Metric or Imperial

[SeanMacGabhann]

PGC - oops sorry

When I initially typed that out I meant it to be light-hearted - then I got carried away!

(but they do get my goat.... ;-) )

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Did you know the average milk yield of goats is 3 to 4 quarts?

[lozzyloz]

Is it possible to have a metric bartering system? And on the subject of standardisation why cant the US adopt 240 v at 50 Hz?

[Brendan]

So what are we going to do with universally understood and undisputed measures like, a bit, some, plenty, shitloads, a shed load, heaps, piles, lumps, miles away, shortly, humongous, ickle, enough to kill a small horse?

etc etc?

[lozzyloz]

10 ickles = a lump

10 lumps = a pile

10 piles = a heap

10 heaps = a shitload

10 shitloads = ?@$% me!

[mockney piers]

Is sheets to the wind a metric or imperial measurement?

I imagine the romans counted in slaves to the oar or something.

[Brendan]

I think it?s imperial. If we went metric you would have to say 4.8 sheets to the wind.

You would too you know. They would force you with their EU, their human rights and their PC.

Not that you would be able to achieve said state as the measures you would be paying over the odds for (in them Europes, foreign money) would be so small.

[Ted Max]

That's why in Europe, Brendan, if you're a bit under the weather in the morning, you have to say, "I think I may have had one over the 25 last night".

[will dex]

I find the inability of people to move to metric an embarrasment to the UK.

If we made the move (actually did it) then people would have to learn "new" measures and a few months of pain would be long term gain for all. (butmaybe not pricing ticket sign writers;-)

we're openly encouraging a dual system (32" tv / 12" vinyl / 1 pint of milk / 1lb of sausages... blah blah blah) and it is ridiculous.

I would also like distances marked in kilometers, not out of some kind of pro-europe move, just so we actually understand distances and measures better.

madness. madness. absolute madness.:)

[Asset]

david_carnell Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> 'Fraid not - it's a volume rather than a weight.

>

> And 4 pecks make a bushel.

>

> Weirdly in Scotland (and this is all from a well

> known internet encyclopedia) a peck could be

> either 9 litres or 13 litres according to what you

> were measuring.

>

> Very reassuring stuff.

Having just checked said well known site myself, nobody has mentioned the fact that it (a peck) is a dry weight measurement. When I think of litres I think of liquids.

I only know about a peck as for some reason some geezer called Jesus said 'we will all eat a peck of dirt before we die' and it really stuck in my head as a child and I'm sure at the time I was told it was 15 grammes hey ho, and no I didn't have a religious upbringing so I've no dea why that was significant to me.

[citizenED]

Echo Will Dex's sentiments. Oh, except when you are talking mints - it's got to be Imperial.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Sorry to be annoying, but Jesus didn't say that. A quick google reveals it was Swift.

[david_carnell]

Regardless, 9 litres of dirt won't do anybody any good.

[Muttley]

Thanks to the back of a cornflake packet when I was a lad, I've never forgotten that....

Two and a quarter pounds of jam

Weigh about a kilogram

And that...

A litre of water's

A pint and three quarters.

[Asset]

Peckhamgatecrasher Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Sorry to be annoying, but Jesus didn't say that. A

> quick google reveals it was Swift.

Oh Well, shows how much I know. Thanks for checking.

Just googled it myself and apparently it was said as far back as 1639, before Swift, according to dictionary of proverbs. Poss came from the big man himself!

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

What, Demis Roussos?

[Brendan]

Is that 1639 metric or imperial?

[will dex]

When are we counting from??

[SteveT]

A bushel of building sand was as much as you could lift, about a cwt. Unless of course your name is desperate dan.

Ships length is always in feet.

Pulling a 'bird' added yards to your drive.

In 'The Minder' how much was a 'coshel' and was it measured in imperial or metric?

I think we, and 'er in doors', should be told.

[mockney piers]

I think you'll find that according to google, everything was either a quote from Swift, Twain, Wilde or Churchill.

In fact most things were said by all of them....apparently.

I'm not sure anything can be actually attributed to big JC can it, everything having been written about a metric year (anything between 10 and 1000 standard years) after he died?

[Brendan]

What nothing? Not even, ?Peter! Peter! I can see your house from up here.?

[mockney piers]

*note to self, don't do image search for heidi at work again*

[Brendan]

lol

How did you go from Golgotha to the Alps in one quick step anyway.

[macroban]

> 240 v at 50 Hz

Not anymore. We've been metricated.

[louisiana]

I'd like to cross-pollinate this thread with the Song Game thread, and propose the marvellous US indie (4AD/Teenbeat/Sub Pop/Matador) band from the 90's Unrest - Imperial (from the album Imperial f.f.r.r.)

However, this song - band - is so little known that I can't even dig you out a vid of the song on YouTube... So you don't know what yer missing, probably.

But if you can get hold of this little gem, play it loud and play it proud - support your local greengrocer.