Done

The Metric system was introduced in the UK in 1965. When the UK joined the EU in 1973, The treaty of accession to the European Economic Community (EEC), which the United Kingdom joined in 1973, obliged the United Kingdom to incorporate into domestic law all EEC directives, including the use of a prescribed SI-based set of units for many purposes within five years. But there was nothing in there that said you should not use the word pound. If you decide that you'll use two paralel syetems (as the UK did just that) then the pound is ambiguous because it can mean .454 kilo (lb) or .5 kilo.

So it is not the EU that banned the use of the pound (lb) - that was the UK itself when they decided to join the EU in the first place and how they put that into domestic law in the period after joining. The EU rules in this area did not change since 1973.

PS I said your story was BS. I never introduced your family in to a general discussion - you did and still do. You're using the old trick of making it personal.

Are we really going to the metric v imperial weights and measures argument? I suppose this is a fairly representative argument for cooperation v isolation. The question of metric in the 18th century was one of which other country's standard to adopt (the US sided with British Imperial). By the time of President Nixon's proposal to switch to metric it was found that changing to metric would see American exports increase by $1B to $2B per year (Google: A Metric America: A Decision Whose Time Has Come, National Institute of Standards and Technology). Here's a big hint as to standardization being good for business and good for consumers ... the US has a Division of Weights and Measures that is part of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. But clinging on to the imperial system and rejecting SI (the international standard) leaves the US with Myanmar (which is planning to change to metric) and Liberia. But I suppose this also fits with rejection of science.

done

TM, as someone who grew up with both metric and imperial, I count myself fortunate to l

know both systems.

Must stop hitting the return key!

There I go again!

Mr O is right, we chose to do so by signing up to the EU. Note the word chose! We voted to join, just as the Brits have voted to come out of the EU system. If they're smart they'll look closely at Norways solution.

It was always a problem with only the Brits and Septics using Imperial. Caused a lot of issues particularly in having to double up on components. The car manufacturers for example make parts all over the world for assembly in different countries. Makes sense in a global economy to have one SI system. Pretty easy to adapt to metric. It's really very simple. The only reason they haven't changed to kilometres is the cost to change millions of signs. And the complexity of doing so in one go. Sweden I recall changed from driving on one side of the road to the other. But they are much smarter and safer than the rest of us.

Here in Aus, we drive on the left side of the road and all other measurements are in metric.

Come to think of it, in the US you are metric in your currency - 100 cents to the dollar, so you never know, one day you may too realise the benefits of joining the rest of the world and going metric except for miles like the Brits.

Start

ding

EZPZ, 9.

done

done