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God Bless America!


Pompey Monkey

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51 minutes ago, Marvin Jenkins said:

It just gets worse! Re built the mower engine using metric tools on Imperial fixings. Had to give the head bolts my best guess as to torque by watching a guy on YouTube do it till he grunted!!! In American!

I have a torque wrench (just realised we call them torque wrench, not torque spanner) but all the info for the motor is foot/pounds. This is what I have, a confusing mix which if used on anything other than a mower could cause untold harm on a large scale.

Seems the head and associated fittings are Imperial but the torque settings are metric. I feel very uncomfortable and have decided to never fly again, never drive anywhere and stop cutting the grass.

Marv

AAE4A905-1DD2-4A85-B9FE-8B1C53B593F2.jpeg

Just occurred to me...sockets and drivers are invariably imperial sizes, regardless of the actual socket size. 3/8", 1/2" and 3/4" drives being the common ones.

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On 06/11/2021 at 14:22, Louis D said:

So you went on Amazon and ordered them and had them the next day with Prime delivery.  A few years later, the local hardware store closed up.  Who's laughing now.

Ah, Amazon Prime... Don't get me started. They use Chronopost most of the time, which means delivery is inverse-decimated with about one item in ten being delivered. (That is literally true.) Interestingly, though, Amazon don't use Chronopost for their returns, they use reliable UPS. I guess they prefer a good service when they are the customer...

But, yes, I did order a set of Allen keys online. This will not topple the mighty Trezzini hardware store and builders' depot, though. It's the best enterprise I've ever dealt with. Every employee is a trained technician who can give authoritative answers on anything from roof tiles to bolier thermostats. And it runs on trust in a way lost to the modern world. I drive in to the yard, load up, then go and tell them what I've taken. By contrast, using the big chains makes me feel like a thief since the assumption from the moment you enter the gate is that that's what you are.

Olly

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While the whole world is metric, some imperial still remains.

In the UK all our road measurements are in miles. It would just cost too much to change everything over to Km.

Shipping containers are 20 foot or 40 foot - again impossible to change.

Oddly, although I'm metric for most things, I still have to visualise room sizes in feet.

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In the UK Amazon Prime delivers on time about 99% of the time. Ordered something at lunchtime yesterday with same day delivery and it arrived at about 7:00pm and the live tracking actually works.. For returns they allow ypu to select from a few carriers but I usually select the post office drop off as it’s more convenient than waiting in. 

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I'm another living hybrid. For years now, I've only ever thought of my weight in kg, but I will always be six feet tall (well, possibly not when I get very old, but the units will still be imperial). If I'm measuring a length for DIY, I'll look at the tape measure and take whichever of the alternatives is easier to remember or work with. I always use metric for scope focal lengths, but switch freely between metric and imperial for apertures, though I suspect that's because I grew up reading, and internalizing, Patrick Moore.

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22 minutes ago, Zermelo said:

I'm another living hybrid. For years now, I've only ever thought of my weight in kg, but I will always be six feet tall (well, possibly not when I get very old, but the units will still be imperial). If I'm measuring a length for DIY, I'll look at the tape measure and take whichever of the alternatives is easier to remember or work with. I always use metric for scope focal lengths, but switch freely between metric and imperial for apertures, though I suspect that's because I grew up reading, and internalizing, Patrick Moore.

I have been given measurements by my wife on the phone such as 1m and 3 1/2 inches, she uses the 1m mark but any small bit left is done in inches.  Other times it's been "125 mm or possibly cm - you'll know which" 🤭

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I'm another hybrid person, but when it comes to measuring or design work I stick with imperial measurements unless it comes to a persons height. Walking and driving distances are always miles or time

I have noticed imperial measurements cropping up in odd places still. Looking at the original set models for the Harry Potter films at Leavesden I noticed that all the scales are imperial. Tthree eigths of an inch to the foot, or 1/32nd scale seems to be the common one

D34_1706.jpg

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1 hour ago, michael8554 said:

I vaguely remember hearing that now we've left the Common Market (that's what we joined, but like a virulent virus it mutated into the EU), some weights and fluid measures can revert to Imperial ?

It would now be possible to change the law such that products could be sold using imperial units as the primary measure, though actually I believe it has always been legal to display measurements and pricing using imperial units as long as the metric version was more prominent and that metric units were used for making the necessary measurements.  So for example I have always been able to sell honey in 1lb jars, but I'd have to weigh it out as 454g (or whatever the correct number is if I've misremembered) when filling the jars, and 454g would have to be the most prominent weight on the label.

However, given that few people under the age of sixty have ever been taught anything other than metric units at school, I'd be inclined to describe such a move in terms that would be highly likely to contravene the CoC in any number of ways and none would be complimentary.

James

Edited by JamesF
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1 hour ago, michael8554 said:

I vaguely remember hearing that now we've left the Common Market (that's what we joined, but like a virulent virus it mutated into the EU), some weights and fluid measures can revert to Imperial ?

Michael

Yes, at long last we can now buy beer in pints and have road signs in miles .... oh, hang on ... :evil4:

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18 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

Yes, at long last we can now buy beer in pints and have road signs in miles .... oh, hang on ... :evil4:

And just to confuse  - a yard of ale.

For our American readers, that's a yard as in about 1metre - not as in back-yard.

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16 minutes ago, StevieDvd said:

And just to confuse  - a yard of ale.

For our American readers, that's a yard as in about 1metre - not as in back-yard.

No confusion here, though the closest to your "long necks" here that I can recall was a 1983 Budweiser poster:

spacer.png

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20 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

Now you're just adding to  their confusion 🙂 ... our American readers spell metre 'meter'  :evil4:

I always wondered if Brits prounce meter "metray" like resumé since the r and e are reversed.

2 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

Yes, to be clear:

Metre - a unit of measurement

Meter - a device for measuring things

 

You're kidding.  There's no consistency, and yet they're pronounce the same?

How do you spell better?  Good, bettre, best?

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1 hour ago, JamesF said:

So for example I have always been able to sell honey in 1lb jars, but I'd have to weigh it out as 454g (or whatever the correct number is if I've misremembered) when filling the jars, and 454g would have to be the most prominent weight on the label.

Being an engineer and being a stickler for precision, I always want to measure these items to see if they are exactly 454g as labelled and not 453g or 455g.  If not, false labelling.  1lb leaves a lot of wiggle room when it comes to measurement precision.

Is pound cake referred to as 454g cake there?

Edited by Louis D
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10 minutes ago, Laurieast said:

What about roundabouts where they meet up with even-numbered 'A' roads 🤔

Drivers at the front of the queue have to stop and draw straws to see who gets to go first.

James

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My wife has cooked meals a few times recently where the recipe called for "a bunch of spring onions" (salad onions in Left Pondian, as far as I'm aware).

How much exactly is "a bunch" of onions when I go out to the veggie plot and pick them?  And if I go out and pick two bunches (whatever that is) and then put them together, do I now just have one bunch?

James

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