I understand that the real Hitchens found out the fake Hichens address and went and had a word with him.
Well that was what was reported in PE.

No, the reason for this is the price of petrol fluctuates rapidly, and that a litre of petrol (and a gallon!) usually is a fraction of a penny so it would be meaningless to buy in terms of litres (or gallons!) unless you're filling a container to full.



This to me is the main argument for the imperial system, and it is entirely romantic. There's no scientific logic involved there but it's a very strong, rational and reasonable argument to make for its keeping. The metric system is not inconvenient though, its main purpose is how all measurements are in sync with each other. However he's right in that they don't really relate to anything in the real world - they were designed in a laboratory.

Also, you know he's totally stuck in the past when he calls the two pound coin "new".

But any measurement system is going to be pretty arbitrary, isn't it? There's hardly any difference between a yard and a metre, so how is a yard more 'natural' or 'real world'? What in the real world is more suited to the pint rather than the litre or half litre? When I buy milk, I always pick up the two pint bottle. If a litre bottle replaced this I would pick up that instead. I wouldn't go for the 0.5 litre (approx 1 pint), so maybe a litre is more 'real world' than a pint. Or maybe (and more likely) it's all to do with cultural convention: And Hitchen's point (his only point across the totality of his work, as far as I can tell) is that he doesn't like cultural conventions to change. The poor love.

As I understand it imperial measurements are defined from something solid that exists in the real world. Interestingly my foot is exactly 1 foot long so I guess the person who invented the length had the same size foot as me. A yard is more or less the distance from the shoulder to the tip of the finger (I think). Back in the old days measurements weren't designed to be exact but easy to reference. Weight units began at the weight of a grain of rice and went from there. They all have some basis in the real world. Metric units, unless I'm mistaken, don't.

Though really, I'm sympathetic and ambivalent to both sides of the argument.

The imperial system isn't bad if you're just getting a pint of something, but relating all the units together like inches and yard and miles and shit is a nightmare because it depends on memory, and nowadays imperial measurements aren't used enough for young people to be able to remember them properly.

I'm sympathetic with people who still want to buy milk and beer and pints and travel at miles per hour, but outside of that I'd be quite happy for the imperial system to fuck off.

Adrian, you find me in agreement here - I like pints and miles, but every other imperial measurement can just be gone. The metric system is far easier to use for calculations as it uses 10 as a base: 100 centimetres to a metre, 1000 metres to a kilometre, etc. Imperial measurement calculation requires a good memory, and if you aren't employing these sorts of memories often, you will forget in a trice. Lookee here: 12 inches to a foot, 3 feet to a yard, 1796 (!) yards to a mile. Stupid.

Related comment: Before decimalisation of currency in 1971, kiddies had nightmares about getting the correct change when they bought sweeties. 12 pennies to a shilling, 20 shillings to a pound, er, however many pounds to a guinea, etc. This proves the point about using 10 as a base.

Anyone who loves imperial measurements because of their appeal to the olde worlde should realise that they are not as traditional as they first may seem - they were standardised in a piece of legislation during the nineteenth century. This was probably introduced to prevent mass confusion.

Confession: when I go to my local greengrocer's and butcher's I ask for things in pounds rather than grammes. I do what my parents tell me. Duuuurrrrrrr.

1760.

If someone say "7 and a half feet", I know that's about 225cm (probably a bit more). If someone says 3litres, I know that's about 5 and a half pints. Is it so bad to know both systems? Doesn't bother me, but then I don't use everything as an excuse to have a go at the EU.


(also, please don't correct my conversions if they're wrong. I was on a roll)

Anyway, what's this about nobody buying petrol in litres? I almost always put 20 litres in. I never buy it by price rather than volume, since paying by plastic makes that pointless.

Doesn't that pretty much sum up the imperial system.

Fuck it, lets bring back traditional measurement (and I speak as an engineer). 'About that much' and hold out arms.

Why on Earth did I say that there were 1796 yards to a mile? In any case, 1760 is still a ker-razy figure. Thanks for the correction!

The only thing (other than pimts of milk) that is measured using Imperial is cock size, as in "I'm telling you, he got outa the shower and he was wearing a good ol 9 incher"

2286mm sounds quite impressive too, though

Maybe, but it doesn't roll off the tongue quite the same.
Of cause I forgot the bloody obvious, beer.