"I'm so mad at Britishers. They don't like our spelling :("
We're Britons, not Britishers.
Spell it right in future.
We're Britons, not Britishers.
Spell it right in future.
The state of British English
"still uses a system that really and truly belongs to a bygone age. "
How is it from a bygone age? How is that?
Also, does it matter when something was invented, as long as it works perfectly well? We've been using Imperial for hundreds of years with NO problems, so why change it? If it isn't broken, don't fix it.
Also, Metric was invented in 1799, so isn't that also from a bygone age?
And I would rather the British didn't use a system of measurements that was imposed on Continental Europe by Napoleon, the 19th Century's equivalent of Adolf Hitler.
Imperial is superior to Metric, and if you read my posts a few pages back you would know that by now.
I'd rather go into a pub and say "Can I have a pint, please?" rather than "Can I have half a litre, please?"
How is it from a bygone age? How is that?
Also, does it matter when something was invented, as long as it works perfectly well? We've been using Imperial for hundreds of years with NO problems, so why change it? If it isn't broken, don't fix it.
Also, Metric was invented in 1799, so isn't that also from a bygone age?
And I would rather the British didn't use a system of measurements that was imposed on Continental Europe by Napoleon, the 19th Century's equivalent of Adolf Hitler.
Imperial is superior to Metric, and if you read my posts a few pages back you would know that by now.
I'd rather go into a pub and say "Can I have a pint, please?" rather than "Can I have half a litre, please?"
British English is in decay:
do you see popular artists singing in British English? -No
do you see popular artists singing in British English? -No
"do you see popular artists singing in British English? -No "
Erm, yeah. British artists.
Erm, yeah. British artists.
**do you see popular artists singing in British English? -No **
No..you're dead right......we HEAR them! :-)
eg Franz Ferdinand - 100% homegrown
No..you're dead right......we HEAR them! :-)
eg Franz Ferdinand - 100% homegrown
Franz Ferdinand are good, like a lot of British bands. British music is the best in the world.
I just don't know why on earth they chose Franz Ferdinand as a name.
I just don't know why on earth they chose Franz Ferdinand as a name.
Working in a decimal system is easier than in a duo-decimal system.....operating in twelves and threes and one eighth of this and two fifths of that and pissing about with gills and jacks and quarts and gallons and pecks and bushels and weasels and goblins and yards and inches and chains and ounces and pounds and tons and hundredweights and thousandweights and stones and pebbles and God knows what else from the days when Adam (no not you..the original one) was a lad has just got to be more of a pain in the arse than simply working in tens. All you have to worry about is putting the decimal point in the right place!
The British Weights & Measures Association
Imperial is superior. Metric is inefficient.
"The United States, with the world's largest economy, uses the same units of weight and length as we do. Most other countries use our units in addition to metric ones. For example, computer printers all work in inches; Dutch and German plumbers use inches; nearly all aircraft measure altitude in feet. Organ pipes, tape recorder speeds and so on are internationally non-metric. Since British units are so widely used, and are also part of our heritage, children should know them. It is irresponsible of schools not to teach them."
Statement of views and aims
The British Weights and Measures Association opposes wanton abandonment of our traditional weights and measures, and asks for support in a campaign of opposition to compulsory metrication.
This opposition is for good reasons: freedom of choice; majority public opinion; avoidance of expense and loss; convenience and practicality; the value of cultural continuity; and preservation of a useful part of our heritage. Individuals should be free to use in trade those units which they prefer and find most convenient, and likewise manufacturers, shops and their customers. There is no justification here for denying freedom of choice.
Metrication is unnecessary and unpopular. Most people do not want these changes. Despite years of metric teaching, the findings of national surveys in the last few years are that the overwhelming majority of people normally think, not in metric units, but in miles, feet, inches, gallons, pints, pounds and ounces, and that they find these units more convenient.
