British mains plugs

Living in a fully metric country I would like to make a small pleasure to all those still struggling between imperial and metric in whatever way. Some 50 years have passed since my study time at he technical university. Although my faculty was electrical engineering we had to attend some lectures in mechanical engineernig as well. I remember that we were taught that the Witworth types of screws were definitely superior to the metric ones with respect to strength. That may be the reason why many screws in cars still are Witworth though the english car industry is no longer a leading one.

I remember that we were taught that the Witworth types of screws were definitely superior to the metric ones with respect to strength. That may be the reason why many screws in cars still are Witworth though the english car industry is no longer a leading one.

I'm sure that it's true about Whitworth threads - I've heard that before too.

But the English car industry? We have  one of those? As far as I'm aware we lost all that years ago!

At the rate we're going, the only viable industry we'll have left in the UK is tourism... 

And the Swiss, of course, produce useful documentation for the rest of us scrabbling around in the dark ages...

http://www.metas.ch/metasweb/Themen/Masseinheiten/NichtmetrischeEinheiten/Nichtmetrische_Einheiten_e.pdf

And the Swiss, of course, produce useful documentation for the rest of us scrabbling around in the dark ages...

At its time "peters principle" was one of my favourite lectures. You certainly remember that it originated from the British Navy. But Swiss bureaucracy does not lack much behind !

I think that the plasterboard thing is the same as the vinyl thing - nobody's replaced the machine that makes the stuff the size it is, and until that happens, it's all going to be re-badged imperial, whether we like it or not.

I think it's a little more subtle than that.  There are, literally, millions of stud partitions that have been erected to the old standard.  If you change the size of the plasterboard, you'd have to re-build many of them to accomodate the new centres.

At its time "peters principle" was one of my favourite lectures.

I am terribly sorry to have stated the wrong title. It should be "Parkinsons Law". I apologise sincerely for my mistake because there is neither reason nor suspicion to think the British Nayy is run by Peter´s principle.

Graeme's point on stud partitions also explains why only one dimension needs to remain Imperial.

A final example of the UK's metric madness:



Yes, the 2008 Traffic Signs Manual requires  that the warning signs for roadworks are placed at 200m intervals and requires  that they state the distance in multiples of 200 yards...

Paul

A final example of the UK's metric madness:

Lovely - what would we Brits be, if wasn't for our little eccentricities?  We're known all over the world for them .

I apologise sincerely for my mistake because there is neither reason nor suspicion to think the British Nayy is run by Peter´s principle.

No need to apologise - the navy itself may not run on that principle (although I have my suspicions...), but the government that controls it* most certainly does - by design. In fact it promotes incompetence; a good example that springs to mind is the case of one of our previous Secretaries of State for Education. He was 'doing fine' - knowing very little from the inside about the education system (despite spending a year as a university admin assistant) and the people that worked in it at all, but still running it. But this particular individual had a conscience about this state of affairs, and decided to improve his level of understanding (and thereby competence) by starting to talk to teachers about their particular problems. When word of this got around, he was replaced immediately by somebody who could be 'properly impartial'...

But at least he was qualified - he had a Masters degree from a good university and some post-graduate professional qualifications too. The present incumbent of the post, though, is positively frightening. He left school at 15, worked in a supermarket stacking shelves and eventually became a postman. I am not aware that he has any qualifications at all, never mind for the post he presently occupies.

But probably the best example of the Peter Principle itself in government is the present Prime Minister. Moderately competent Chancellor he was (although by no means good at it), promotes himself and then look what happened... 

(*And there is no political bias here - these examples come from opposite sides of the political spectrum.)

Maybe if you look at government documents you'll find metric units, but I was talking about forums etc where people come. Like in this model train forum: http://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/Forums/viewforum.php?f=15&sid=93bff4ecc330084dc2d066d2ccca6ded Try to find someone using metric. There are some but very few.

Even if only half of what it says here is true, continental Europeans are in no position to try to put the UK Europeans' house in order at all.

