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The metric system was brought in by Napoleon to cock a snook at the British, The'll be re-naming Waterloo to something more PC as well I bet. The mile is a very British thing long may it live just another nail in a difference fostered for a 1000 years.
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IIRC the mile was originally metric, from the Romans 'mille', so was a thousand something or others.
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IIRC the mile was originally metric, from the Romans 'mille', so was a thousand something or others.
Paces. Pretty long stride actually, 1.76 yards... perhaps it was a running pace?
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Paces. Pretty long stride actually, 1.76 yards... perhaps it was a running pace?
On reflection it's more likely that the Roman mile was more like a kilometre anyway, a marching stride being more like a metre than nearly two...
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"IIRC the mile was originally metric, from the Romans 'mille', so
was a thousand something or others."
Paces. Pretty long stride actually, 1.76 yards... perhaps it was a running pace?
No, it was a double pace - i.e.you only count the right foot ...
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The mile is/was a thousand double marching paces - very sensible.
You are allowed to use the left foot if you really must.............
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As i understand it Napoleon did not like metrification either.
The Mile goes right back to the Romans and has worked well since then.
What will happen to our old road signs,the ones with the district hoop at the top?.
What about all the speedos with MPH in large numbers and KPH in small, will we have to peer at this from then on.
Stuff Kinnock,i suppose whilst on the Euro gravy train he has to justify his pay,and his wife's and his families, now and then with some inane comment.
We will never be the same as we drive on the left and they drive on the right and no one in their right mind would ever try to change this.
Vive La differance.
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It might work, they could move all the '50' signs and put them in towns!
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"Kinnock's put his weight behind it." Kiss of death in other words.
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Call me a cynic if you like, but I reckon Kinnock wants something off our Tony before Tony throws the towel in. Hence he is taking every opportunity he gets to stir things.
FWIW i think it would be madness to try and change our roadsigns etc. I am perfectly happy with our current hodgepodge, and actually enjoy explaining it to my 10 yo son. Mind you, he glazes over when I try to explain the benefits of the 12" LP record...
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I can well remember the look of pain in my father's eye when, after asking me to measure the distance across the eyes of a leaf spring, and I responded in millimetres!
While I wouldn't dream* of using anything other than metres, kilogrammes and seconds in engineering calculations, I'm glad that we still use our imperial units.
Quite a few engineering calcs that look quite straightforward in MKS units need to have odd factors applied to make them work properly in imperial - all voodoo to me I'm afraid.
Number_Cruncher
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Spent a day with a toolmaker in a Plessey factory in Swindon in the fifties. Great privilege. He did everything in imperial, used a micrometer sparingly and after running the work under a huge but finely-adjustable grinder could feel a thou difference with what looked to me like a pretty horny thumb. No need for coarse measurrements like millimetres.
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PU - The mile is a very British thing?!? Come now m'learned friend, it was used all across Europe, not just Britain, for far longer than the kilometre has been. In fact, surely a true patriot would be glad to finally reject this symbol of (ahem) European aggression - how on earth did those namby-pamby ancestors choose to allow "European" upstarts to bring the mile in, not even twenty centuries ago. Harrumph, etc.
Generally, I am by turns amused and exasperated by the fact that, for a people whose ethnicity is primarily a mix of German and French (Angles, Saxons and Normans), there seems to be an awful lot of hostility towards the extended family. Reminds me rather strongly of Hyacinth Bucket.
In seriousness, I think there are much more serious concerns around the erosion of democracy and freedom to worry about than the harmonisation of measurements - for example, HJ's thread about satellite tracking was a more pressing issue. It's a pity people choose instead to get worked up about such red herrings as metric measurements, and I say this as one who never got used to kilometres even after living on the Continent for over two years.
PS - Avant, ROFLMAO, brilliant! Only thing is, God allegedly gave us ten fingers and ten toes for counting on ...
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andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmm, doughnuts ...
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What I meant was that it was very British thing to retain it against the flow of a fedral Europe !
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Ah, that's a bit different - well, slightly different anyway!
I'm very tempted right now to explore the issue a little further re the concept of (proudly characteristic? crudely stereotypical?) British resistance to a potentially federal Europe, in contrast to the apparent warmth towards an actually federal USA, or debate resistance for sake of resistance vs retention of national character, etc, but unfortunately we'd be going way off topic, and it's too close to my bedtime!
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andymc
Vroom, vroom - mmm, doughnuts ...
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Read Churchill's Hostory of the English Speaking Peoples. It goes a long way to explain our eccentricities not least of which is the fact that we apparantly drive on the incorrect side of the road (pulling it back onto topic), that is incorrect side for a right handed person. I am a happy left handed person for which I-drive holds no mystery as its totally logical for use by the dominant hand !
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we happen to drive on the correct side of the road .As the romans did,passing your enemy on horseback on His right,with your sword in your right hand.
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Ah, that's a bit different - well, slightly different anyway! I'm very tempted right now to explore the issue a little further re the concept of (proudly characteristic? crudely stereotypical?) British resistance to a potentially federal Europe, in contrast to the apparent warmth towards an actually federal USA, or debate resistance for sake of resistance vs retention of national character, etc, but unfortunately we'd be going way off topic, and it's too close to my bedtime!
>>
I thought politics wasn't allowed, but anyway, nothing whatsoever wrong with federal Europe if it can be made to work and stay together for 10 minutes or so, it's just that kilometres and other measurements favoured by our ethnic brethren (meaning our ethnic brethren the Europeans, not genuinely foreign people) aren't necessary really.
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"In seriousness, I think there are much more serious concerns around the erosion of democracy and freedom to worry about than the harmonisation of measurements"
And something I worry about is the idea of spending a vast amount of money on something that I truly believe (not for some Little Englander reason) would bring us exactly zero practical benefits.
If you disagree, please name one benefit.
Please note that I am not arguing for non-metrication. I am arguing against changing road signs, speed limits, etc to metric measurements, which is the point of this thread.
V
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