May the Road (as Long as It's Not Marked in Kilometers) Rise Up To Meet the "Metric Martyr"

Britons and the Irish can still walk a mile to the pub for a pint of beer instead of trudging 1.6 kilometers for 50 centiliters of the sudsy stuff, European Union regulators ruled.

In a belated victory for Britain's "metric martyr," the European Commission dropped plans to force the U.K. and Ireland to replace Imperial measures such as pints, yards, feet and inches with the metric system by 2009.

The metric climbdown, triggered by a public-opinion survey in the two countries, "honors the culture and traditions of Great Britain and Ireland," Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen said in a statement in Brussels today.

Today's decision is a posthumous victory for Steven Thoburn, an English grocer dubbed the "metric martyr" when he was fined in 2001 for selling bananas by the pound. Thoburn died of a heart attack at the age of 39 in 2004 after his appeal was rejected.

Other traders were prosecuted for selling mackerel, Brussels sprouts and pumpkins by the pound.

In other recent rulings, speaking in Esperanto anywhere in the EU--other than when chanting along to the 1965 Esperanto movie Incubus starring William Shatner, of course-- will be punished by death.

And let's not miss the irony that the Irish now get to keep the "Imperial" weights and measures system imposed on them by their, well, former imperial overlords. The important thing is that Van Morrison need not learn how to re-measure anything at this point in his life.

More here.

And never forget that Gerry Ford's darkest hour came not when he pardoned Nixon, or refused to admit that Poland was under Soviet domination, or when he unveiled his sadomasochistic WIN campaign. It came when the signed The Metric Conversion Act of 1975, surrendering American sovereignty when it came to feets, inches, and all the rest. Luckily for us, he was in that, as in all else, a failure.

Comments

Randolph Carter | September 11, 2007, 8:26am | #

You're drunk on your tradition that has no validity.
I'm intoxicated, just using metrics. Come drink a decaliter with me.
We want metrics, we want it now, and we know we can win!
I weigh 170 lbs that's 90 kilograms, see metrics can even make you thin.

Ray | September 11, 2007, 8:30am | #

Cu vi parolas Esperanton Nick?

Episiarch | September 11, 2007, 8:41am | #

How do you say "KHAAAAAAAANNNNN!!!" in Esperanto?

Incubus is actually a pretty good film. Beautiful cinematography. Probably shot in 35mm--FUCKING METRIC!

crimethink | September 11, 2007, 8:45am | #

And let's not miss the irony that the Irish now get to keep the "Imperial" weights and measures system imposed on them by their, well, former imperial overlords.

I think you've missed an even greater irony. Those who live in glass houses...

joe | September 11, 2007, 8:46am | #

My car gets 20 furlongs to the hogshead, and that's the way I like it!

Bah!

crimethink | September 11, 2007, 8:48am | #

It came when the signed The Metric Conversion Act of 1975, surrendering American sovereignty when it came to feets, inches, and all the rest.

Considering the "feets" were imposed on the 13 colonies by our FormerImperialOverlords, I don't see what this has to do with AmericanSovereignty

crimethink | September 11, 2007, 8:52am | #

Luckily for us, he was in that, as in all else, a failure.

He says as he packs his 35 millimeter film and 2 liter bottle of Diet Pepsi, along with an amount of pot below the 20 gram legal limit, to go watch the 5K race.

Pro Libertate | September 11, 2007, 8:58am | #

crimethink,

The metric system is French. All rivalries fade before the French menace :)

SugarFree | September 11, 2007, 9:06am | #

I support the renaming of soccer to "Metric Football."

Pro Libertate | September 11, 2007, 9:10am | #

Episiarch,

Banana daiquiri.

crimethink | September 11, 2007, 9:12am | #

Pro Libertate,

I remember my 3rd grade teacher claiming that Thomas Jefferson invented the metric system. Having read otherwise, I questioned her assertion, but she was immovable on the point.

Later that year, she told my mom at a parent-teacher conference that she thought I was gay. Needless to say, she was wrong about a lot of stuff.

Pro Libertate | September 11, 2007, 9:18am | #

crimethink,

I recall reading that no one person conceived of a decimal-based system of measurements but that there were several people who had the idea independently. Of course, the French were the first to officially adopt it, which is why it gets labeled as French.

As for Jefferson, everyone knows that he invented the dumb waiter and the laser.

crimethink | September 11, 2007, 9:22am | #

But the important thing is, I'm not gay.

Warren | September 11, 2007, 9:25am | #

The qwerty keyboard is hear to stay as well. But for those anti-metric British traditionalists, I have a question. How many pence in a pound?

