EU giving up on metrication of Britain

[THR]

The EU is giving up the hopeless task of turning the British into understanding the metric system

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6988521.stm

Well, let's not jump to conclusions. It said that the imperial system will be allowed as an additional system. Imperial only will still be illegal but the deadline of scrapping all imperial units has been abolished.

You in Ireland are also more familiar with the imperial system, so how is the situation regarding weights and measurements in your country? I personally understand both systems, therefore I don't understand the attitude of some people who simply refuse to understand a sytem they are not familiar with.

The fact is that as long as the US uses the imperial system(or their version of it, rather) there will never be a complete breakthrough of metrication.

[johnfás]

There's a thread already on this from ages ago. The article is from September.

Edit: here it is, http://www.politics.ie/viewtopic.php?t=26408

[MichaelR]

I have more or less learned about miles and pounds, feet and inches are harder but still OK, but yards drive me nuts. "Slightly less than a metre", resulting in separate prices "per sq y" and "per sq m" even on metric-made things like (imported) carpets.

Edit: on liquids, pints are (of course) just great. But people for some reason want to calculate car fuel consumption in "miles per gallon" even though the petrol is actually dispensed in liters! I have no idea how many mpg my car does, but I can calculate liters per 100 km rather easily because I know how many liters I buy and the distance on the odometer. (It's ion miles, but "per 62 miles" is the same as "per 100 km" of course)

[Rebel CNC]

Most people have taken metric on board, except on the golf course... people still prefer yardages in yards!

[THR]

There is a wealthy anti-metric lobby in Britain which encourages shopkeepers to keep imperial only and then pays off their fines. I really don't understand the logic behind all that. I can understand that someone feels loyalty to one's country, family or even football club but someone feeling loyalty to units of measurement

[Rebel CNC]

It's not the units per se - they just see metric as another sign of modernisation and they ain't best pleased with what progress has brought in the last couple of generations!

Brits are always slow anyway where Johnny Foreigner has some involvement, UN, EEC, Euro, ETC. They even took their time before entering World Cup competitions in football!

[FakeViking]

But they have no problem sending their armies onto Johnny Foriegner's land!

[Catalpa]

Once again proves the point about us 'having to' and that we 'must' obey EU Law while other States can do as they please.

Another nail to drive into the coffin of the Lisbon Treaty methinks!

[NotDevsSon]

The EU is giving up the hopeless task of turning the British into understanding the metric system

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6988521.stm

Well, let's not jump to conclusions. It said that the imperial system will be allowed as an additional system. Imperial only will still be illegal but the deadline of scrapping all imperial units has been abolished.

You in Ireland are also more familiar with the imperial system, so how is the situation regarding weights and measurements in your country? I personally understand both systems, therefore I don't understand the attitude of some people who simply refuse to understand a sytem they are not familiar with.

The fact is that as long as the US uses the imperial system(or their version of it, rather) there will never be a complete breakthrough of metrication.

We aren't just familiar with it. A large proportion of the Irish electorate use imperial, not metric. I was in the local butchers lately, just before Christmas. EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE, asked for meat in imperial, not metric. Most people I know over the age of forty use miles, never kilometres, and so now that road speeds are in kilometres take rough stabs at what they think that kilometres mean in miles. (Police have constant experiences of people driving at the wrong speed because they get the guesstimate wrong.)

My generation were largely taught in metric, yet I'd say 2/3 of my friends of my age group think in imperial. I know what my weight is in stones and pounds. I haven't a clue what it is in kilogram. I have always known my height in feet and inches, never metres. In fact I cannot think of anyone of my age group who describes their height in metres. My closest friend, who is 31, describes himself as 6 foot 5 inches. His wife is five foot seven inches. My ex-flatmate has the target in his diet to lose one and a half stone. Of my family, only my youngest brother uses metric primarily. Yet even he can use imperial and does so occasionally.

[corkman2007]

Once again proves the point about us 'having to' and that we 'must' obey EU Law while other States can do as they please.

Another nail to drive into the coffin of the Lisbon Treaty methinks!

It was the choice of the Irish government to bring in metric distances and metric speed limits on the roads (although the speed limits were about 20-30 years behind the distance signposts)! As this old news story makes clear, the EU isn't imposing anything on the UK. They've left it to the UK government to decide.

Why the implied nostalgia for the British system of weights and measures anyway Catalpa? Got a secret hankering to return to the bosom of the UK?