London to Brussels: You Guys Can Suck It!

EU ends 'pointless battle' to make UK metric - Times Online

Quote:

The European Union has finally admitted defeat in its long-running and "pointless" campaign to outlaw British pints, miles and ounces.

The decision to abandon plans to replace traditional imperial weights and measures with metric units was announced by Gunter Verheugen, Europe’s Industry Commissioner, who conceded: “This is a pointless battle. . . there was absolutely no point at all in trying to get rid of the particular heritage of one member state.”

After a wide-ranging consultation, European commissioners agreed unanimously that beer, roads and apples could be measured in the UK by whatever unit local people choose to use.

Score one for diversity?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

great now it's official that we're stuck with yet another stupid country that refuses to think in anything other than yards, feet, four-cats-taped-together units.

what the hell is wrong with the metre? ;_;

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Nothing is wrong, but I think there is much wrong to say the meter is the only thing to base dimensional units on.

The funny thing is the responses to the article, many of them piling on the kilos of metric arrogance and decimal primacy, making it sound like unit homogenization is the wave of the future.

It's mostly intellectual laziness to not be able to discern between different sets of measurement. Not everything can be decimalized.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

like your mother or your face

owned

edit: let me clarify. Why do we bother reducing fractions to their lowest common denominator? It's easier to understand. Science should have a single language.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

And most of it does anyway. The mistakes of last decade with conflicting standards is virtually resolved (no more exploding rockets and such), and those that are more insular, such as civic engineering, have little need to convert all at once.

Tell me when was the last time you measured chemicals in drams?

The article is pointing to the use of Customary/Imperial in trade and local situations such as grocery stores, where that sort of congruence of values are not critical. A man was indicted for selling bananas in pounds. Is this the sort of future we should expect? Outlawing the use of one thing in favor of an arbitrarily "better" thing?

I was speaking idiomatically.

Tell me why you guys still insist on using Centigrade instead of Kelvin.

Besides, the reason they gave up on this nonsense is primarily because it's a waste of resources to prosecute guys for selling bananas in pounds.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

You know, I don't really have a problem with measuring stuff in powers of 10, but the names are easier to remember for American Imperial, so that may be one reason the EU's 'efforts' failed.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Dark Nation

You know, I don't really have a problem with measuring stuff in powers of 10, but the names are easier to remember for American Imperial, so that may be one reason the EU's 'efforts' failed.

This statement sure means a lot coming from an American.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Dark Nation

You know, I don't really have a problem with measuring stuff in powers of 10, but the names are easier to remember for American Imperial, so that may be one reason the EU's 'efforts' failed.

...I don't understand.

There are different prefixes based on to what power of 10 it is which are applied to base units. It's really not that complicated.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by nabhan

...I don't understand.

There are different prefixes based on to what power of 10 it is which are applied to base units. It's really not that complicated.

All I mean is, its easier to me at the moment to remember Feet, Miles, Inches, versus Centimeter, Kilometer, Meter, etc.,. I KNOW the differences in the Metric System, all I'm saying is, the wording used by the Imperial system is easier to differentiate between units of length, and I'm thinking that's how many others feel, even if they might not say it.

Aardark: Are you being Sarcastic? Innocent question, because I get the feeling you are...but if not, disregard this =)

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Dark Nation

Aardark: Are you being Sarcastic? Innocent question, because I get the feeling you are...but if not, disregard this =)

Well, uh, yeah. You're American, presumably you've been using the Imperial system for all your life. Do you really think you can objectively judge whether it's easy to remember? Everything is easy to remember if you've been using it daily since you were a kid.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Aardark

Well, uh, yeah. You're American, presumably you've been using the Imperial system for all your life. Do you really think you can objectively judge whether it's easy to remember? Everything is easy to remember if you've been using it daily since you were a kid.

Point Taken.

I suppose then if you wanted to compare which is easier to remember or not, you would really have to find someone who has either:
- Used both Metric and Imperial on a roughly equal amount of time in their daily life
- Find someone who uses an entirely different system of measurement and have them act as an objective observer.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

One day it's the English speaking world mocking Quebec for it's protective attitude towards it's language, and the other it's the same English speaking world being protective of it's measurement standards.

~_~

How ya doing, buddy?

fine you can have le metre ;(

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I lived in United States for ten years, and I never really understand Imperial measurements.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by niki

One day it's the English speaking world mocking Quebec for it's protective attitude towards it's language,

Are you sure it was the "English speaking world" or just "canada lol." There's a difference.

Because honestly, I don't seem to recall anyone but Canadians caring about Quebec ("caring" is used very loosely.)

Originally Posted by Aardark

Well, uh, yeah. You're American, presumably you've been using the Imperial system for all your life. Do you really think you can objectively judge whether it's easy to remember? Everything is easy to remember if you've been using it daily since you were a kid.

This statement sure means a lot coming from a European.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I don't see your point, Merv, since I didn't say that the metric system was better.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Merv Burger

Are you sure it was the "English speaking world" or just "canada lol." There's a difference.

Because honestly, I don't seem to recall anyone but Canadians caring about Quebec ("caring" is used very loosely.)

It was my impression that the entire "English speaking world" (UK-USA mostly but also aussies) liked to put Quebec's protective laws on the "lol arrogant french" cliche account, yes.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

How can imperial be easier to remember when metric is just a handful of prefixes attached to common suffixes?

edit: not to say metric is necessarily better, and should be the only measurement used. Who the hell cares if a bar sells drinks in pints or liters.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by niki

It was my impression that the entire "English speaking world" (UK-USA mostly but also aussies) liked to put Quebec's protective laws on the "lol arrogant french" cliche account, yes.

I don't think most Australians could point Quebec (and in some cases probably Canada) out on a map, let alone tell you what language they speak there.

We're pretty far removed.

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Yeah, pretty much everyone refers to "the french" when Quebec passes one of these laws.

I was speaking idiomatically.