to my husband when he names a metric measurement of something or other: 'How big is that in feet and inches?'
Also, I used to buy fabric from dedicated fabric shops, and a yard (or ell which I use when writing medieval hist.fict) ) was always the length they held out from wrist to shoulder . Made sense to me.
I know enough metric to do very basic conversions if I have to but in the kitchen, all my favourite recipes date back to imperial so I have the most fab scales and measuring jug which show both.
By the way, tomato sauce is tomato sauce here in Australia - certainly in our house and where we shop. And a meat pie will aways be with sauce, never ketchup. Same with fish and chips. Sauce all the way!
Ah, here we go. I grew up in England long enough ago to have used pounds, shillings, and pence, half-crowns, bobs, thruppenny bits, coppers, ha'pennys, and even farthings. And of course stones, pounds, and ounces. Furlongs and fortnights. Bushels and firkins. You'll find the latter in the expressions two firkin big, and two firkin small.
At school, I started with "Imperial", then metric in the form of cgs, then MKS, then SI. Chemistry at uni was metric, but work was ounces and gallons. Moving to Holland was metric, and then in the US, back to ounces and different gallons.
In Puerto Rico, distances are in Km, but speed limits are in mph, because everyone drives American cars. "San Juan 38 Km. Speed limit 50 mph"
I wrote on foolscap in England, A4 in Holland, and letter in the US (also used in Canada and the Philippines!)
OMG I just loved this !! You should get one helluva shiny medal for this !! Last yr. I made a huge mistake of getting in a conversation on Social Media over this , I simply took the side of the Imperial system that I think & feel within it & can’t stop ( it feels good) I can look at a plane and tell you very very close it’s altitude in ft. even better at a cars speed ! Some guy in Europe made a T-shirt that simply said “6 Ft. 2 “ as someone was shocked when they asked people all over Europe how tall they were how many answered in Ft & inches ! Well people freaked out and started calling me stupid and an asshole ! I was like “ gee this is kinda petty shit here” the comments poured in, some showing off their math skills ! Oh oh ( I spent 46 yrs. in the Optical lab biz , Metric worked beautiful there ( but still mixed with Imperial ) so I replied that all the nasty folks here were unromantic boring poopy heads, I asked one guy if you buy a Condo with cool 10 Ft. ceilings your going to tell your friends “ your going to love my 3.048 ceilings “ oh and my new Mustang can do the 1/4 mile in 9 seconds your going to say “ hey you cool cats my Mustang can do the 0.402336 in 9 seconds, from now on don’t say “ hey honey I got you a “ dozen Roses” or hey Babe would you like a “ Cup of Coffee” no , you gotta say “ hey hun would you like 237 ml of Coffee ? I just read a recent article that the Pyramids were built using a system that the Imperial system came from and they still haven’t figured out the accuracy of those structures, apparently this is a very true story?? Hey give me an inch I’m gonna take a mile !
Canadian here😊In 1975 when the country went metric my dad had the old neighbour s convinced that our house #’s were going metric too. He really wound them up and we all got a laugh😂🤣😂🤣
This genuinely changed the way I think about metric vs imperial - it reminds of Jay Griffiths’ Pip Pip: A Sideways Look at Time, where she explains that traditional local time might mean the specific colour of light hitting a certain leaf, rather than anything numeric.
The theoretical foundations of the metre is one side of the coin. The other is the practical challenges to its adoption. In 1796, sixteen reference metre rules were established near market places across Paris, for people to make their own copies for trading. One of them is still in its original position, near the Palais du Luxembourg.
As a Canadian, even though I still use both for different things, I fall firmly on the "metric is better" side. As a sewist, trying to subtract 1/4 inch from 5/8 of an inch is so much harder than subtracting 6 millimetres from 16 millimetres (or more likely 5 mm from 15 mm).
This is just...bonkers! But there is something so beautiful about measurements all being tied to the body...a handy ruler always available. Loved all of this!
I used to be an archaeologist, and (in the U.S., at least, I have never been an archaeologist anywhere else) we measured prehistoric artifacts in millimeters, test pits and excavation units in centimeters, survey distance in meters, and historic artifacts in inches and feet. I'm actually quite good at visually estimating both centimeters and inches, but I am absolute shit at measuring medium distances in anything but meters.