WalterBoswell | September 11, 2007, 9:41am | #

Irish road speed signs, distance signs etc. went metric about 3 years ago. The overlap period was somewhat funny as I recall. The national roads dept. issued these little stickers which provided motorists with the necessary equations for converting the digits on their speedometer to that of the permitted speed signs along the roads. Many old age brain related diseases were fended off I'm sure.

The process of rounding off (usually down) made it impossible to drive on some roads, certain one way bridges for example had a permitted speed of 5 Kilometre per hour, most cars cannot drop below 10. You broke the speed limit or your engine cut out.

Kap | September 11, 2007, 9:43am | #

As a practicing mechanical engineer I can attest that the imperial system sucks dog balls, and few engineers understand how to use it without making errors. Seriously, would you want to work in a units system where density is measured in slugs/ft3 (or snails/in3) (or lbf·s2/in4)? I am not making that shit up.

Crimethink, I wish I knew how to quit you.

joe | September 11, 2007, 9:46am | #

Of course not, crimethink.

You were thinking of a jaunty tune, and your stall was out of paper.

kohlrabi | September 11, 2007, 9:49am | #

Kap,

Where do Mech E's use the imperial system? I've never encountered that.

WalterBoswell | September 11, 2007, 9:54am | #

Kap - As a practicing mechanical engineer I can attest that the imperial system sucks dog balls.

Of course. Everyone knows it. Metric is far more logical. But this is a stand against the EU, a silly one IMO but symbolism trumps common sense and all that.

Timon19 | September 11, 2007, 9:57am | #

In my ME courses on my way to an EE degree, we used the Imperial system as frequently as the metric. It was mostly because the Imperial system is still used here, so even as painful as it can be to use in a scientific context, we needed to be familiar with how to use it.

Timon19 | September 11, 2007, 10:00am | #

The metric system is far more logical in most scientific contexts, especially when dealing with large numbers. Scientific notation is perfectly consistent and orders of magnitude are obvious.

However, the metric system sucks for using fractions. There are a number of applications for which the Imperial system is easier.

Cracker's Boy | September 11, 2007, 10:02am | #

Crimethink - not that there's anything wrong with it, if you are...

CB

kohlrabi | September 11, 2007, 10:06am | #

I'll say I'm surprised! I'm not a mech e myself, but have worked with them plenty and always provided metric measurements. I just assumed that's the way it was.

kohlrabi | September 11, 2007, 10:07am | #

Woodworkers tend to prefer the imperial system I've noticed.

Pro Libertate | September 11, 2007, 10:11am | #

Politicians secretly hate scientists and engineers. That's why we still have two palms to the shaftment.

Not to mention that "shaftment" is much cooler than "decimeter". And what other system can boast the "virgate"?

J sub D | September 11, 2007, 10:19am | #

I'm a big fan of the metric system. That said, sometimes the best team doesn't always win. The US and UK are just too damn stubborn and I'll just have to live with converting the two systems back and forth. On a related topic - Why can't the Limeys get the definition of a billion right. That thousand million shi they use pisses me off when I read scientific literature intended for the British audience. Am I the only one?

Kap | September 11, 2007, 10:20am | #

Where do Mech E's use the imperial system? I've never encountered that.

I work in the oil industry, everything is imperial, even in our subsidiaries in Aberdeen and Singapore. Getting Texans to use the metric system is like trying to pry their 7mm Rem Mag deer rifle from their cold, dead hands.

I'm currently writing some engineering software and it can display in 4 units systems: US Customary (°F, Msi, "lbm"/in3), Imperial Scientific (°R, lbf/in2, lbf·s2/in4), Metric Engineering (°C, MPa, g/cm3) and SI (K, N/m2, kg/m3). All the calculations are done internally in SI units, otherwise my head will explode.

The hell of the imperial units system is that it predates Newtonian mechanics, and therefore is based on a faulty understanding of the physics. The "pound" is a unit of force, not mass. There is no imperial unit of mass (save for the very obscure "slug" (feet) or "snail" (inches).)

WalterBoswell | September 11, 2007, 10:32am | #

Kap - ...The "pound" is a unit of force, not mass. There is no imperial unit of mass (save for the very obscure "slug" (feet) or "snail" (inches).)

Is this why you can say 'to pound something', as in 'I pounded the nail into the plank', and why slug is oft used to describe a small gulp of liquid as in "Can I have a slug of your brandy m'lord"???

Rhywun | September 11, 2007, 10:36am | #

There aren't many things that embarrass me as an American more than our arrogant, anti-intellectual refusal to go metric. I don't know how the British have gotten away with it for so long, being virtually powerless on the world stage, other than by being as arrogant as Americans. That said, I wouldn't want it imposed on us, but good luck getting Johnny Redneck to give up his inches and feet to those damn Frogs.

