I remember going into a sawmill several years ago and asked for some lengths of 2 x 2
 
I was told, "we're metric now - you'll have to convert it"
 
So I said ok, can I please have 8 metres of 50mm x 50mm
 
The response was - "oh no, only the cross section is sold in metric, the length is still in Imperial." 
 
So I went home with 25 feet of 50mm x 50mm
 
True story.

SteveStrummerUK
 
 



 
Best offy sales I ever experienced was when I was working in a Davenports boozer. Do you remember the old 'Beer at home means Davenports' adverts?
 
 

 
Of course, and without Googling...
 
''Beer at home means Davenports
That's the beer, lots of cheer
The finest brew with hops and yeast
Turns a snack into a feast''
 
Do I get a Sad Old Git Badge?
 

Bristol_Jonesey
The response was - "oh no, only the cross section is sold in metric, the length is still in Imperial." 

Carpet shops sell carpet by the square metre, fair enough. I measure my room in metres and give the dimensions to the salesman to calculate how many square metres I need (I already know the answer but you have to humour them.)
This guy is at least 20 years younger than me. He converts my measurments to yards, calculates the number of square yards, then converts back to metres - I kid you not!
 

Strummy,
 
I am trying to figure out from your original post whether you prefer metric or whatever you call what we do over here.
 
Cheers,
 
Bert
 

 
Pretty cool, why we should do 'everyday' maths in base 12:
 
 

SteveStrummerUK
 
Pretty cool, why we should do 'everyday' maths in base 12:
 
 

 
He agrees with base 12!

ston
Science! -> metric
Weight (froot 'n' veg) -> imperial (lbs & ozs)
Height (people) -> feet and inches
Height (buildings, giraffes) -> feet or yards
Speed (cars, Usain Bolt) -> mph
Area (e.g. internal, flooring etc.) -> sq. feet
Area (e.g. fields, counties) -> acres, sq. miles
Weight (whales, elephants, your mum) -> tons (imperial)
Weight (people) -> stones 'n' pounds
Weight (hashish, grass) -> ozs and fractions thereof
Volumes (any) -> metric (cubic cm, metres, kilometres)
Mars Climate Orbiter -> mixture of metric and imperial -> roflcrash!

My Mum is offended! 

I much prefer craft English Pale Ales, because I reckon the standard of vodka in Russia has declined since I was never there, ever.

craigb
Do you like Old Speckled Hen James?

I do, and also Old Crafty Hen which is a darker ale, about 6.5%, lovely drop.

 
 
@Craig, if you come across any of these, I can personally and heartily recommend a glass or two:

• Badgers Tanglefoot (so called by the brewer who created this delectable ale when subsequently discovering its adverse effects on his ability to walk in a straight line!)
• Adnams Broadside (full of flavour dark ale)
• Wells Waggle Dance Honey Beer (extremely quaffable)
• Green King Abbot Ale (very smooth)
• Wychwood Hobgoblin Ale (as James would say, "very noice")
• Shepherd Neame Bishops Finger (goes well with Stinking Bishop cheese ........ probably)
• Shepherd Neame Spitfire Ale ("The 'Bottle' Of Britain")
• Timothy Taylor's Landlord Strong Pale Ale - (good 'session' beer)
• Sharps Doom Bar - (named after a Cornish sand bank)
• Marston's Pedigree Pale Ale (a delicious variation on their famous draught Pedigree beer)

 
 

 

jamesg1213

SteveStrummerUK
 

• Sharps Doom Bar - (named after a Cornish sand bank)

 
 

 
That's my current favourite, lovely stuff. Have to wait until I can get to Morrisons in Stranraer (25 miles away) for it though.

Our local Morrisons has a great selection of decent bottled ales mate. They put Sainsbury and Tesco to shame on that front.

Yeah but, the US customary system has one set of units for fluids and another set for dry goods. The imperial system has only one set defined independently of, and subdivided differently from, its US counterparts.
 
The Winchester measure was made obsolete in the British Empire but remains in use in the US. The American colonists adopted a system based on the 231-cubic-inch wine gallon for all fluid purposes. This became the US fluid gallon.
 
Note that one avoirdupois ounce of water has an approximate volume of one imperial fluid ounce at 62 °F (16.67 °C). This convenient fluid-ounce-to-avoirdupois-ounce relation does not exist in the US system. So whilst the imperial gallon, quart, pint and gill are about 20% larger than their US fluid measure counterparts, the fluid ounce is about 4% smaller.
 
Many Canadian brewers package beer in 12-imperial-fluid-ounce bottles, which are 341 mL each. American brewers package their beer in 12-US-fluid-ounce bottle, which are 355 mL each. This results in the Canadian bottles being labelled as 11.5 fl oz in US units when imported into the United States. Because Canadian beer bottles predate the adoption of the Metric System in that country, they are still sold and labelled in Canada as 341 mL. Canned beer in Canada is sold and labelled in 355 mL cans, and when exported to the US are labelled as 12 fl oz.
 
then there's Celsius, centigrade and Fahrenheit. And don't even get me started on the English language. Even our meters... metres? are different....
 
just sayin'.

soens
Yeah but, the US customary system has one set of units for fluids and another set for dry goods. The imperial system has only one set defined independently of, and subdivided differently from, its US counterparts.
 
The Winchester measure was made obsolete in the British Empire but remains in use in the US. The American colonists adopted a system based on the 231-cubic-inch wine gallon for all fluid purposes. This became the US fluid gallon.
 
Note that one avoirdupois ounce of water has an approximate volume of one imperial fluid ounce at 62 °F (16.67 °C). This convenient fluid-ounce-to-avoirdupois-ounce relation does not exist in the US system. So whilst the imperial gallon, quart, pint and gill are about 20% larger than their US fluid measure counterparts, the fluid ounce is about 4% smaller.
 
Many Canadian brewers package beer in 12-imperial-fluid-ounce bottles, which are 341 mL each. American brewers package their beer in 12-US-fluid-ounce bottle, which are 355 mL each. This results in the Canadian bottles being labelled as 11.5 fl oz in US units when imported into the United States. Because Canadian beer bottles predate the adoption of the Metric System in that country, they are still sold and labelled in Canada as 341 mL. Canned beer in Canada is sold and labelled in 355 mL cans, and when exported to the US are labelled as 12 fl oz.
 
then there's Celsius, centigrade and Fahrenheit. And don't even get me started on the English language. Even our meters... metres? are different....
 
just sayin'.

Interdasting!
 
Personally when I buy barley pops I go for 500ml "tallboy" cans of Bavarian Purity Law type stuff (surprisingly cheaper than domestics and sooooo much better). These pour quite nicely and pretty much to the top of a standard pint glass (or at least I think they are proper "pint" glasses... my collection were given to me by bar owner buddies and I only have a few).
 
Now though a lot of these "tall boys" are being shipped out as 440ml and another slightly larger measure that escapes me right now. I'm guessing to save on fuel costs (just like all our foodstuffs packaging getting smaller but still costing around the same... SCAM).
 
Of course these "Import" cans have a whole slew of wacky liquid volume measurements printed on them.
 
lulz... hoomans can't agree on nuffin'.

jamesg1213

soens
 
And don't even get me started on the English language. Even our meters... metres? are different....
 
just sayin'.

 
UK English retains some spellings that originate in French. US English doesn't. We both know what each other means.
 
Most of the time.

What did he say?