How pirates stole the metric system from America - photos

[mklotz]

Interesting you should refer to”2/3 thruppence”! Few people had difficulty using pounds, shillings and pence before decimalisation. Easier to divide a given measure into thirds!
May I compliment you on your English? Only a very careful reading reveals a couple of clues that it is not your first language, and most internet posts by native speakers contain errors. I do not exclude myself, and I am a teacher of English. You are a convert, not a “convertite” - have you disabled your auto-correct? And you can’t write “eventual abuse”.
Thanks especially for the diagram. I’ve seen this before, but can’t remember where. Does it include “nail” as a unit? Ah, yes it does!

"Few people had difficulty using pounds, shillings and pence before decimalisation."

I'm sorry but that isn't my experience at all. I was there in the mid-60's, before decimalisation. I used to always count my change in an attempt to become used to the idiotic system. Often the change was wrong. At first, I assumed it was just the locals recognizing an American and, sensing an easy mark, making a convenient mistake. But then I noticed that often as not, the error was in my favor, not theirs. The only conclusion is that they were as confused by their money as I was.

"most internet posts by native speakers contain errors"

Amen to that. Even if they use spell checkers (and now there are grammar checkers) I doubt all but a very few could write a 200 word piece without some glaring spelling, grammar, or homophone error.

Eventually, they will have to revert to the ancient model of having scribes who they commission to write anything where the quality of the writing might affect the outcome.

[nhengineer]

Interesting you should refer to”2/3 thruppence”! Few people had difficulty using pounds, shillings and pence before decimalisation. Easier to divide a given measure into thirds!
May I compliment you on your English? Only a very careful reading reveals a couple of clues that it is not your first language, and most internet posts by native speakers contain errors. I do not exclude myself, and I am a teacher of English. You are a convert, not a “convertite” - have you disabled your auto-correct? And you can’t write “eventual abuse”.
Thanks especially for the diagram. I’ve seen this before, but can’t remember where. Does it include “nail” as a unit? Ah, yes it does!

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Philip,

Thank you for your polite and refined response to our Mr. DIYSwede. You saved me from being my intolerably rude self and from continuing my rant on the Metric religion people out there (who all deny that they are fanatics) and thus risk being called a 'racist' because I don't subscribe to the Metric is GOD dogma.

Yes, I wrote 'racist'. When one does not agree with a fanatic's narrative, he's either a 'racist', 'homophobic', 'xenophobic' or all the other popular 'bics' most of which I would need to Google to find out what they mean.

The Imperial system of measure is just as accurate and easy to use as any other and it's just as arbitrary - no more and no less - but it's pointless for me to carry on because, just like any religion, the Metric religion does not require any facts to support its theories.

Good thing I didn't rant, eh?

[Priemsy]

Hahaha, You made my day with that reply Johan.

[DIYSwede]

SNIP// When one does not agree with a fanatic's narrative, he's either a 'racist', 'homophobic', 'xenophobic' or all the other popular 'bics' most of which I would need to Google to find out what they mean.

The Imperial system of measure is just as accurate and easy to use as any other and it's just as arbitrary - no more and no less - but it's pointless for me to carry on because, just like any religion, the Metric religion does not require any facts to support its theories.

Good thing I didn't rant, eh?

@nhengineer: Rest assured: -I haven't, and won't call anybody here anything like your assumed descriptions,
not only because there are some codes of conduct on this forum, but also as these would be absolutely irrelevant to this discussion.

Further on topic: Please explain your proposition :"The Imperial system of measure is just as accurate".
Isn't any system of measure just a pure abstraction: a set of definitions, axioms, theorems and a syntax for using them?

The term "Accurate" is absolutely senseless within any consistent measurement system,
accuracy enters first when using real-world tools (with their real-world limitations) for measuring the unit in question.

Furthermore, I assume you (contrary to "the Metric religion does not require any facts to support its theories.")
are willing to state some facts yourself, and answer a few questions I've put up (along with a few facts) to another of your posts:
Definition of kilogram, amp, and kelvin set to change forever

Feel free to rant if that fulfills your purposes and needs, but I personally strive to stay short, rational and relevant in here.

[DIYSwede]

The above cheat sheet seems to be lacking "fluid ounces" and "gills",
so here's an Imperial - US conversion table to finally straighten those factors out:

[Philip Davies]

60 minims = 1 fluid drachm
8 fluid drachmas= 1 fluid ounce
1 fluid ounce = 437.5 grains weight of distilled water, or 1 of 160 parts of a gallon (apothecaries’ measure)
Ref. Wightman’s Tables

The picture is from another book of tables.

[Priemsy]

The above cheat sheet seems to be lacking "fluid ounces" and "gills",
so here's an Imperial - US conversion table to finally straighten those factors out:

Metric wins.

[Philip Davies]

A Pyrrhic victory.

[nhengineer]

A Pyrrhic victory.

I had to look that one up Philip. A Pyrrhic victory (/ˈpɪrɪk/ ( listen) PIRR-ik) is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. Someone who wins a Pyrrhic victory has also taken a heavy toll that negates any true sense of achievement or damages long-term progress.

Agreed.

[DIYSwede]

Source: Poll in "The Mirror" as of Sep 30th, 2014.

Aid for "Linguistically Challenged":
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/lulz

Suggested further reading:
Imperial threads on a Metric lathe.