Why can't the Limeys get the definition of a billion right.

The Germans use the same system. Thank God for scientific notation.

Doctor Duck | September 11, 2007, 10:39am | #

Why can't the Limeys get the definition of a billion right

They can and have. You rarely encounter the older 10**12 meaning any more. The 10**9 billion has won the day.

vanya | September 11, 2007, 10:47am | #

There aren't many things that embarrass me as an American more than our arrogant, anti-intellectual refusal to go metric.

Please. Get over yourself. There's nothing anti-intellectual about a refusal to go metric. The American system is fine - we use metric when appropriate, i.e. for engineering and science when precision is required, but in everyday life the traditional system is simply more intuitive - being based on the human body rather than abstract standards. The arrogance is all on the side of the people who presume to tell us we have to stop using our comfortable traditional measuring system.

Episiarch | September 11, 2007, 10:53am | #

There aren't many things that embarrass me as an American more than our arrogant, anti-intellectual refusal to go metric.

Seeing as it's all arbitrary, what fucking difference does it make? I try to be conversant in both, and use metric for science (mostly because the base 10 stuff is easier, but that's what computers are for anyway). But for other stuff, like height, 6 feet is way better than 1.83 meters.

Kap | September 11, 2007, 10:54am | #

Is this why you can say 'to pound something', as in 'I pounded the nail into the plank', and why slug is oft used to describe a small gulp of liquid as in "Can I have a slug of your brandy m'lord"?

I'll ponder this as I sip my pounder of Guinness and slug the next guy who asks me the density of steel.

Rhywun | September 11, 2007, 11:05am | #

in everyday life the traditional system is simply more intuitive - being based on the human body rather than abstract standards

Intuitive? When is the last time you the width of your thumb to measure something in inches? Or taken your shoes off to measure something in "feet"?

The arrogance is all on the side of the people who presume to tell us we have to stop using our comfortable traditional measuring system.

Maybe the arrogance is on the side of people who put words in my mouth.

But for other stuff, like height, 6 feet is way better than 1.83 meters.

Probably because you're used to it.

Isaac Bartram | September 11, 2007, 11:24am | #

Civil engineers and land surveyors decimalized Imperial measures of distance in the 19th century. And even before that the Chain, which was the unit of measurement for the Public Land Survey was divided into 100 Links.

Of course, there are advantages to metric beyond just decimilization. The generally logical relationship of one set of units to eachother is quite elegant, for example. I can understand why it is preferred for so many calculations.

In general the biggest resistance to metrication as near as I can tell is from the construction and building supply industry. The cost of retooling or converting is seen as prohibitive.

Isaac Bartram | September 11, 2007, 11:25am | #

The auto industry on the other hand has completely converted. It was in their interest to do so.

But they still took several years to do it.

Isaac Bartram | September 11, 2007, 11:28am | #

Aresen

The Nautical Mile is the distance through one minute of latitude. It is still the standard unit of distance for Navigation.

The knot is a unit of speed. One Nautical Mile per Hour.

joe | September 11, 2007, 11:30am | #

Urban planning is still done in feet and acres. ESRI software in the US comes with American units as the default.

Isaac Bartram | September 11, 2007, 11:41am | #

The State of Florida went through a huge metric conversion binge through the eighties and nineties.

Metric equivalent speed limit signs went up all over the state and gasoline was sold in liters at rest stops along the Florida's Turnpike.

The culmination came in the mid-nineties when all design and surveying (including legal descriptions) went metric.

I had a fairly easy time since I had gone through it in Canada twenty years before.

It all came to a screeching halt after about three or four years when Congress passed a law stating that no Federal funding could go to projects in units other than English.

Such is the power of the Contractor Lobby.

Isaac Bartram | September 11, 2007, 11:53am | #

That is all design and surveying by the Florida DOT.

Left that out. I kind of though it was implied but when I read the posted comment I realized it wasn't all that clear.

joe, there was a push for metric conversion at the American Congress of Surveying and Mapping in the eighties. Several states (maybe even all?) passed legislation providing for legal descriptions and hence land title transfers to be done in metric units. There were even subdivision plats in metric units recorded in some places.

The resistance to it proved to strong.

The various othe interested folks, land developers, builders, attoneys etc were just not that enthusiastic.

Isaac Bartram | September 11, 2007, 12:05pm | #

Seeing as it's all arbitrary,...

Episiarch,

The metric system wasn't supposed to be arbitrary, though.

But it turned out that there wasn't anything any more magically logical about basing your unit for measuring distance on a metric fraction of the distance from the equator to the North Pole along the meridian through Paris than there was in basing it on the length of the sovereign's foot.

But as I said above the internal logic of the system is breathtaking, IMO.

