The Irish are being Metrified even more!

[Hagar]

I'm surprised to hear so much resentment of the switch from Imperial to metric from the UK contingent;

I really have no objection if only these faceless officials weren't so anal about it. I'm sure that Britain (or rather England as the others have more sense) is the only country in the EU to stick to whatever stupid laws these people come up with. The French say "Oui" & carry on as normal along with all the others. Here's one example of petty officialdom at its worst & the tragic outcome. Whether this was a direct result of an honest small trader being harrassed for no good reason I leave you to judge. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wear/3511428.stm All for selling a bunch of bananas in pounds instead of kilos. What possible harm could it do?

I recall a similar occasion back in the 70s when a local shopowner refused to convert to metric currency & continued selling his goods in the old pounds, shillings & pence. They left him to get on with it & he finally had to come round to their way of thinking as his business was suffering. The officials were a little less petty in those days.

[C]

For all those people, like me, who have been brought up on Imperial speeds and distances, the poor Irish are now going to have to learn a new Metric system....
Kilometers.... .... ....!

I thought they already were! Oops, I've just diagnosed myself with a case of ignorance again. I must be English!


Charlie

( with smiley diahorrea...)

[ATI_7500]

But both Great Britain and Ireland are in the European Union. And since this is practically a closed and united community,all should have the same currency and measuring systems. I know that democracy is raping the minority, but, well, it works, eh?
I agree 'though that the introduction should've been done step-by-step and not overnight.

Bj

[Hagar]

[quote]But both Great Britain and Ireland are in the European Union. And since this is practically a closed and united community,all should have the same currency and measuring systems. I know that democracy is raping the minority, but, well, it works, eh

[Hagar]

This thread reminds me of a question: who pronounces kilometers "KIL-o-meet-ers", and who prefers "kil-AH-meters"? For years I used the latter, until I realized that if it's "MILLimeeters"and "CENTimeeters" it should be "KIL-o-meeters". Of course, saying anything ending with "meters" is bound to get me some dirty looks here in this fair land, and trying to pronounce it correctly- why, that's un-American!

As Fozzer pointed out earlier, a meter is a measuring instrument so presumably a kilometer would be an instrument used for measuring kilos. A kilo could be a kilogramme* or kilometre. A kilometre is a unit of length - 1,000 metres, approximately 5/8 of a mile. There are various ways of pronouncing it & I'm not sure one is any more correct than another. I tend to say KILL-O-meetre.

*PS. Gram is the US contraction of gramme. Kilogram is the commonly used spelling nowadays. This is often shortened to kilo (pronounced keelow) in the UK - or kg on packaging.

[Omag 2.0]

Oh, people will never change! I hate this is one time I don't agree with Doug or Fozzer.

In a sense the system isn't important. I've managed to cope with the disappearance of the Belgian Frank and its replacement by the Euro. It's all about getting used to it;

What bothers me about the whole situation is the fact that the US, Brittain and the rest of Europe have different systems. We are evolving in an ever more "global" community, yet we cling to our own little habits as if the meant the world. Change can be liberating people. Offcourse, there will always be a group of people that have to adjust, but I didn't hear the Brittains or the Americans complain when English became the world-language!

To me the metric system makes more sense. It's all about the magic number 10. Makes things quite clear and easy I find!

Oh well, we'll see what the future brings...

[Hagar]

Please don't get me wrong Omag. I'm not anti-European, quite the opposite. I'm all for closer cooperation & friendship with our neighbours & I consider myself a European. I could easily cope with the metric system & the Euro if it were introduced tomorrow. That's not the point. Just because I can cope with it doesn't mean that I wish to join the European monetary system.

Like many others in this country I have no desire to be part of a Federal Europe. That was never part of the deal when we joined the EEC back in 1973. It's by no means perfect but I like things just the way they are. The British economy is probably the strongest in Europe. It has been for a long time while others have been in recession for years so this must prove we got something right. I can see no reason to change it. Doesn't make any sense to me. Maybe it would have been more sensible to adopt the the

[767-300er]

the european union should make everyone drive on the right side of the road instead of the wrong side of the road (runs!!!)

[pete]

You will find that it tends to be the older ones who don't embrace the change to newer easier systems .... polls show consistenly that the young are very different. The young of Britain are looking forward to the Euro - whereas the longer in tooth ones are not ....  ;)  ;D

& the young don't tend to vote so much wheras the old do - which adds to the notion of a 'majority' not wanting change ...

Personally I can't wait until we have unified global & metric systems ......

[Hagar]

I've never been opposed to change. I welcome anything that makes life easier. Unfortunately in this case I think there are many deeper & more sinister motives.

I've already said far more than I intended. Time to shut my big mouth.

[Omag 2.0]

Now come on Hagar, you put your visions ever so clear! But that doesn't wanna say I don't agree with your view on Europe! Sure it has its fair share of faults an problems, but I think we all should move away from the ever deviding and downscaling idea on politics.

Take my country for instance... Just a needle in a haystack. We ain't exactly big, but we have six governments! there is the federal one, one for each community ( don't know the exact terms to translate the Dutch terms) the French, Dutch and German peaking community, one for Brussels capital... There are even people that claim Flanders ( half of Belgium) would profit from beeing independent!

I say this is a very narrowminded way to look at things. Independence doesn't mean better! Look at Europe, still goofing around when it comes to economy. Many European people critisize the US. But look where they stand! One of the most powerfull economical blocks! But no, in Europe each country needs to "protect" its own economy and block the other. This way Europe will never be an important power.

I don't say we should go for world-domination, but getting together could make us stronger.

And proving this point is the fact that we lost a Marslander because there was a mix-up between centimeter and inches. And so we arrive at our starting point...  

Hope this makes a bit of sence, cause I wanted to cover a lot in a tiny text...  ;)

[Craig.]

The differance Omag being the United states is a self sustaining country run by one goverment over its own inhabitants. Europe is many countries controlled by many governments, with the EU being designed as the one ruling power in theory. It sounds like the run up to the 2nd world war without the threats of war I would prefer to keep the

[Omag 2.0]

The differance Omag being the United states is a self sustaining country run by one goverment over its own inhabitants. Europe is many countries controlled by many governments, with the EU being designed as the one ruling power in theory.

Exactly! We Europeans should step away from the idea that we need borders!  We need to unite under one central goverment!

[Craig.]

No we shouldn't. Doug said it earlier, that the UK already puts in more money than the rest of Europe, you turn it into one big country, you end up inheriting all the problems of those countries not as well run. I have nothing against co-operation with the rest of Europe and encourage it as its always been an asset. But i dont want a bunch of guys from a completely differant country telling me what i can and cant do. These politicians seem to think they can create some form of European version of the United states, and thats just impossible.

[Hagar]

[quote]Hope this makes a bit of sence, cause I wanted to cover a lot in a tiny text...