The cost of metrication runs into many hundreds of millions of pounds and, inevitably, it generally has to be passed on to consumers. It is crippling to many small businesses and some specialist suppliers. Small petrol stations have closed as a result. Shops that sold paraffin, or fuel for small boats, have lost business when unable to afford new equipment. We should ask why we are shooting ourselves in the foot like this. We should insist on an answer. The United States, with the world's largest economy, uses the same units of weight and length as we do. Most other countries use our units in addition to metric ones. For example, computer printers all work in inches; Dutch and German plumbers use inches; nearly all aircraft measure altitude in feet. Organ pipes, tape recorder speeds and so on are internationally non-metric. Since British units are so widely used, and are also part of our heritage, children should know them. It is irresponsible of schools not to teach them.
The latest regulations enforcing metrication are being imposed in order to comply with European Union directives and not on account of any desire by the British people. Our wishes, convenience, traditions and culture are being treated with contempt. Parliament, which let the measures through without debate, must be woken up to its responsibility in this matter.
Penalties for not using metric units have been imposed only in the UK and the Irish Republic (not in any other country in the EU) and this discrimination is in breach of the EU's own anti- discrimination rules. The decimal metric system, while superficially easy, is inefficient in several respects. Metric units are artificial, arbitrary, and often too small or too large, especially for everyday purposes. By contrast, British measures embody a wisdom that is too often overlooked in the rush for supposed progress. Traditional units are related to the human scale and the mind's perceptions. They evolved out of generations of experience, and are convenient in size.
The foot of twelve inches, the gallon of eight pints, and the pound of sixteen ounces are, like the year of twelve months, easily and conveniently divided. This divisibility makes them doubly practical. As a result they are widely preferred wherever people are free to choose. Moreover, the technology that took man to the moon was based on customary units since, contrary to metric propaganda, they are fully capable of the most precise use.
Last, but not least, traditional units are part of our language. They are built into our historic buildings and live in our literature. If we abandon them, we lose a valuable heritage, handed down over centuries. Conservationists should oppose cultural vandalism. It is too late to value something when it has gone. To succeed, we need more members. We will win if we show how much serious opposition there is to metrication, so we invite your support now. Members receive a newsletter with details of the campaign to defend our weights and measures, and our journal, The Yardstick.
Further information from:-
British Weights and Measures Association
Director: Mr Vivian Linacre
45 Montgomery Street
Edinburgh EH7 5JX
United Kingdom
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/estatopia/inch3.htm
Imperial is superior. Metric is inefficient.
"The United States, with the world's largest economy, uses the same units of weight and length as we do. Most other countries use our units in addition to metric ones. For example, computer printers all work in inches; Dutch and German plumbers use inches; nearly all aircraft measure altitude in feet. Organ pipes, tape recorder speeds and so on are internationally non-metric. Since British units are so widely used, and are also part of our heritage, children should know them. It is irresponsible of schools not to teach them."
Statement of views and aims
The British Weights and Measures Association opposes wanton abandonment of our traditional weights and measures, and asks for support in a campaign of opposition to compulsory metrication.
This opposition is for good reasons: freedom of choice; majority public opinion; avoidance of expense and loss; convenience and practicality; the value of cultural continuity; and preservation of a useful part of our heritage. Individuals should be free to use in trade those units which they prefer and find most convenient, and likewise manufacturers, shops and their customers. There is no justification here for denying freedom of choice.
Metrication is unnecessary and unpopular. Most people do not want these changes. Despite years of metric teaching, the findings of national surveys in the last few years are that the overwhelming majority of people normally think, not in metric units, but in miles, feet, inches, gallons, pints, pounds and ounces, and that they find these units more convenient.
The cost of metrication runs into many hundreds of millions of pounds and, inevitably, it generally has to be passed on to consumers. It is crippling to many small businesses and some specialist suppliers. Small petrol stations have closed as a result. Shops that sold paraffin, or fuel for small boats, have lost business when unable to afford new equipment. We should ask why we are shooting ourselves in the foot like this. We should insist on an answer. The United States, with the world's largest economy, uses the same units of weight and length as we do. Most other countries use our units in addition to metric ones. For example, computer printers all work in inches; Dutch and German plumbers use inches; nearly all aircraft measure altitude in feet. Organ pipes, tape recorder speeds and so on are internationally non-metric. Since British units are so widely used, and are also part of our heritage, children should know them. It is irresponsible of schools not to teach them.
