Simviation Forums

...but I HATE being Metricated!

I enjoy technical, etc, documentaries, but they are always spoilt for me, with the use of Metric measurements!

Distances in Kilometres instead of Miles, height in Metres instead of Feet, speed in KPH instead of MPH, temperature in Centigrade instead of Fahrenheit, etc...

Being an "Old School" type, these Metric measurements mean nothing to me, and I haven't got time to convert them to Imperial whilst listening to/watching the program.

Example: Watching a TV documentary dealing with Space and the Universe, and describing Metric distances and speed are completely "Alien" to me, and don't relate to my image of them!

Anyone else get confused by them?

Paul....Good-old-old Feet and Inches, and Queen Victoria!.... ...>>> ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_units

Our Sun is 93 million [i]MILES[/] from Earth.... and we are all going round in MPH!... ...!

I'm an American; this country has fought the conversation to metrics for as long as I can remember.

Yes, it confuses me......

Nine years in Eastern Europe has left me comfortable in both systems

Some folks just have.. If I can coin a word, metriphobia. Metrics aren't so bad to understand if you have to work with them for a while. The real ripoff came with kilometers and litres. Used to be radar cops would let you go at 10 mph over the limit, now its 10 k (A lot less) When gasoline prices go up .02 cents a litre we don't feel so offended as if it was .09 cents a gallon. And finally, when on a road trip, we are much happier to see a destination sign that says 100 kilometers rather than 61 miles.

You got used to decimal money, didn't you? How much does Scrooge offer the boy?

“No, no,” said Scrooge, “I am in earnest. Go and buy it, and tell ’em to bring it here, that I may give them the direction where to take it. Come back with the man, and I’ll give you a shilling. Come back with him in less than five minutes and I’ll give you half-a-crown!”

A shilling is 12 pence. A half crown is 2 shillings and 6 pence (2 ½ shillings). A pound is 240 pence. Makes perfect sense.

What's easier than the metric system? 1000m in 1 km, 100 cm in 1 m, 10 mm in 1 cm, water boils at 100*C, it freezes at 0*C. It's all 1's and 0's. How much do you weigh? 89 kilo. In the UK that would be measured in 14 stones and a hand full of gravel....

http://www.metric-conversions.org/weigh ... stones.htm

Oh, I dunno. I was always fairly science (and female! ) oriented during my formative years, and I much prefer the decimal system metrics provides rather than the American or truely English systems. For the life of me, when my wife watches horse races, I still joke about "Tell me again, how many fathoms to the furlong are there again?" Chains to the rod, drams to the hogshead....you name it. Makes NO sense to me, but then, I'm wierd, I suppose ...That whole shillings/crowns etc thing above is a great example. If I have to, I just convert to a decimal system of somesort in my head and proceed along my path:confusion-confused: ...The military is big on the whole metric thing too, once again, helped form my preferences...I shot at 200, 300, 500, 750 and 1k meters , we went on 6K runs , etc...

CrashII wrote:What's easier than the metric system? 1000m in 1 km, 100 cm in 1 m, 10 mm in 1 cm, water boils at 100*C, it freezes at 0*C. It's all 1's and 0's. How much do you weigh? 89 kilo. In the UK that would be measured in 14 stones and a hand full of gravel....

http://www.metric-conversions.org/weigh ... stones.htm

The problem is not with the Metric System itself. That is easy enough to understand. However, people like Foz & me who were taught the Imperial System & used it for the first 30 or 40 years of our lives have difficulty in visualising Metric. For example, I know exactly what an inch, foot, yard etc. looks like & can accurately estimate what a pound or a stone weighs without even thinking about it. The Metric equivalents are as foreign to me as the Imperial system is to you.

Meanwhile, in aviation altitude is still measured in feet & speed in knots or MPH. In the UK all the road speed limit signs are in MPH, beer & milk are sold in pints. I'm sure there are other examples. I know exactly what a mile looks like but still can't visualise a kilometre. At the age of 71 I don't think there's much chance that I ever will.

Part of my job involved working in both Imperial & Metric measurements & converting between the two. I had no difficulty with that. The daft thing was that if someone sent in a drawing using Metric measurements we had to convert them to Imperial before manufacturing the item, then converting back to Metric to measure the finished article. Is that complicated or what? It can also lead to mistakes.

My daughter started school in the 1970s & was taught both systems. Like her old Dad she still thinks in Imperial.

ozzy72 wrote:Nine years in Eastern Europe has left me comfortable in both systems

Same here, I have no problem at all.