But that elegant internal logic is only of interest to scientists and engineers.

Most general users however find the Imperial system more comfortable, mostly because of custom but partly because of a certain human scale that some find in the units.

NP | September 11, 2007, 12:12pm | #

I agree that this is a silly issue to begin with, not to mention the EU's stupid attempt to force any of its members to adopt a standard. But still, the metric system is a lot more convenient than its imperial counterpart, not only in technical matters but also in everyday life.

J sub D | September 11, 2007, 12:12pm | #

The auto industry on the other hand has completely converted. It was in their interest to do so.

But they still took several years to do it.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who swore at needing standard AND metric tools to work on my auto. But that is in the past unless you've got an old clunker (classic?).

Timon19 | September 11, 2007, 12:45pm | #

When I referred to fractions, I did not mean "multiples". Mostly, it's the ease of dividing by two (a right bitwise shift :) )

Whatever. SI units are far more convenient in so many ways (because we long ago set the mathematical standard at base 10 with positional notation), but there are still advantages to using Imperial (or US), or some subset of same.

I suspect the Aztecs (or was it the Mayans?) would have been comfortable with a unit system entirely consistent in base 6.

What little I've seen of the Russian Imperial system (is it still in use?) is completely mind-boggling.

daniel k | September 11, 2007, 1:17pm | #

You can have my 12 f*ucking inches when you pry it out of my slippery, pumping hands!

Isaac Bartram | September 11, 2007, 1:26pm | #

What little I've seen of the Russian Imperial system (is it still in use?) is completely mind-boggling.

I think there was also a unit smaller than the inch, but I can't remember it.

Aresen

Timon19's comment reminded me. The Russians had a unit called a line (plural: linii). It was equal to a tenth of an inch.

The caliber of the Mosin Nagant rifle was originally designated as three linii. The communists converted it to metric as 7.62mm which is equal to 30 cal. in the American and British systems.

What I don't know is whether the Russians used the same inch and the line was a fraction of it or if the line just coincidentaly happened to equal a tenth of an inch.

The only reference I can find is in the Wikipedia entry for the Mosin Nagant rifle.

daniel k | September 11, 2007, 1:28pm | #

O, I got so excited getting to do my classic comment I screwed (heh, heh) it up.
Correction: They can have my 12 f*cking inches when they pry it out of my cold, dead, slippery hands.

MikeP | September 11, 2007, 1:50pm | #

As I was fetching my ruler with the irrational markings on it to determine whether my A4 paper was compliant, I pondered that it must be a whole dekacelsius warmer outside than inside...

Blue | September 11, 2007, 1:54pm | #

Dont worry. There's a government office to help you with all your metric needs:

http://ts.nist.gov/WeightsAndMeasures/Metric/mpo_home.cfm

MikeP | September 11, 2007, 1:56pm | #

The English system... Man is the measure of all things. The units evolved through the centuries to provide the greatest benefit to their users. Units are convertable by simple multiples of 2's and 3's to serve the scale desired...

The metric system... One forty-millionth the polar circumference of the earth is the measure of all things. The units were imposed on their users by force of government. They'll get that decimal calendar relegislated any time now...

Brandybuck | September 11, 2007, 2:04pm | #

There aren't many things that embarrass me as an American more than our arrogant, anti-intellectual refusal to go metric.

There's nothing that embarasses me more as a human being than our silly idea that we should consider selling bananas by the pound to be a crime. If the government wants to use Metric, that's their business. That in itself would go a long long way towards converting to Metric. But when the govenrment starts pointing guns at people to force them to use Metric too, they've crossed the line.

prolefeed | September 11, 2007, 3:19pm | #

But the important thing is, I'm not gay.

crimethink, "not gay" like Senator Craig? Or "not gay" as in fcxing wimmin? Gotta be a bit more specific these days. I believe the correct Newspeak phrase you're looking for is "doubleplusgoodsexer" ;)

P.S. Did you read the study where if someone denies being something, about half the people several months later remember you as saying the opposite?

Dan T. about four months from now | September 11, 2007, 3:22pm | #

crimethink? Yeah, isn't he the guy who came out of the closet about four months ago?

;)

crimethink | September 11, 2007, 11:18pm | #

Ah yes, the old "if you're not fucking women you're fucking boys" trope. Haven't dealt with that one since, oh, last week.

Eric the .5b | September 12, 2007, 4:52pm | #

The Imperial (and it's cousin the US system*) is great if you want to crash your billion dollar probe while it's landing on Mars.

Actually, mixing systems is great for that purpose.

Mici | September 13, 2007, 6:23am | #

We want to GO Metric NOW. WE want to remove the old Imperial measuring system and WE WILL DO IT.
www.Metrication.us