Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest

Do you use metric or Imperial for weight

  • 11-11-2006 9:00pm
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 991 ✭✭✭


    Just wondering when measuring weight what units do you use. For myself having done engineering in college I'm almost fully converted to using Metric (grammes and Kilo's) and I've lost track of Imperial (pounds and ounces). My gf keeps telling me she has to loose so many pounds and to annoy her I ask what's that in kilo's to get a blank expression.:D

    A few years ago I walked into a supermarket and asked for 400grammes of mince meat. The girl behind the counter got totally confused and asked what's that in pounds I replied dunno but the scales reads in grammes when the display says 400 that's how much I want. I turned away for a few seconds, when I turned back and read the scale display it was now reading 4grammes poor girl was well confused. I was in a different supermarket with my brother another time and I said to him watch this person get confused and I did the same thing and they too got confused. It's doesn't happen anymore now

    I'm not doing it intensionally it's just I find the metric system so much easier to use.


Comments

  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,110 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tar.Aldarion


    Imperial, but of course.
    Both for cooking.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15,117 ✭✭✭✭MrJoeSoap


    The only thing I ever really weigh is myself, which I do in stones.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,578 ✭✭✭Scraggs


    Metric ftw. I don't even understand the imperial system which drives my parents mad.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,027 ✭✭✭alleepally


    Metric for weight. still can't do km's though.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,620 ✭✭✭Roen


    Metric for weight, although I was reared in the imperial age.


  • Advertisement
  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,498 ✭✭✭iFight


    Imperial for weight, metric for the rest.


  • Posts: 16,720 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    Metric for most things. Weight in Stones mainly because the old weighting scales in my parents house had it in stones! Pounds for meat, and I think that's all the imperial I use (bar the occasional mile...)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 12,801 ✭✭✭✭Kojak


    I always use imperical weights for when I want to know my own weight (i.e. stones and pounds). I only use Kg's and grammes when I have engineering work to do.

    Also on the subject of Imperical Vs. Metric: How many people use Km's instead of miles. I always use miles (much easier to understand) even though we are all supposed to gauge distances in KM's :rolleyes:


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,598 ✭✭✭ferdi


    Scraggs wrote:
    Metric ftw. I don't even understand the imperial system which drives my parents mad.
    yeah my mother too, she'd be going on about "mix in a half bushel of flour and a quintal of baking powder..." wtf like?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,484 ✭✭✭✭Stephen


    Metric all the way. Imperial weights and measures are old hat that Brits and Americans can't let go. I haven't a clue what a lot of imperial measurements are. Bushels, furlongs, leagues, roods, hogsheads... right, whatever you're into yourself.

    I'm fully used to KM's now after spending a few weeks driving in europe with no miles at all on the clock. :)


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,219 ✭✭✭Redrocket


    * 2 cups all-purpose flour, stirred or sifted before measuring
    * 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
    * 1/2 teaspoon salt
    * 1 egg, slightly beaten
    * 1 1/2 cups milk
    * 2 tablespoons melted butter

    for cooking, it does seem a little handier than measuring out in grams :)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,038 ✭✭✭✭Wishbone Ash


    I'm fairly good - I know my weight in metric, imperial, and in 'pounds' as they prefer it in the US. Can't really see why it is a problem for some??


  • Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 16,287 Mod ✭✭✭✭quickbeam


    My own weight in stone and pounds, though I can get by in kilos. Every other weight is metric.

    Distances and temperatures all metric too.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 398 ✭✭Hydroquinone


    stevenk wrote:
    * 2 cups all-purpose flour, stirred or sifted before measuring
    * 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
    * 1/2 teaspoon salt
    * 1 egg, slightly beaten
    * 1 1/2 cups milk
    * 2 tablespoons melted butter

    for cooking, it does seem a little handier than measuring out in grams :)

    That's not imperial, though; cups are what Americans use to measure things for baking. Imperial would be ounces and pounds.

    As for me, I can do pretty well in either. I know my height in feet and inches or metres, and my weight in stones or kilos. No problems with miles or kM.
    Shame beer doesn't come in litres, though! :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,800 ✭✭✭county


    imperial i would use for weight,in fact i would use imperial for most things


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 88,972 ✭✭✭✭mike65


    I'm mixed - I think in MPG but never pints of anything! A house can have 1300 square feet of space and I'm happy but the same in cubic metres has me looking confused.

    Mike.


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 60,110 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tar.Aldarion


    county wrote:
    imperial i would use for weight,in fact i would use imperial for most things
    Ah yeah, apart from your Metric death march.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,819 ✭✭✭✭peasant


    Having grown up using metric, my mind only works metric.

    However, since I moved here I've come to grasp with miles, acres and half acres, mpg (sort of) and mph (only to lose them again:D ) and PINTS

    But stones, ounces, fluid ounces, degrees Farenheit and most of all fractions of inches ...you're welcome to them ...not for me ...

    An anectode:

    Irish girlfriend visited the continental abode and while in the bathroom I heard her rummaging for the weighing scales and stepping on it. So when she emerged, I asked her" so, what do you weigh?" and she answered:

    "Haven't a clue, the bloody thing is all in Kilometers!"

    :D:D:D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 950 ✭✭✭Feral Mutant


    The metric system is the tool of the devil. My car gets forty rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it.

