Great Britain Vs Europe, one outcome, Brits win!!

[johnlambert]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles /news/news.html?in_article_id=481129&in_page_i d=1770

This is why we're called Great Britain, this system has worked for hundreds of years if it isn't broke, don't fix it.

[Loosehead]

Well I think I'll go out for a pint on the strength of that!

[vehelpfulguy]

Well what shall we have:

100 millimetres in a centimetre, 100 centimetres in a metre. That sounds a bit complcated to me.

Or 3 feet in a yard, 1,760 yards in a mile.

Of course it makes sense, lets stick with 1,760 yards in mile, so obvious.

And lets leave the boiling point of water a 212 degrees F and freezing at 32 degrees F, so obvious.

Who wants something so complex as freezing at 0 degrees C and boiling at 100 degrees C, never remember that.

And of course the rest of Europe uses metric, but we have to be stupidly different, so lets stay non-metric.

We had bear bating, slavery and kids working in factories for many years but it did not make it right.

[jake-the-peg]

Coo! not often I agree with vhelpful guy on here

Apart from the 100 mm in a cm that is I assume that was a typo.

[Loosehead]

Well I think with my sensible head on I can probably agree with the metrophiles. I think the metric system is fine in engineering and science and I can' t generally fault the system. I think what causes British resistance is having it forced on us by the metric mafia, we don't want to see greengrocers prosecuted for selling bananas by the pound. We don't want little old ladies forced to use unfamilar measures for every day usage. The imperial system of weights and measure is fine for every day use, we want the choice. We object to the "we know best" sanctimonious approach of the metric mafia, not to mention the whole EU folly itself.

[Oneeyedvic]

Two Fathings = One Ha'Penny. Two Ha'Pennies = One Penny. Three Pennies = A Thrupenny bit. Two Thrupences = a Sixpence. Two sixpence = One shilling or Bob. Two bob = a Florin. One Florin and one sixpence = half a crown. Four half crowns = Ten bob note. Two ten bob notes = One pound (or 240 pennies). One Pound and one shilling = One Guinea.

How did all the people cope when we decimalised currency?

[Loosehead]

All that did Vic was change the sub divisions of the pound to 100p. Did make adding up currency easier that �SP though. Now imagine going into the sweet shop for a quarter of pear drops, going in for 113.398 grammes just doesn't have the same ring to it. Most people can visualise what 12 stone 3 is, very few use the KG equivalent, who uses Km's for distance? The signs and the perception are in miles, everyone knows what you are talking about when you say those imperial measures, it ain't broke, why fix it.

[Oneeyedvic]

Everyone knew what two bob was. People knew what you could buy for two bob.

Very simply, people can learn. It happened before (and arguably it was far more difficult to convert your shopping and wages).

All it takes is to ask for either 450 grams instead of 1lb or driving at 100km/h instead of 60mph.

Noone had any issues when 1/6 gill became 25ml did they?

[MrsT]

who cares about the measures, for once we did not allow ourselves to be shat on by the EU.

[Quizmonster]

My only fear about metric was the possibility that it could actually change our language.
"If you don't sort yourself out, I'll come down on you like 1016 kilograms of bricks!" or "Give him 2.54 centimetres and he'll take 1.61 kilometres!" just don't have the same ring to them as our originals.
(Don't bother telling me if I've got the conversion figures wrong, by the way...you see my point, I'm sure.)

[jake-the-peg]

The argument that you don't go and ask for 113.398 grammes is rubbish and you know it is!

I might ask whether it 's more easy to go in and ask for half a kilo or 1.102 pounds!

And we still refer to things as tuppeny ha'penny despite the half penny vanishing into history.

These are all just emotional arguments for retaining an outdated and illogical system.

I dare say people said the same about groats and scruples

[THECORBYLOON]

Not many folk know the florin was introduced as a step toward decimal currency and that was back in the 1840s.