When will Ireland be fully metric?

Skatedude · 19-02-2014 4:30pm

I go out for pints,
Cars have horsepower, miles per gallon and top speed in miles per hour,
I'm 6 foot 2,
We get inches of rain or foot of snow,
A 50 inch tv is still a big tv,

And i agree that plans dont use feet and inches, but every builder carpenter i've ever worked with still pulls out the measuring tape with feet, inches when working.

And it will never be metric while we measure our privates in inches,

Paramite Pie · 19-02-2014 4:51pm

snubbleste wrote: »

Why isn't Ireland fully metric yet?

Why should we be? Engineers, yes. Ordinary people who don't need that level of precision? No.

People survived without the metric system for thousands of years. And Engineers today can still not replicate the precision of the pyrimids, even with the metric system.

JuliusCaesar wrote: »

WHA'???

Easier to visualize if you are over 80!

If I tell you I'm 180cm tall is that easy to visualize? Feet and inches are larger units therefore easier to visualize.

Iwannahurl · 19-02-2014 4:54pm

Paramite Pie wrote: »

Feet and inches are larger units therefore easier to visualize.

Larger than what? Metres and centimetres?

Iwannahurl · 19-02-2014 5:10pm

Speaking of visualisation, even a brief glimpse of Operation Transformation makes me want to throw a "stone" through the TV.

Nekarsulm · 19-02-2014 5:16pm

interesting info on the French use of corde for firewood. I always thought that the American cord was eight foot by four foot by four foot. Another American unit of measure which always intrigued me was the "bushel weight" used for measuring grain quality. the weight of an eight gallon (presumably a US gallon) can full of grain.

MadsL · 19-02-2014 5:19pm

jimgoose wrote: »

Ah, Fahrenheit. The one unit that utterly baffles me!

I think weirdly about F and C. 107F is hot, but I have no clue if 32F is cold, I need to hear it in C.

SpaceTime wrote: »

They're *AMERICAN* volts! Each time you see one you have to sing the star spangled banner.

I *saw* the star spangled banner a couple of times whilst rewiring sockets the other day. I was very grateful for 110V not 240V.

I find it funny that sites run 110V and the switch to 240V when people move in. Let's make it less safe when we finish the job

Eeden · 19-02-2014 5:32pm

It's frustrating when you look up a recipe on th'internet. You usually find an American one, where the measurements are in cups and fractions of cups. And fruit like strawberries are measured in pints. And their pint size is different from our pint size anyway. I think even our ounces are different!

Stavros Murphy · 19-02-2014 8:52pm

SpaceTime wrote: »

Belgium has good roads?!

News to me! They were awful last time i was there. Ancient motorways with the worst designed junctions I've experienced anywhere. Potholes and bad surfaces on minor roads etc and highest road traffic accident rate in Northern Europe (way higher than Ireland)

Ahh stop with your metric imperialism. Belgium/Poland, whatever, pick somwhere with good roads, and insert. Albania, for example.

CelticRambler · 20-02-2014 12:03am

pickarooney wrote: »

stères (1m cubed) ...

Not necessarily - it's only 0.8m² if the wood is cut to 50cm lengths, which is one of the reasons why it's illegal: L'unité de mesure "le stère" est une unité interdite par le Décret 75-1200 du 4 décembre 1975 publié le 1er janvier 1978

But since when did the French worry about the finer points of the Law. :cool:

The auld folks around here often measure flour and other foodstuffs in livres (pounds) and the pouce (inch) is still alive and well too.

Capt'n Midnight · 20-02-2014 12:39am

Feet and inches have been metric for ages.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_yard_and_pound

In 1866 the United States legalized the use of the metric system,
..
the Mendenhall Order of 1893 reversed the definitions of 1866, defining the yard and pound in terms of the meter and kilogram
..
In 1930 the British Standards Institution adopted an inch of exactly 25.4 mm based on the 1927 light-wave definition of the meter. The American Standards Association followed suit in 1933.

BTW Survey Feet as used on maps are different again

the international foot is defined to be equal to exactly 0.3048 meters
The United States survey foot is defined as exactly 1200⁄3937 meter, approximately 0.3048006096 m.
The Indian survey foot is defined as exactly 0.3047996 m
pre-1959 foot in the UK of 0.304799 m.