LOL. I doubt even 1/12th of it is true. A lot is about international stuff that cannot be changed unless everyone uses metric. Like the altitude in aviation (although the russians use meters). But all the dribble about pounds in continental europe is BS. You will be lucky if your butcher understands you right away when you ask for a "pound" of whatever. And I have never seen it used in germany or france either. In the '70's older people used from time to time but now it is gone. Like the idea that the belgian acre is some variation on imperial is plain daft. It is pure and simple 100m². The only thing that remains is plumbing. And then only for galvanised steel pipes (and their fittings), copper stuff is metric. TV screens are everywhere advertised in cm but pc monitors in inches (just like most computer stuff, probably because it originated in the US not because we use imperial). Or that beer isn't sold by metric units...plain laughable: glasses are marked (25,33,0.5 etc) as this is a taxable good it has to be and this is checked and enforced. Or the stupid assertion that paper isn't metric because the sizes relate with ratios of 2. Or ammunition, there are no 9mm bullets? Only an idiot trying to make a bad point would write that lot.

Well, I did a bit of checking. A lot of this stuff is still true - but generally only referred to by older people I suspect. Like the whole French 'Livres' thing - even though it's been rounded up for all practical purposes to be 0.5kg, it's still often referred to using this term, especially with baked goods, I believe...

And of course, what I forgot to mention earlier is that the main reason that the English were somewhat anti-metrication for a very long time is that it was invented by the French, who did a lot of this stuff simply to be awkward (for some strange reason they wanted a set of standards that were completely different to anything existing at the time).

And it wasn't just the UK that was lobbying actively for the retention of imperial units - the EU was pressurised by all of the countries trying to export anything at all to America to retain the right indefinitely to label products in imperial units - and that's exactly what they've got - the UK only has a small number of opt-outs. If you want stick-in-the-mud attitudes to metrication, you need to look at the USA, not the UK - they are much more resistant. Personally I think that the EU should have stuck to metric-only and made the US sweat over it a bit. Since everything they import comes from metricated countries, it would have at least softened them up a bit if nothing else. Yes, America is now pretty much out there on its own, really. The EU shouldn't have given in so easily. Or was it because the Chinese were a push-over?

Like the whole French 'Livres' thing - even though it's been rounded up for all practical purposes to be 0.5kg, it's still often referred to using this term, especially with baked goods, I believe...

Try to order that way in a bakery in France next time you're there. Might have some difficulty. You will be faster served if you order "une baguette", "une ficelle" or "un pain de ménage". Bread and assorted goods are sold and bought by piece. The price is a set maximum x euro/kg and that's it. I have never known someone in a bakery ask for a kilo or whatever of bread. In Belgium you can order a large one, a small one, whole wheath, white, sliced or not but I haven't seen a bakery with scales. (they do have them if they sell chocolates by weigth) Same in France, Germany and scandinavia from what I learned travelling there.

In the '70 you could hear people ask for a pound of something at the butcher. But now this is completely gone. Even old people (like my mom of 84) don't use it anymore. And even then it was limited to a half, a whole or one and a half pound, it was never used for more.

The reasoning of the french was very sound. Main reason was to break down trade barriers and misuses by setting a single unit. By making sure it was different from anything currently in use they could be sure no one took advantage. At the time the start of the metric system was given there were 250000 different units of weight and distance in france. Difficult to ply trade if each village has its own measures.

As for wood I find it strange that people refer to it by size. Here the standard sizes are refered to with a "name". You can buy "pannelatten" these are 40x20 and are used to uder the tiles (pannen) on a roof. Likewise "keepers", "kofferplanken", "glaslatten" etc. And in french they have similar names so I expect those are used in France as well.

Well, I'm very glad that the whole French nation has you to speak for them. They should be extremely grateful...

Well, they do need someone to defend them from the perfide albion, don't they?

Well maybe they do - but not just from 'us'. They've let plenty of other people walk all over them too. It's just that we've been doing it to them longer than most, because often they are singularly annoying. But I can't really say too much about this, because half of my family is directly descended from them. Even my middle name is that of a Normandy town!

Here in Canada, we have gone to the metric system some years ago, and it makes life interesting for our American friends when they come to visit...

Some wag suggested that perhaps Canada should return to it's British roots by also changing the side of the road that we drive on. There was some merit to this suggestion, so a committee was struck by the House of Commons to study and make recommendations.  In truly Canadian fashion, being diplomatic and accommodating of all points of view, it was decided that the switch to left-hand driving would be phased in gradually. For the first two years, only trucks and buses would drive on the left...