New Falklands buildup

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You got that right. How long ago did the entire rest of the world switch to the metric system? 100 years ago? Everyone, that is, except the US. The US basically raised their middle finger to the rest of the world, grabbed their collective crotches, and said, "I got your metric system right here!" (Say it with a strong Brooklyn accent for fullest effect.)

 

I believe the UK isn't metric yet, but they use imperial measurements for volumes (such as oz., gallons, etc.), whereas the US decided to create their own just to be difficult.

 

We use ounces and gallons for volume too (and pints and quarts). 8 ounces in a cup, 2 cups in a pint, 2 pints in a quart, 4 quarts in a gallon. However, I was pretty sure that in terms of distance, the British use meters (or kilometers where appropriate) whereas in the US we use feet or miles.

 

Actually, upon further investigation, it seems that distance is in feet, miles, etc., but everything else is more or less metric (I could still be wrong about this).

Aldeth, imperial ounces, gallons etc. are different sizes than the US measurements. That's why i said they are two different systems.

 

I was unaware of that. I was taught that the US uses the "English" system of measurements. I assumed that if anyone besides the US used the English system it would be the English. You mean even the English don't use the English system?

 

The UK, where it doesn't use the metric system, uses the Imperial system. The US uses it's own system. The differences only show up in volumes. So an Imp. gallon isn't the same as a US gallon (the imp. noe is larger).

Comparison of_the_imperial_and_US_customary measurement_systems

Edit: Note that this isn't at all off topic because it's about the UK.

 

The US isn't even consistent. While milk still comes in gallons, soda comes in liters. Unless you're getting the single serving bottles/cans, where they're still in ounces. Medication comes in grams, milligrams, and CCs (cubic centimeters, aka mL). The gov't has been trying to make a move to metric for years, but it's never really taken on. Until the gov't mandates that mile markers be re-written in kilometers, speed limits be written in KPH, and all engineering documentation submitted to the government use metric, it won't happen.

 

The UK is mixed, older people wont learn the metric while the young are learning only metric in school, so everything has both metric and imperial on it.

 

Canada has mostly gone metric, but when referring to human weight and height, most of the people that I know use feet and pounds. My driver's licencehas that data in cm and kilos, though. Kinda weird. For long distances, we tend to use km now, though I'm sure there's some old holdouts who use miles. All of our signs are in km, though.

 

Look, we're metric in Germany for more than a century, and when I go to the butcher and order meat I still say pound (i.e. half a kilogram), half pound, quarter pound. I often catch myself saying Mark instead of Euro as well.

 

Ragusa, is that because you're a "Marks-ist"?

Ha ha ha! I kill me. Which is good, because if I don't, someone else is gonna.

ON TOPIC! Has anything happened on this score or has the Chilean earthquake diverted attention from the Falklands situation?

 

bugger all in the news right now

 

That cracked me up yesterday and it did so again today.

You, sir, just earned +1 internets.

 

I don't know, it was that that cracked me up twice in a row!