U.K. considering abandoning metric system | Hacker News Reader

U.K. considering abandoning metric system

wsj.com

20 pointsbookofjoe26 comments

> In June it announced a consultation into whether to return to ancient imperial measurement units rather than the metric system imposed for trade after it joined the EU.

The current government has been in a bit of trouble recently and this was a distraction trying to deflect media attention.

UK should definitely abandon anything that smacks of modernity. If peasants are busy figuring out how many "pence" are in a "shilling" they won't notice that their feudal lords are pillaging them.

This is simply a way of confusing the shit out of people even further in the middle of an inflation crisis while leveraging "the old ways are better" bollocks.

Also Derek Norman is a criminal and should be locked up.

Shouldnt believe everything you read. This isnt going to happen. They're just going to stop making it an offence to advertise in imperial.

You’ve got a lot of stones to make this claim. I can’t fathom this furlong, though I’m admittedly a pennyweight.

I loved your comment, you've been hiding your light under a bushel.

They're going to get pounded if they try this though, they'll be up to their gills in lawsuits. They're chained to metric whether they like it or not, once you're in league with the EU, they'll slug you, and beat you with rods until you're within an inch of your life if you try to break those links.

And I won't have an ounce of sympathy.

I agree with you, but only in cubits and suborned pinky-toelengths. It’s how we can tell whether or not one is a witch, or rather a member of parliament. This is scientific stuff, here.

> It’s how we can tell whether or not one is a witch, or rather a member of parliament.

You can tell by the nose.

A common fallacy, no harm no foul!

It’s actually whether or not they weigh the same as a duck. I can recommend a few documentaries by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, and Joe Rogan.

I'm going to see a man about a dog.

From the makers of 'Back to the Future', the new Tory party blockbuster: 'Forward to the Past'.

My car gets 2200 km per hogshead, and that the way we likes it!

I read that in Cletus' accent.

nay! Kilometers are the devious invention of the godless French who killed their king! That should be 53,412 9/32 fathoms per hogshead.

Will the also move form the decimal money system? Then again, once the inflation properly hits the numbers beyond decimal point don't really matter...

The inch, yard, mile etc have been defined in terms of metric standards since the 1950s:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_yard_and_pound

It's sad to see a nation that used to be a driving force in international industry turn its back on international standards.

I'm confused and surprised that people in the UK still use "stone" for their bodyweight.

Not as surprised as I they still measure the height of horses in hands. Feet, sure, I can see that since horses have four of them but hands, really?

What't wrong with hands ? I bet there are more people with hands than people with feets.

Hopefully this initiative will pass away with Boris Johnson's government.

Just totally irrelevant, managed decline. Unfortunately English people appear to lap this kind of thing up in droves

Hold on a second - I'm English and I definitely don't lap this kind of thing up at all.

checks rest of population

Oh, ok. You might have a point there.

This is the dumbest idea ever.

The clock is going backwards.

Actually it is going widdershins.

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