MadsL · 20-02-2014 12:56am

Eeden wrote: »

It's frustrating when you look up a recipe on th'internet. You usually find an American one, where the measurements are in cups and fractions of cups. And fruit like strawberries are measured in pints. And their pint size is different from our pint size anyway. I think even our ounces are different!

1 cup is about the size of a bee sting cute boobie, 2 cups is a decent boobie, and a quart is huge boob!

MonsterCookie · 20-02-2014 8:49am

snubbleste wrote: »

Why isn't Ireland fully metric yet?

I'd say we're miles off being fully metric.

Sir Arthur Daley · 20-02-2014 1:22pm

They will have to stop selling the measuring tapes with imperial measurements on them.

Shenshen · 20-02-2014 1:32pm

Well, I suppose that since the Irish don't have a space program, it'll only really be happening once you have a plane run out of fuel half-way to its destination due to the pilots using metric and ground crews using imperial system before any real change will happen...

It must really be the bane of some people's lives, though. I remember years ago we were buying curtains, and I had all the measurements written down in cm, as you would. The husband insisted on converting them into feet and inches as well, just in case.
When we got to the shop, the poor girl there STILL had to take out the calculator, as they could order the material in inches only, not feet and inches.

Converting meters to cm would have taken seconds, but as it was we spent the better part of 15 minutes over this.

Capt'n Midnight · 21-02-2014 12:45am

Shenshen wrote: »

Well, I suppose that since the Irish don't have a space program,

actually we're a part of ESA

snubbleste · 22-03-2014 8:46pm

This MH370 search for the past fortnight..
In one news report you have a mix of kilometres, miles, nautical miles, feet & metres. Then they said the Indian Ocean's deepest point is X metres, almost as deep as Everest is tall at X feet! Confusing.

Even the BBC world service is at it. They translate Chinese provided metric data to imperial data. Why!?

Sir Arthur Daley · 22-03-2014 8:52pm

snubbleste wrote: »

They translate Chinese provided metric data to imperial data. Why!?

Because imperial units are officially used to specify certain data in alot of countries.

JustAddWater · 22-03-2014 8:53pm

MonsterCookie wrote: »

I'd say we're miles off being fully metric.

Get up the yard

snubbleste · 22-03-2014 8:55pm

WikiHow wrote: »

Because imperial units are officially used to specify certain data in alot of countries.

We already had it in 'proper' terminology, why convert it?
The plane crash is occurring in a metric 'region' of the world etc etc

Roger_007 · 22-03-2014 8:59pm

I can't fathom any of this!

Sir Arthur Daley · 22-03-2014 9:10pm

snubbleste wrote: »

We already had it in 'proper' terminology, why convert it?

Even though they broadcast worldwide you are seeing the UK broadcast version of it, British which use imperial for certain data, you would have alot of the British audience wondering why they were not relaying news using the official system, this is why its converted. You wouldnt have them news reading in French or other Foreign language for the UK audience would you?

Donkey Oaty · 22-03-2014 9:19pm

Roger_007 wrote: »

I can't fathom any of this!

You're in too deep, Roger!

MJ23 · 22-03-2014 9:30pm

Royale with cheese

Boskowski · 22-03-2014 9:33pm

ScumLord wrote: »

They still use feet and inches in the building industry, it's probably just easier to say 8ft rather than 243.84cm, or 16" instead of 40.64cm. Just about everything in the home from ceiling heights, to door widths, to the distance between the joists in your attic are in inches.

Well it is if you sell things in lengths of 243.84cm, but truly going metric would probably mean you start selling things in lengths of 2.5m instead.

snubbleste · 30-09-2014 11:30am

David Cameron Wishes Britain Would Abandon The Metric System

Asked by BBC whether children in schools should primarily be taught in grams or in pounds and ounces Cameron replied: I think I’d still go for pounds and ounces. Rather like we use miles and pints.