What is interesting though is aviation. All "big birds" are imperial (We will leave Russian aircraft out of the conversation). Boeing or Airbus, Bombardier, Embraer (to name a few) , you need an imperial tool box..........Except for two aircraft I have have never used a metric tool kit. The two aircraft are both French and have a single bolt of them that in both cases is 10mm. The ATR to remove the AC wild generator you need imperial tools, but to remove the cooling duct housing, you need a 10mm socket. And the Airbus A320 Family. The air conditioning flow control valve has two 10mm bolts that hold a bracket to it.

However what is really interesting is that Boeing is leaning more and more towards the metric system when it comes to damage in the structure of the aircraft. Dents etc are measured in both MM and imperial. And as you have to do a bit of maths to assess if a dent in in limit or out of limit, it is was easier to do it in MM than inches. The critical sum is Y/W and it has to be less than 30.
Dividing dividing two figures in your head on the ramp for example Length 12cm / 1.5mm is way easier than 4.724 / 0.0590 ..........well it is for me anyway

Matt

I can visualise the distance of one Mile, from a typical road example near me, so I just magnify that observation as I travel the road.
The measurement in Kilometres would totally confuse me, and mean nothing.

The same with height. I can visualise the height of a typical factory chimney in Feet, so I just magnify that observation to calculate the height of an object from the ground.

I can also lay that chimney down on the ground to calculate distance, like the length of my garden in Feet, or the road in front of me.

The height of the cloud base in Metres would mean nothing to me...it would need to be in thousands of Feet, or number of factory chimneys laid end to end!

I spent 16 years of my young life at school, being taught the Imperial System of measurement, and like many old folks, could never adapt to the Metric System!
I have to take Metric distances and weights, etc, for granted, and not knowing exactly what they are!

...and it takes too long, and is far too complicated to understand, to convert.

I have a factory chimney as a ruler.

Paul.....measuring the Marigolds!... ...!

P.S... as an Engineering Draughtsman (long ago), we were always instructed NEVER to us "Centimetres" in our measurements, only Millimetres and Metres in our designs.

Paul, you will probably remember the following...........Or not, as you are the same as me.....

Many moons ago when I would wear a light blue suit with matching hat and shiny shoes, once a year we would have to wear a green suit with a none matching blue hat and shiny boots. This was for GDT, Ground Defence Trainng when you would have to go and draw your gun and practice load, unload and stoppage drills. It also involved being in the classroom and learning to give fire control orders. This was all based around distance estimation by use of.........................football fields. How many football fields to the enemy could then be translated into distance over meters. My problem being that football is the greatest sleeping pill in the world to me and as a consequence, I could not estimate a 100 meters to save my life (which was the object of the exercise so to say...... )

Matt

expat wrote:Paul, you will probably remember the following...........Or not, as you are the same as me.....

Many moons ago when I would wear a light blue suit with matching hat and shiny shoes, once a year we would have to wear a green suit with a none matching blue hat and shiny boots. This was for GDT, Ground Defence Trainng when you would have to go and draw your gun and practice load, unload and stoppage drills. It also involved being in the classroom and learning to give fire control orders. This was all based around distance estimation by use of.........................football fields. How many football fields to the enemy could then be translated into distance over meters. My problem being that football is the greatest sleeping pill in the world to me and as a consequence, I could not estimate a 100 meters to save my life (which was the object of the exercise so to say...... )

Matt

"Football Fields" are areas of ground used by a grope group of men who have a worrying attraction to each other upon kicking a Pig's bladder into a fishing net......

(I could never see much sense in it).

..and "Meters" are instruments used for the measurement of things.

"Metres" are a measurement of length.

(U.S. Citizens often get confused between the two: Meters/Metres...and Tires/Tyres)..... ... ...!

I'm sticking to my 100 Foot factory chimney for all my measurements.

Paul...stoking up the boiler.... ...!

Ground Defence Training: National Service British Army on the Rhine. 1955 to 1957.

30 plus years in the Bicycle business has fully assimilated my synapses to the nuances of the Metric System. Talk about an Industry that isn't standardized...

ViperPilot wrote:30 plus years in the Bicycle business has fully assimilated my synapses to the nuances of the Metric System. Talk about an Industry that isn't standardized...

Alan...

I wish I had your synapses to avoid my confusion between Queen Victoria's Foot and Charles de Gaulle's Metre!

Paul.... ...!

And let's not forget the poor Mars Lander, a supposed American/European collaboration...Which usually means American money and manufacturing, and a European design...pranged into the surface or burned up in the atmosphere or something due to a missed Imperial/meteric (or Metric/Imperial, whichever) conversion that someone messed up . With all the "computers" Nay-Say has (let's face it, their best, most advanced space vehicle still used 8086 processors! ) and I'm certain the Euros had just as good or better, they messed up a conversion!

Shows that even people that are major proponents of the metric system still can't do the conversions...either!

Pat☺