The latest regulations enforcing metrication are being imposed in order to comply with European Union directives and not on account of any desire by the British people. Our wishes, convenience, traditions and culture are being treated with contempt. Parliament, which let the measures through without debate, must be woken up to its responsibility in this matter.
Penalties for not using metric units have been imposed only in the UK and the Irish Republic (not in any other country in the EU) and this discrimination is in breach of the EU's own anti- discrimination rules. The decimal metric system, while superficially easy, is inefficient in several respects. Metric units are artificial, arbitrary, and often too small or too large, especially for everyday purposes. By contrast, British measures embody a wisdom that is too often overlooked in the rush for supposed progress. Traditional units are related to the human scale and the mind's perceptions. They evolved out of generations of experience, and are convenient in size.
The foot of twelve inches, the gallon of eight pints, and the pound of sixteen ounces are, like the year of twelve months, easily and conveniently divided. This divisibility makes them doubly practical. As a result they are widely preferred wherever people are free to choose. Moreover, the technology that took man to the moon was based on customary units since, contrary to metric propaganda, they are fully capable of the most precise use.
Last, but not least, traditional units are part of our language. They are built into our historic buildings and live in our literature. If we abandon them, we lose a valuable heritage, handed down over centuries. Conservationists should oppose cultural vandalism. It is too late to value something when it has gone. To succeed, we need more members. We will win if we show how much serious opposition there is to metrication, so we invite your support now. Members receive a newsletter with details of the campaign to defend our weights and measures, and our journal, The Yardstick.
Further information from:-
British Weights and Measures Association
Director: Mr Vivian Linacre
45 Montgomery Street
Edinburgh EH7 5JX
United Kingdom
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/estatopia/inch3.htm
"Working in a decimal system is easier than in a duo-decimal system.....operating in twelves and threes and one eighth of this and two fifths of that and pissing about with gills and jacks and quarts and gallons and pecks and bushels and weasels and goblins and yards and inches and chains and ounces and pounds and tons and hundredweights and thousandweights and stones and pebbles and God knows what else from the days when Adam (no not you..the original one) was a lad has just got to be more of a pain in the arse than simply working in tens. All you have to worry about is putting the decimal point in the right place! "
The human mind hates working with decimals. It prefers working with fractions.
The human mind hates working with decimals. It prefers working with fractions.
""Working in a decimal system is easier than in a duo-decimal system"
No, it isn't. It makes metric more innacurate
That's beside the point!
by Lance Haward
The wholly unauthorised attempt (unauthorised, that is, by any democratic process) to detach future generations from their cultural heritage by imposing an educational blanket of ignorance on them was surreptitiously put in train by Harold Wilson's government long before the European so-called Union pointed its bulldozer in our direction. From Shakespeare to the idiom of the football terraces, from the food we eat to the occupations of our leisure hours and the very map we move across, fathoms and cloth-yards, pints, inches and ells, ounces, miles and groats are the very stuff of our existance.
In this matter, the effects of Waterloo have been overturned at a stroke. The French may lament (as we also may) the rampant triumph of 'Franglais', but finally it is we who are the victims of that Gallic irrationality which is responsible for laws more bizarre than anything concocted by the Medes and Persians. It seriously believes that the basic unit of measurement is "the length of the path travelled by light in a vacuum during a timed interval of one 299,729,458th of a second."
Now the virus has crossed over into our bloodstream. An alternative definition has found its way into English statute law, compared to which the above is as simple as Do Re Mi. Here the metre is (hang on tight): 1,650,763.73 wave-lengths in a vacuum of the radiation corresponding to the transition between two specific but quite inexplicable levels of the Krypton 86 atom. Note that the one element common to both these definitions is the vacuum, which, as we all know, nature abhors. Whereas, if you want to define a yard, you don't even have to catch a 'bus to Trafalgar Square': all that's necessary is to lay hold of the nearest bystander of average build, stretch one arm out to one side, measure off a span of cloth or piece of string from his nose to his finger tip, and - for practical purposes - that's it. People who work in the optics industry tell me that the severely pragmatic Germans, world-leaders in the trade, while paying lip-service to metrication as required by European law, converted all their actual blotting-paper calculations back into sensible imperial.