:eek:

Hoop66 · 30-09-2014 11:33am

It's all a load of 40.9148269 l nonsense.

irishmover · 30-09-2014 11:36am

Shenshen · 30-09-2014 11:43am

snubbleste wrote: »

David Cameron Wishes Britain Would Abandon The Metric System
:eek:

Yep, just read that... sure while he's at it, why not revert back to shillings and guineas?

And in the same interview, when asked if a pharmaceutical company should hire a British worker over a better-qualified forgein one, he says he wants to make sure the best-qualifed workers will be British.

Can't wait for the headlines of people being poisoned by a drug mixed by someone who didn't know the difference between an ounce and miligram.

mariaalice · 30-09-2014 12:09pm

I am of age where I went to school before the metric system, I do make a big effort although I am always converting in my head... the only one I cant seem to dislodge from my head is the volume of liquid I still talk and think in pints and half pints.

Paddyfield · 30-09-2014 12:28pm

My Uncle Myles doesn't take too kindly to being called Uncle Kilometer

recylingbin · 30-09-2014 12:40pm

There seems to be a 1013 bar of p*ss taking in this thread to which I'd like to add my 1.59p

SpaceTime · 30-09-2014 12:59pm

Officially speaking, other than traditional beer pints, Ireland is fully metric.

Mentally speaking, a lot of people obviously like the old ties to the empire as they're stuck on imperial.

Knasher · 30-09-2014 1:12pm

I miss the old units, it was great having one unit representing different quantities depending where you were in the world (e.g. imperial vs US gallon), and what type of object you were measuring (e.g. troy ounce vs normal ounce vs apothecaries' ounce).

Now if you will excuse me, I think I will go for a 100 chain walk. (That's either 2.01km, 1.69km or 3.05km, depending on what type of chain I'm using)

SpaceTime · 30-09-2014 1:18pm

Knasher wrote: »

I miss the old units, it was great having one unit representing different quantities depending where you were in the world (e.g. imperial vs US gallon), and what type of object you were measuring (e.g. troy ounce vs normal ounce vs apothecaries' ounce).

Quaint but totally confusing!

jack of all · 30-09-2014 2:05pm

SpaceTime wrote: »

They don't still use feet and inches in the building industry.
They only use it in the auctioneering industry for describing room sizes. Only building items that are strongly imperial are plumbing fittings.

Architects and engineers don't use awkward units because it makes doing calculations and moving things around a pain in the rear.

Using metric sizing also opens up a vast array of products to you from the continent that would otherwise not be very easily incorporated into designs.

There are some instances where imperial measurements continue to be referred to in the construction section- very often when buying timber it will be referred to in inch and feet (in addition to metric) on a yard docket, eg 44x 22mm x 2.4m PAO batten may be referred to as 2x 1" x 8'. In a similar way most sheet wood materials are sold in 8' x 4' (2.44m x 1.22m). The Irish imperial plumbing fittings are quite a unique thing- Irish 1/2" compression fitting will use a 14.7mm olive whereas the european 15mm fitting will use a 15mm olive!

SpaceTime · 30-09-2014 3:21pm

Again, all convention rather than regulation.

I'm surprised the plumbing scenario's even allowed as it's technically speaking a barrier to free movement of goods around the EU.

snubbleste · 29-12-2014 5:58pm

Fox News host Anna Kooiman interviewed former FAA spokesperson Scott Brenner about the search for the missing AirAsia flight, asking whether foreign pilots were at a disadvantage since they were trained using the metric system.
'Even when we think about temperature, it's Fahrenheit or Celsius,' Kooiman said. 'It's kilometers or miles. You know, everything about their training could be similar, but different.'
Kooiman continued to ask if the difference in measurements were to blame, and if that makes international travel riskier."'It's not just a difference in the way that we measure things? Is it not as safe in that part of the world? Because our viewers may be thinking, International travel, is it safe? Is it not safe?"

Yes she is blonde.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2889354/Fox-News-host-denounced-speculating-AsiaAir-flight-missing-foreign-pilots-use-metric-system.html

Capt'n Midnight · 31-12-2014 8:39pm

snubbleste wrote: »

Yes she is blonde

A blonde news reader on Fox :eek:
http://i.imgur.com/l75UNkV.jpg

When will Ireland be fully metric?

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