Really interesting article. I am a mixed up Brit! I use and think in inches for actually knitting. 4” the usual measure for a gauge swatch is approximately 10cms. However I know that 4” is 4 thumbs and tend to estimate it that way. I buy yarn in metric weights though and don’t think of it in ounces. Fabric I buy in metres but think in yards. I will still use the wrist to shoulder measurement to guesstimate yardage. Cooking varies on the recipe and I’m as happy in Imperial as metric for baking or buying food.
Great article, I loved reading it! And the comments are really witty and humorous. Born in Tanzania in 1962, it was all in ounces, inches and yards, but the metric system too. We used both. Living in Spain since 1975, EVERYTHING here is in Metric system only.
And yes, STOP is a universal sign.
Spaniards have what we’d call, a lazy tongue. It’s hard for them to pronounce the whole word when in another language, so they drop letters, consonants, change the pronunciation, etc. it’s so much fun!
It has been a lovely spring-like day today, with 19°C. 😁
As a Yank living abroad, I've grown quite accustomed to dealing with kilometers, no problem. And I've learned to pretty much know what 20 degrees celsius feels like, but I do think Fahrenheit does provide a bit more accuracy in describing the temperature.
As for ketchup, did you mean catsup? And what do you need ketchup/castup for anyway? Don't you just put maybe on everything?
BTW, I'm currently in Valencia where that terrible mistake happened! I can sense I must not be far from it. Maybe 20 kilometers!
lovely and fun read! i have a jar full of my grandparents old shillings, pence and even a few farthings, i think.
BTW, In The Writing Burrow (@margaretatwood) had been doing a great series on the French Revolution. And, sorry, but there is more than TOMATO ketchup...mushroom for one! just when you thought it was safe to leave the kitchen untended. ;)
I loved this! As an American I grew up with imperial but I remember the attempt to covert us to metric in the late 60’s early 70’s? Wildly unpopular. lol. This isn’t about measuring but on my first trip to Italy I was surprised to see the Stop signs actually say “stop”. An English word.
Having been educated at school in entirely imperial, and with Australia (trust me) entirely metric, I frequently say to my husband when he names a metric measurement of something or other: 'How big is that in feet and inches?'
Also, I used to buy fabric from dedicated fabric shops, and a yard (or ell which I use when writing medieval hist.fict) ) was always the length they held out from wrist to shoulder . Made sense to me.
I know enough metric to do very basic conversions if I have to but in the kitchen, all my favourite recipes date back to imperial so I have the most fab scales and measuring jug which show both.
By the way, tomato sauce is tomato sauce here in Australia - certainly in our house and where we shop. And a meat pie will aways be with sauce, never ketchup. Same with fish and chips. Sauce all the way!
Ah, here we go. I grew up in England long enough ago to have used pounds, shillings, and pence, half-crowns, bobs, thruppenny bits, coppers, ha'pennys, and even farthings. And of course stones, pounds, and ounces. Furlongs and fortnights. Bushels and firkins. You'll find the latter in the expressions two firkin big, and two firkin small.
At school, I started with "Imperial", then metric in the form of cgs, then MKS, then SI. Chemistry at uni was metric, but work was ounces and gallons. Moving to Holland was metric, and then in the US, back to ounces and different gallons.
In Puerto Rico, distances are in Km, but speed limits are in mph, because everyone drives American cars. "San Juan 38 Km. Speed limit 50 mph"
I wrote on foolscap in England, A4 in Holland, and letter in the US (also used in Canada and the Philippines!)
Thanks for this!
OMG I just loved this !! You should get one helluva shiny medal for this !! Last yr. I made a huge mistake of getting in a conversation on Social Media over this , I simply took the side of the Imperial system that I think & feel within it & can’t stop ( it feels good) I can look at a plane and tell you very very close it’s altitude in ft. even better at a cars speed ! Some guy in Europe made a T-shirt that simply said “6 Ft. 2 “ as someone was shocked when they asked people all over Europe how tall they were how many answered in Ft & inches ! Well people freaked out and started calling me stupid and an asshole ! I was like “ gee this is kinda petty shit here” the comments poured in, some showing off their math skills ! Oh oh ( I spent 46 yrs. in the Optical lab biz , Metric worked beautiful there ( but still mixed with Imperial ) so I replied that all the nasty folks here were unromantic boring poopy heads, I asked one guy if you buy a Condo with cool 10 Ft. ceilings your going to tell your friends “ your going to love my 3.048 ceilings “ oh and my new Mustang can do the 1/4 mile in 9 seconds your going to say “ hey you cool cats my Mustang can do the 0.402336 in 9 seconds, from now on don’t say “ hey honey I got you a “ dozen Roses” or hey Babe would you like a “ Cup of Coffee” no , you gotta say “ hey hun would you like 237 ml of Coffee ? I just read a recent article that the Pyramids were built using a system that the Imperial system came from and they still haven’t figured out the accuracy of those structures, apparently this is a very true story?? Hey give me an inch I’m gonna take a mile !