The sheer folly of metrication is certainly expressed in its megalomaniac assumption that every form of measurement under the sun qualifies for decimalisation, where the reality of both nature and universal human practice gives that proposition the lie. The figure 12 and its derivatives are imprinted upon the natural order itself. The passage of time has, arguably since 159 BC, been calculated in two phases of twelve hours each, with all subdivisions of the hour calculated in multiples of twelve. The very globe and space we inhabit have, from time immemorial been measured in multiples of six squared. Is the structure of crystals decimal? Is the structure of snowflakes decimal?
I believe that all the major calendars throughout history, other than the Mayan, have instinctively opted for a system of twelve months as the most natural progression of the seasons. No less august a document than Magna Carta promises that 'there shall be one width of dyed cloth throughout the realm, namely of two ells within the selvedges." I bet that's being transgressed every day.
The limitations of the French system are revealed at every turn. On the athletics track, neither is the 800 metres half the distance of the 1500, nor is the 4x4OO relay equivalent in distance to the 1500, in the way that the quarter/half/mile are inter-related, nor is there any relation between the 1500 and the 5000-metre events as between multiples of miles. All useful comparison of relative times, speeds and distances collapses. The lunatic obsession to reduce every quantity to tens is not just intellectual slovenliness: it also impinges on life and convenience in ways which, even when not positively disruptive, are always bizarre. How soon before it becomes impossible to buy a dozen red roses or we have only 'Ten Days of Christmas'?
I'm now prevented from replacing the damaged lock on one of my doors without first gouging out an entirely new hole, as manufacturers no longer produce locks that match hitherto-standard sizes. Thus the alien norms that have been foisted upon us unheralded, uninvited and unvoted-for, bring about wholly unnecessary obsolescence, destruction and waste. As always, of course, big business gets rich on the carnage - a motivation blatant for decades in pronouncements by the British Standards Institution.
Our daily measurements should, as our ancestors recognised, have an observable scale and proportion and relationship to external reality. 'XYZ recurring' of the distance from the Equator to the North Pole when the Sun's in Libra and sanity in the balance represents only the apotheosis of the insubstantial. The pity is that, having long since dumped the silliness of Brumaire (the second month in the decimal calendar that lasted from 1793-1806) and depersonalised playing cards (only ace to ten with no face cards!) and other figments of the disordered, revolutionary mind, the successors of Fabre d'Eglantine haven't yet dumped the silliest of the lot as being - in a word - pointless!
No, it isn't. It makes metric more innacurate
That's beside the point!
by Lance Haward
The wholly unauthorised attempt (unauthorised, that is, by any democratic process) to detach future generations from their cultural heritage by imposing an educational blanket of ignorance on them was surreptitiously put in train by Harold Wilson's government long before the European so-called Union pointed its bulldozer in our direction. From Shakespeare to the idiom of the football terraces, from the food we eat to the occupations of our leisure hours and the very map we move across, fathoms and cloth-yards, pints, inches and ells, ounces, miles and groats are the very stuff of our existance.
In this matter, the effects of Waterloo have been overturned at a stroke. The French may lament (as we also may) the rampant triumph of 'Franglais', but finally it is we who are the victims of that Gallic irrationality which is responsible for laws more bizarre than anything concocted by the Medes and Persians. It seriously believes that the basic unit of measurement is "the length of the path travelled by light in a vacuum during a timed interval of one 299,729,458th of a second."
Now the virus has crossed over into our bloodstream. An alternative definition has found its way into English statute law, compared to which the above is as simple as Do Re Mi. Here the metre is (hang on tight): 1,650,763.73 wave-lengths in a vacuum of the radiation corresponding to the transition between two specific but quite inexplicable levels of the Krypton 86 atom. Note that the one element common to both these definitions is the vacuum, which, as we all know, nature abhors. Whereas, if you want to define a yard, you don't even have to catch a 'bus to Trafalgar Square': all that's necessary is to lay hold of the nearest bystander of average build, stretch one arm out to one side, measure off a span of cloth or piece of string from his nose to his finger tip, and - for practical purposes - that's it. People who work in the optics industry tell me that the severely pragmatic Germans, world-leaders in the trade, while paying lip-service to metrication as required by European law, converted all their actual blotting-paper calculations back into sensible imperial.
