Who has had a baby then? Do you Brits really find the imperial units useful and easy to understand? Isn't it difficult to compare two different units of measure with each other?
Yes and no Obviously from a mathematical viewpoint a non-denary system is harder to work with. But since we tend to consider our body weights, food weights etc in imperial measures we have more of a feel for them if you get what I mean. For example, give me a weight of a bag of sand in kg, I couldn't tell you if I'd be able to lift it - I'd convert roughly to imperial and then I'd know. Order me a x-hundred gram steak and I'd have no idea how big a slab of meat to expect but give me the weight in ounces and I'd have a pretty good idea. Also, it'll be a cold Saturday night in Hell when I go to the pub and order a half-litre of beer!
RE: Yes and no We are in a strange position where we use both - for body weight I understand stones and pounds better - I have difficulty if I just hear someones weight in pounds rather than using stones. At the deli in the supermarket I'm used to ordering in grams, but then if I go out for a meal and having steak I understand what I'm getting with an 8oz steak. we buy petrol in litres (although I just fill up anyway) but beer in pints (and fill up again!)
We should take the plunge and totally convert Then we'd all think in SI units and we'd be able to visualise stuff and compare different things properly. Sure it would take some time to get our brains sorted but it'd be worth it. The best argument for keeping the old imperial stuff I heard was that metric units were ruining people's ability to do mental arithmetic! That's like saying plumbed houses are ruining our ability to carry buckets of water from the well. Simpler = better. At least at work we are fully SI. Well not always, sometimes we have to consider some American equipment... the recoil on this gun is xxxxx kip furlongs. Oh dear.