Mike have you seen the SNL bit about the measurement systems from a few weeks ago? Hilarious and even addresses the missing vowels!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JYqfVE-fykk
Canadian here😊In 1975 when the country went metric my dad had the old neighbour s convinced that our house #’s were going metric too. He really wound them up and we all got a laugh😂🤣😂🤣
It's good to be reminded, in these dark days, that there really is a lot to like out there. Thanks!
This genuinely changed the way I think about metric vs imperial - it reminds of Jay Griffiths’ Pip Pip: A Sideways Look at Time, where she explains that traditional local time might mean the specific colour of light hitting a certain leaf, rather than anything numeric.
The theoretical foundations of the metre is one side of the coin. The other is the practical challenges to its adoption. In 1796, sixteen reference metre rules were established near market places across Paris, for people to make their own copies for trading. One of them is still in its original position, near the Palais du Luxembourg.
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-last-original-standard-metre-paris-france
As a Canadian, even though I still use both for different things, I fall firmly on the "metric is better" side. As a sewist, trying to subtract 1/4 inch from 5/8 of an inch is so much harder than subtracting 6 millimetres from 16 millimetres (or more likely 5 mm from 15 mm).
This is just...bonkers! But there is something so beautiful about measurements all being tied to the body...a handy ruler always available. Loved all of this!
I used to be an archaeologist, and (in the U.S., at least, I have never been an archaeologist anywhere else) we measured prehistoric artifacts in millimeters, test pits and excavation units in centimeters, survey distance in meters, and historic artifacts in inches and feet. I'm actually quite good at visually estimating both centimeters and inches, but I am absolute shit at measuring medium distances in anything but meters.
Really interesting article. I am a mixed up Brit! I use and think in inches for actually knitting. 4” the usual measure for a gauge swatch is approximately 10cms. However I know that 4” is 4 thumbs and tend to estimate it that way. I buy yarn in metric weights though and don’t think of it in ounces. Fabric I buy in metres but think in yards. I will still use the wrist to shoulder measurement to guesstimate yardage. Cooking varies on the recipe and I’m as happy in Imperial as metric for baking or buying food.
Great article, I loved reading it! And the comments are really witty and humorous. Born in Tanzania in 1962, it was all in ounces, inches and yards, but the metric system too. We used both. Living in Spain since 1975, EVERYTHING here is in Metric system only.
And yes, STOP is a universal sign.
Spaniards have what we’d call, a lazy tongue. It’s hard for them to pronounce the whole word when in another language, so they drop letters, consonants, change the pronunciation, etc. it’s so much fun!
It has been a lovely spring-like day today, with 19°C. 😁
As a Yank living abroad, I've grown quite accustomed to dealing with kilometers, no problem. And I've learned to pretty much know what 20 degrees celsius feels like, but I do think Fahrenheit does provide a bit more accuracy in describing the temperature.
As for ketchup, did you mean catsup? And what do you need ketchup/castup for anyway? Don't you just put maybe on everything?
BTW, I'm currently in Valencia where that terrible mistake happened! I can sense I must not be far from it. Maybe 20 kilometers!
lovely and fun read! i have a jar full of my grandparents old shillings, pence and even a few farthings, i think.
BTW, In The Writing Burrow (@margaretatwood) had been doing a great series on the French Revolution. And, sorry, but there is more than TOMATO ketchup...mushroom for one! just when you thought it was safe to leave the kitchen untended. ;)
I loved this! As an American I grew up with imperial but I remember the attempt to covert us to metric in the late 60’s early 70’s? Wildly unpopular. lol. This isn’t about measuring but on my first trip to Italy I was surprised to see the Stop signs actually say “stop”. An English word.