On 06/21/04 18:52, GregoriusM said...
dj: I LOVE YOU! :-)
Awwww . . . shucks!
XXXXXXX
PS
My comments were only meant as an historical (hysterical) observation - it's just the way things were done. Must confess though, I was a little bemused by how it was you could compare 13th/14th century English peasants to 18th century French academics - who got it wrong, by the way
.As for the metric system itself I've no major axe to grind other than having been educated in feet and inches I find it difficult to transpose the two - tell me someone is 6' tall and I have an idea of the height; tell me someone 1.84m tall and the mind goes blank. Having said that, I happened to have started my electrical apprenticeship in 1971; the year of the great change over . . . or, perhaps, not so great since a number of things didn't, after all, actually alter. One thing that did, however, were electrical cable sizes; I only know them in metric and haven’t a clue about the old imperial sizes. But of course, this being good ‘ol Blighty we couldn’t adopt the continental metric sizes, we had to use metric equivalents of the old imperial sizes, which means we’re still out of sync. with mainland Europe anyway.
What I do find outrageous and infuriating though is the now criminalization of the use of old imperial weights and measures. For example, it is now illegal in this country to sell a pound of bananas, as
Steve Thoburn discovered. Again, it’s not a direct rebellion against the use of gs and Kgs but a desire to accede to the wishes of his elderly customers who would prefer to be served in the weights and measures that they know and understand. To deny them that right is, I feel, beyond the pale and a definite infringement of their Human Rights. Similarly, I find it mind boggling that traders caught carrying out such a heinous crime are liable to a fine of up to £5000 for each offence (plus costs) and/or a prison sentence of up to 6 months.
As a footnote, the following is a quote from last Sunday’s Telegraph (Christopher Booker’s Notebook) . . .
"The Estates Gazette, along with Knight Frank, one of the country’s leading estate agents, have given a scornful two-fingers to those who, inspired by the EU, want to force Britain to use solely metric measures. Some time back the Gazette reverted to quoting areas of office and other property space in square feet rather than metres, on the grounds that the property world does not think in metric. Now it has even left off printing metric equivalents, stating that the square metre has "gone the way of the rod, pole and perch".
Meanwhile a headline on the Brussels-based EU Observer website last week reported "Deal inches closer on Constitution". Surely they meant the deal was "millimetring" closer?"
