21-Jun-2007, 04:59 AM
It further confuses the issue when you realise that a fluid ounce in the US isn't the same as it is in the UK. We all learned (at least we engineers did) that "a pint of water weighs a pound and a quarter". Since a pint is 20 fluid ounces, then obviously an fluid ounce weighs an avoirdupois ounce (why does the UK weight system call weight "have some green peas"?).
In the US, a pint of water is 16 fl. oz. and weighs a pound. Why, then, is a UK gallon only 1.2 US gallons? If the fluid ounce was the same in both systems, it should be 1.25. When you go back to the metric system, it works out that a UK floz is 0.96 of a US floz. They must do the volume/weight conversion at a different temperature.
Isn't this crap a good reason for us all to go Metric? I remember when the UK set up a Commission to evaluate the impact of the change to Metric. Initially it was called the "Metrification Commission". Shortly after it was founded, the name was changed to the "Metrication Commission". The reason given was there was no "if" about it.
They decided that to elimintate the beer drinkers' pint would cause a civil war, so the pint was formally redfined as a fraction of a litre. They also decided that the cost of changing all the road signs to kikometers and metres would be so horrendous, they redfined miles and yards in termos of metres. There was also a drive to eliminate the use of the word "fathom" as an alternative to "working it out" as a fathom is a nautical measure equivalent to 6 feet.
There was a good skit about a bloke buying wood. He wanted 2 x 4's, and was told that they didn't have those any more, the new term was "50 x 100". He said "OK, I need 10 of them 10 feet long". Again he was told that they weren't "10 feet" but the metric equivalent in length. Exasperated, he agreed to buy them that way. He then asked the price, and the salesman pulled out a ready reckoner and said "Now then that's (whatever number of feet) at 2 and three ha'pence a foot".
Frank
In the US, a pint of water is 16 fl. oz. and weighs a pound. Why, then, is a UK gallon only 1.2 US gallons? If the fluid ounce was the same in both systems, it should be 1.25. When you go back to the metric system, it works out that a UK floz is 0.96 of a US floz. They must do the volume/weight conversion at a different temperature.
Isn't this crap a good reason for us all to go Metric? I remember when the UK set up a Commission to evaluate the impact of the change to Metric. Initially it was called the "Metrification Commission". Shortly after it was founded, the name was changed to the "Metrication Commission". The reason given was there was no "if" about it.
They decided that to elimintate the beer drinkers' pint would cause a civil war, so the pint was formally redfined as a fraction of a litre. They also decided that the cost of changing all the road signs to kikometers and metres would be so horrendous, they redfined miles and yards in termos of metres. There was also a drive to eliminate the use of the word "fathom" as an alternative to "working it out" as a fathom is a nautical measure equivalent to 6 feet.
There was a good skit about a bloke buying wood. He wanted 2 x 4's, and was told that they didn't have those any more, the new term was "50 x 100". He said "OK, I need 10 of them 10 feet long". Again he was told that they weren't "10 feet" but the metric equivalent in length. Exasperated, he agreed to buy them that way. He then asked the price, and the salesman pulled out a ready reckoner and said "Now then that's (whatever number of feet) at 2 and three ha'pence a foot".
Frank
Frank Damp (wife Eileen, nee Nixon)
Leyland resident 1941-1965, emigrated to the US in 1968,
retired to Anacortes, Washington State, USA in 1999.
Leyland resident 1941-1965, emigrated to the US in 1968,
retired to Anacortes, Washington State, USA in 1999.