The sheer folly of metrication is certainly expressed in its megalomaniac assumption that every form of measurement under the sun qualifies for decimalisation, where the reality of both nature and universal human practice gives that proposition the lie. The figure 12 and its derivatives are imprinted upon the natural order itself. The passage of time has, arguably since 159 BC, been calculated in two phases of twelve hours each, with all subdivisions of the hour calculated in multiples of twelve. The very globe and space we inhabit have, from time immemorial been measured in multiples of six squared. Is the structure of crystals decimal? Is the structure of snowflakes decimal?
I believe that all the major calendars throughout history, other than the Mayan, have instinctively opted for a system of twelve months as the most natural progression of the seasons. No less august a document than Magna Carta promises that 'there shall be one width of dyed cloth throughout the realm, namely of two ells within the selvedges." I bet that's being transgressed every day.
The limitations of the French system are revealed at every turn. On the athletics track, neither is the 800 metres half the distance of the 1500, nor is the 4x4OO relay equivalent in distance to the 1500, in the way that the quarter/half/mile are inter-related, nor is there any relation between the 1500 and the 5000-metre events as between multiples of miles. All useful comparison of relative times, speeds and distances collapses. The lunatic obsession to reduce every quantity to tens is not just intellectual slovenliness: it also impinges on life and convenience in ways which, even when not positively disruptive, are always bizarre. How soon before it becomes impossible to buy a dozen red roses or we have only 'Ten Days of Christmas'?
I'm now prevented from replacing the damaged lock on one of my doors without first gouging out an entirely new hole, as manufacturers no longer produce locks that match hitherto-standard sizes. Thus the alien norms that have been foisted upon us unheralded, uninvited and unvoted-for, bring about wholly unnecessary obsolescence, destruction and waste. As always, of course, big business gets rich on the carnage - a motivation blatant for decades in pronouncements by the British Standards Institution.
Our daily measurements should, as our ancestors recognised, have an observable scale and proportion and relationship to external reality. 'XYZ recurring' of the distance from the Equator to the North Pole when the Sun's in Libra and sanity in the balance represents only the apotheosis of the insubstantial. The pity is that, having long since dumped the silliness of Brumaire (the second month in the decimal calendar that lasted from 1793-1806) and depersonalised playing cards (only ace to ten with no face cards!) and other figments of the disordered, revolutionary mind, the successors of Fabre d'Eglantine haven't yet dumped the silliest of the lot as being - in a word - pointless!
I like this paragraph, which basically contradicts what Damen says about non-decimal measurements -
"The sheer folly of metrication is certainly expressed in its megalomaniac assumption that every form of measurement under the sun qualifies for decimalisation, where the reality of both nature and universal human practice gives that proposition the lie. The figure 12 and its derivatives are imprinted upon the natural order itself. The passage of time has, arguably since 159 BC, been calculated in two phases of twelve hours each, with all subdivisions of the hour calculated in multiples of twelve. The very globe and space we inhabit have, from time immemorial been measured in multiples of six squared. Is the structure of crystals decimal? Is the structure of snowflakes decimal? "
"The sheer folly of metrication is certainly expressed in its megalomaniac assumption that every form of measurement under the sun qualifies for decimalisation, where the reality of both nature and universal human practice gives that proposition the lie. The figure 12 and its derivatives are imprinted upon the natural order itself. The passage of time has, arguably since 159 BC, been calculated in two phases of twelve hours each, with all subdivisions of the hour calculated in multiples of twelve. The very globe and space we inhabit have, from time immemorial been measured in multiples of six squared. Is the structure of crystals decimal? Is the structure of snowflakes decimal? "
"How soon before it becomes impossible to buy a dozen red roses or we have only 'Ten Days of Christmas'? "
Or 9.94886763884573 days of Christmas.
