Units of measurement

[jhnbrbr]

Here in the UK we've got ourselves into a very strange situation with our units of measurement. We were supposed to switch to the European (SI) system decades ago, but we never quite got there. True, the metre-kilogram-second system is universal amongst technical folk like scientists and engineers, and the only system taught in schools, but imperial units live on in the everyday world. Our road signs still give all distances in miles, and beer is still sold in pint glasses, and it would be a brave politician indeed who tried to change this! Even more strange is the way we happily mix the units up. I would think nothing of going to a hardware store and asking for a piece of plywood 8 feet by 4 feet by 12mm.

This is almost a case of history repeating itself as the English language itself evolved in a similar way. After the Norman conquest of 1066, the French language didn't supplant the old Anglo-Saxon, the two existed side by side, and merged to create modern English. That is why you often find two words with more-or-less the same meaning in English. More-or-less the same but not exactly the same. Take "big" and "large" for example - so close in meaning, yet not quite interchangeable. You'd never hear anyone say "Don't cry - you're a large boy now." Our English teacher taught us that the French words appeal to the intellect, while the Anglo-Saxon words appeal to the heart. I think it's much the same with the "new" units. The SI ones are for the intellectual pursuits, while the old imperial ones have more emotional clout - buying someone a pint, having your pound of flesh, never giving an inch, going the extra mile, and so on.

I would be interested to hear what is the current situation in the US, which has also traditionally clung to imperial units. So far as the UK goes, I'm sure our present mixed arrangement will continue for the foreseeable future. It's symbolic of our ambivalent attitude towards Europe in general.

[Buchpteclare]

Liquid measure in the states is NOT Imperial measure, as it was in Canada. The US Quart, and US gallon were smaller than the Imperial measure though I forget the details. It was a pain when mixing photographic chemicals. One had to be careful which standard to use.

Here in Canada everything has gone Metric, which still causes some confusion at times. (Very big grin). I still have no feel for the kilometer - I still think of distances in miles.

ATB!

[dll927]

It appears that we in the U. S. have the same problem as the UK. The metric system just refuses to fly except among scientists, and a few magazines that like to quote both measurements.

Whoever that king was that got his foot set as the standard of measure should probably be resurrected and asked if he wants to continue the confusion. But even his opinion might not get far.

[Contratrombone64]

Interestingly the word foot was used not only in England (foot) but in Germany (fuss) and it is still used in Germany on organ stops to indicate the size of the bass note of the rank in question (16 fuss).

In Australia - I grew up with Imperial and then was forced to adopt metric in the 1970s. It took me a LONG time to get my head around how far a kilometre is. And for ages and ages I still thought in miles.

Funnily, we still used feet and inches when referring to height (I'm 6 foot 1) and are still quite comfortable using stone when referring to weight (I'm 18 stone). However, our American cousins NEVER adopted to stones as a unit of measure so when I'm telling a Yank I weigh 18 stone I have to multiply 18 x 14 = 252 pounds because there are 14 pounds per stone. Sheesh. The sooner the planet adopts one (and I'm not too fussed which) the better!!

Actually - mean always refer to the size of their "you know what" in inches, odd. And women always roll their eyes and say that men have no idea how long 8 inches is because they always lie about this measure!!

[jhnbrbr]

Ha ha, CT64! If we used mm instead, it would be far more impressive!

Sounds like the situations in the US, Canada and Aus aren't all that different from the UK. Organ pipes are an interesting example because even in countries like France the pitches are always given in feet. I guess it's just so convenient that the lowest note is 16 or 32 feet - numbers you can keep on dividing by 2 and getting a whole answer. In that respect 10 is not a handy number, and I'm sure if we didn't happen to have ten fingers and thumbs we would have ended up using adifferent number system. Apart from that though, who can deny that the metric system is infinitely superior to the imperial, especially in the consistency between different types of measurement, eg length and mass. Modern kids don't know how lucky they are not to have to do sums like subtracting weights in cwt, stone, lb and oz where carrying is required!! In some respects the imperial system might have been designed to make life as difficult as possible - even a cwt isn't 100 lbs! I can imagine all our ex-colonies saying "Get out of here you British -and take your stupid units with you!" And yet, the imperial system is certainly a long time dying!

[dll927]

Now two questions:

1) How do they measure things in Russia? I suppose by metric, but are organ stops spelled in Cyrillic? Heaven help a western organist!!

2) Does somebody know how deep a "fathom" is? And how fast is a "knot"? These are sea terms, but still leave me in the dark.

[Mat]

1 fathom = 1,82 metres = 5,97 feet

1 knot = 0,51 m/s = 1,68 f/s

[Contratrombone64]

Mat, that would be 1.68 f/s to us westerners - it's interesting that eastern europe uses the comma instead (and sometimes baffling).