    I use metrics for pretty much everything, except heights. I prefer to use metres but it's easier for me to visualise feet. As for speeds and large distances (km and miles), I'm useless at estimating or visualising those in any system. I usually end up using metres per second, the only reason being I can picture a few metres and then something moving that far in a second.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 416 ✭✭oRlyYaRly


    I use imperial for the weight of people and height of people and metric for everything else.


  • Advertisement
  • Moderators, Regional North West Moderators Posts: 19,158 Mod ✭✭✭✭byte
    byte


    I would usually use both.

    I'd use metric for measuring small stuff, and weighing some things. Though if I'm buying meats, I'd usually use imperial measurements and for distance (though I'm getting used to km now too).


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 145 ✭✭Fraggle Rocks


    I'd use both, even though i was reared in the metric age. I dunno how may cms tall I am, or how many kilos.


  • Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,661 Mod ✭✭✭✭Faith


    I use imperial for my weight, and usually for baking. I'm slowly coming to grips with the metric system, though. I learnt to drive in kilometres, so that's no problem. I could tell you my weight in kilos, and when I'm in Edinburgh and have no kitchen weighing scales, I bake in metric too.

    I know a lot of Americans, so I can roughly change Celsius into Fahrenheit, if necessary.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,618 ✭✭✭Civilian_Target


    Either or - did physics, living in the UK and have lived on the continent.
    I'm 6'5" (193cm), 82kg (12.5 stone) and I think a half pound of mince is about 240g, there's just over 2 pounds in a kilo.

    Fahrenheit, however, makes no sense to me.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,800 ✭✭✭county


    Either or - did physics, living in the UK and have lived on the continent.
    I'm 6'5" (193cm), 82kg (12.5 stone) and I think a half pound of mince is about 240g, there's just over 2 pounds in a kilo.

    Fahrenheit, however, makes no sense to me.
    freak;)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,894 ✭✭✭✭phantom_lord


    metric for weight. Imperial for distance.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 20,759 ✭✭✭✭dlofnep


    Stone for normal stuff. Kilos for competition weight. For distance, miles. Height feet and inches.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,808 ✭✭✭Badly Drunk Boy


    Metric. But I usually know the imperial equivalent.

    (Imperial is for losers. Americans.)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 81,220 ✭✭✭✭biko


    Metric for everything except height and weight.


  • Advertisement
  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,178 ✭✭✭kevmy


    Either or - did physics, living in the UK and have lived on the continent.
    I'm 6'5" (193cm), 82kg (12.5 stone) and I think a half pound of mince is about 240g, there's just over 2 pounds in a kilo.

    Fahrenheit, however, makes no sense to me.

    I also did (doing) physics so I not only know how to use both (since nasty American text books use imperial) I know almost all conversion factors.
    1 pound = 454 grammes (think of a pot of jam)
    1 inch = 2.514 cms
    1 kilometre = 5/8 mile
    Farenheit = (C/5 * 9) + 32 (it doesn't really make any sense take abritary point and start there)

    Most things I instinctively do in metric. But my own weight and height I would do in metric thanks to parents and doctors measuring my in imperial as I grew up grrrr. But as I said I can easily convert.


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 24,144 Mod ✭✭✭✭robinph


    Height and weight of people in imperial, but everything else in metric.
    Temperatures in metric.
    Speeds and long distances in imperial, but short distances in metric.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,178 ✭✭✭kevmy


    The metric system is the tool of the devil. My car gets forty rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it.

    Come on Grampa Simpson the metric system is the wave of the future.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,141 ✭✭✭Yakuza


    I use either, and can convert easily enough back and forth between the two in the old noggin. Metric only for knob length, though. :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,082 ✭✭✭Tobias Greeshman


    Normally metric for everything but weight and height (although if pushed I'd say I could give you a rough estimate of both in metric in my head).

    Slowly getting used to dealing in kilometres


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 27,252 ✭✭✭✭stovelid


    These days when weighing myself, I use whatever looks smaller :D
    endplate wrote:
    Just wondering when measuring weight what units do you use. For myself having done engineering in college I'm almost fully converted to using Metric (grammes and Kilo's) and I've lost track of Imperial (pounds and ounces). My gf keeps telling me she has to loose so many pounds and to annoy her I ask what's that in kilo's to get a blank expression.:D

    A few years ago I walked into a supermarket and asked for 400grammes of mince meat. The girl behind the counter got totally confused and asked what's that in pounds I replied dunno but the scales reads in grammes when the display says 400 that's how much I want. I turned away for a few seconds, when I turned back and read the scale display it was now reading 4grammes poor girl was well confused. I was in a different supermarket with my brother another time and I said to him watch this person get confused and I did the same thing and they too got confused. It's doesn't happen anymore now

    I'm not doing it intensionally it's just I find the metric system so much easier to use.


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,061 ✭✭✭✭Terry




  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,178 ✭✭✭kevmy


    julep wrote:
    Woohoo I got most of them right out of my head:)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 6,395 ✭✭✭Marksie


    I use both metric and imperial.
    I have difficulty with farenheit conversion is :)..so i go for centrigade.. is it?? times by 9/5ths plus 32?

    but dont ask what gas mark 6 is!!!


Advertisement