Or 9.94886763884573 days of Christmas.
As the passage says, we used system of measurements everyday without having to use decimal points - which are cumbersome and annoying.
For hundreds of years a year has been divided into 365 day A day has been divided into twenty-four hours. Each hour is divided into 60 minutes. Each minute is divided into 60 seconds.
That's just how the Imperial system works. Even our days of the week and months of the year are virtually Imperial measurements.
For hundreds of years a year has been divided into 365 day A day has been divided into twenty-four hours. Each hour is divided into 60 minutes. Each minute is divided into 60 seconds.
That's just how the Imperial system works. Even our days of the week and months of the year are virtually Imperial measurements.
CONSUMERS PREFER TRADITIONAL U.K. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
The evidence of independent market research is that, even after 30 years of official metrication, a clear majority of consumers of all ages think in UK weights and measures, and prefer to have them included on packaging and in recipes.
Main findings of the research:-
THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF THE BRITISH PUBLIC PREFER UK WEIGHTS AND MEASURES: 74% find feet and inches, pints and pounds, to be more convenient for most everyday purposes than their metric equivalents. THIS IS TRUE ACROSS ALL AGE GROUPS - including, perhaps surprisingly, the metric-educated 15-24s.
WOMEN IN PARTICULAR are significantly more likely to prefer customary measures than men. 82% say they find the British system more convenient for most everyday purposes.
SEVEN OUT OF TEN WANT 'DUAL MARKING' IN RECIPES AND ON PACKAGING: 70% of the British public would prefer the packaging for goods, and the ingredients listed in recipes to be given in both Imperial and metric measures, allowing the consumer to choose the system which suited him or her the best.
ONLY A TINY MINORITY FAVOUR METRIC-ONLY LABELLING: only 7% are in favour of the current move towards printing the packaging for goods, and the ingredients listed in recipes, solely in metric measurements. On the other hand, THREE TIMES AS MANY WOULD PREFER IMPERIAL-ONLY LABELLING: 21% would prefer recipes and packaging to be printed with UK measures only.
Details of the research-. A survey of nationally-representative sample of 1,000 British adults aged 15+, was commissioned by Abbott Mead Vickers-BBDO Ltd, Britain's leading advertising agency, carried out by the independent market research company RSL's Capibus division in November 1997 and presented to the Department of Trade and Industry, the European Commission and the British Weights and Measures Association in December 1997.
zetnet.co.uk
The evidence of independent market research is that, even after 30 years of official metrication, a clear majority of consumers of all ages think in UK weights and measures, and prefer to have them included on packaging and in recipes.
Main findings of the research:-
THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF THE BRITISH PUBLIC PREFER UK WEIGHTS AND MEASURES: 74% find feet and inches, pints and pounds, to be more convenient for most everyday purposes than their metric equivalents. THIS IS TRUE ACROSS ALL AGE GROUPS - including, perhaps surprisingly, the metric-educated 15-24s.
WOMEN IN PARTICULAR are significantly more likely to prefer customary measures than men. 82% say they find the British system more convenient for most everyday purposes.
SEVEN OUT OF TEN WANT 'DUAL MARKING' IN RECIPES AND ON PACKAGING: 70% of the British public would prefer the packaging for goods, and the ingredients listed in recipes to be given in both Imperial and metric measures, allowing the consumer to choose the system which suited him or her the best.
ONLY A TINY MINORITY FAVOUR METRIC-ONLY LABELLING: only 7% are in favour of the current move towards printing the packaging for goods, and the ingredients listed in recipes, solely in metric measurements. On the other hand, THREE TIMES AS MANY WOULD PREFER IMPERIAL-ONLY LABELLING: 21% would prefer recipes and packaging to be printed with UK measures only.
Details of the research-. A survey of nationally-representative sample of 1,000 British adults aged 15+, was commissioned by Abbott Mead Vickers-BBDO Ltd, Britain's leading advertising agency, carried out by the independent market research company RSL's Capibus division in November 1997 and presented to the Department of Trade and Industry, the European Commission and the British Weights and Measures Association in December 1997.
zetnet.co.uk