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| Subject: No-one uses fahrenheit... | |
Author: Roberdin | [ Next Thread |
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] Date Posted: 00:54:29 11/14/04 Sun In reply to: Ed Harris (London) 's message, "Amusing..." on 00:10:13 11/14/04 Sun No-one uses Fahrenheit any more. You're taking this Euro-thing too far. Calcius is a fine measure and that's all I'll use - and so will the weather man, for the most part. Farenheit was probably invented somewhere down the line by a European anyway. I don't talk to Americans much anyway, I can't stand their accents or 'spellings'. You don't need to change your life to be anti-EU. Just say 'No'. BTW: The Queen did not sign the EU treaty and nor has Parliament has ratified it, so as far as I'm concerned, it holds the same value as a demented, somewhat squashed kangeroo on anti-depressants posing for the new Australian flag signing that book. Next you'll be claiming that we need to remove all words with Latin and Greek in them. (Random Jock: RESIST THE TEMPTATION TO RESPOND HERE.) [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Degrees | |
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Author: Ed Harris (London) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 01:07:00 11/14/04 Sun Fahrenheit was invented by a European, but I have no problem with it because we chose to adopt it ourselves. Celcigrade or centius or whatever you call it was introduced along with decimal currency in the 1970s to "standardise" European measurements. That is also why the blighters are trying to make us use the metric system. They have failed dismally. Our road-signs are all in miles, people give their heights in feet and inches and their weights in stones and pounds, and order pints of beer in pubs. And even these are under attack. Anyway, I was brought up using Fahrenheit by my parents, who were taught it by their parents, and I'm damned if I'm changing just because some bureaucrat tells me to. Had there not been a decision to teach people at school only the metric temperature system, no-one would have the faintest idea what it meant. And you're right about "just saying No". Indeed, the AntiMetric Society's slogan is "Metric Measurements - Just say No"! And I'm sorry, but I can't separate the changing of our weights and measures from the subversion of our independence. They are trying to turn our pints into liters, our yards into meters, have abolished our threpenny bits and tuppences sixpences and all the rest of it... not because the metric system works better (since it is plainly absurd: what's a sixth of a decilitre?), but because it is not what They use. It is all part of the same thing. I'm 5'11", 12 st 2 oz, it's 38 degrees outside, I've got 706 surface miles to travel tomorrow evening, and I'm bloody proud of it! [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: I believe you mean 'statue miles' | |
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Author: Roberdin [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 12:28:18 11/14/04 Sun I don't have a problem with whichever measurement system you use. Personally, I'm happy as long as no-one tries to simplify our language *cough*Americans*cough*. But please don't regard me as a lower life form because I prefer litres, centimetres, and degrees Celcius - I'll still be using miles, both statue and nautical for a while though. ;) Of course they may try to ban Nautical Miles because some Europeans may be confused between nm (nanometres) and nm (nautical miles) :-P. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: Obvious the Federation will have to ensure that powers to set measurements are devolved to local assemblies. | |
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Author: Roberdin [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 13:43:47 11/14/04 Sun [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: we went metric in Australia in the 70s | |
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Author: Ian (Australia) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 13:38:30 11/14/04 Sun And it is very hard to imagine going back now. There are whole generations that wouldn't have a clue how tall they are in feet and inches or what they weigh in stone and pounds. I got stuck part way through the changeover. I can never get used to the idea that my height can be expressed in centimetres and that I should remember a silly number – somewhere in the 170s, if I remember rightly – instead of my nice simple 5'8". I have got used to measuring my weight in kilograms, partly because it changes more often and I do in fact measure it. Temperatures in Celsius now make more sense to me than ones in Fahrenheit. I couldn’t guess at what temperature water is supposed to boil at in Fahrenheit. Other things only exist for me in metric units, because I had no concept of before I learned about them that way. I would hate to have to do science in Imperial measurements. My problem with the metric system is that it is fine for practical things but entirely devoid of poetry. Let’s imagine the Who performing “I can see for kilometres and kilometres”. Oops. Shylock demanding his 400-odd grams of flesh? Oops. A detective centimetring his way along a darkened corridor? Oops. Give them two and a half centimetres and they’ll take a little over a kilometre and a half? I think not. A friend of mine – a computer programming type – once declared that we ought to make poetry out of metric units, that it is just the transitional generation that would have a problem with it, that the old units will not be missed. Rot. He never came up with a single convincing example, and my wife, who grew up in an entirely metric country, points out that even here in Brazil the old terms – “milhas”, and so on – are still used in songs and literature. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: There's a reason for that... | |
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Author: Ed Harris (London) [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 17:07:13 11/14/04 Sun The metric system is based on something abstract: scientific purity. A metre is the exact wavelength of light bouncing of a lump of sodium at a certain temperature (or something like that - I don't pretend to understand), whereas, before we could make such accurate measurements, we had to do with likening a distance to real, tangible things... an inch, the width of a thumb; a foot, obviously; a yard, the distance between nose and finger-tips of a horizontally-held arm; a furlong, previously a 'farrow', the distance which an ox could pull a plough before needing a rest; etc. etc. They are all things to which the mind can readily relate, and so they are much better for use as imagery, and, consequently, in every-day life. I defy anyone to use a gramme (the weight of one cubic centimetre of water) to describe something ordinary. "God, that thing weighs half a ton!" is vague and approximate... ...But, metric is precise, unarguable, and thus better for science. "Mon dieu, that thing weighs four and a half thousand grammes!" necessarily is more specific but less useful in conversation. Perhaps, then, I should withdraw my objection to using the two systems side-by-side, and instead suggest that we confine one to science and the other to ordinary situations. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |
| [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> [> Subject: That's what we do already in the UK... | |
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Author: Roberdin [ Edit | View ] |
Date Posted: 18:55:42 11/14/04 Sun No scientist has used Imperial Measures since the 19th Century. As I said before, if measurement powers are devolved, then each region can decide for itself. Australians can stick with what they use, we can stick with what we use. Obviously, on food products and so forth, we'll need a standard - but that's already metric here anyway. [ Post a Reply to This Message ] |