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| Subject: we went metric in Australia in the 70s | |
Author: Ian (Australia) | [ Next Thread |
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] Date Posted: 13:38:30 11/14/04 Sun In reply to: Ed Harris (London) 's message, "Degrees" on 01:07:00 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. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous 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 ] |