please empty your brain below
Despite having learnt imperial measures at school and being on the wrong side of 60, I now find it odd to see weights quoted in stones and pounds. Without checking I wouldn't have a clue what my weight is in stones. Feet and inches OK, I can switch between the two easily enough but I prefer the metric equivalent.

Tim | 05.06.20 - 7:30 a.m. | #

Despite having grown up with metric system at school and since, there are some measurements that I still find more 'natural' in imperial units: a person's height (feet and inches) and weight (stones and pounds - not just pounds, and I've no idea what I weigh in kg). Long distances I think of in miles (and speed in mph), but other than that I'm metric for almost everything else.

Alan S | 05.06.20 - 8:39 a.m. | #

I spent time in the US so calculate weight in straight pounds. However, whether stones, pounds or kilograms, I am obese. :(

Matt | 05.06.20 - 9:09 a.m. | #

I am not overweight, I am just under height, I knew I really should have been 6 foot 4 rather than the 6 foot I am.

Barry | 05.06.20 - 9:17 a.m. | #

One strange, ex-pat observation.

I grew up in Canada, which was notionally metric at the time of my birth. But, as per usual, these things take a long time to bed in. So I was probably more comfortable measuring body size in ft/in and lbs for much of my early life. Eventually being fairly fluent in both sets of measurement.

On moving to the UK and running into "Stone", my mind rebelled and moved entirely into metric mode. Like if I can't have it in US-style lbs only then I'm not even going to bother.I think it's the double conversion factor - I have to convert kg to lbs first and then divide by 14 to figure out stone and I just can't be arsed to do *two* bits of maths just to satisfy someone who's unwilling to speak metric.

I still find miles over km mildly distressing, because it's probably the most visible remnant of the Old Ways if you drive. Back home, miles to km was probably the first metric measurement that really took hold because we could be bothered to change the signs. People were still measured in ft/in and lbs for years - no, decades - after everyone spoke in km.

People my age are still fairly bilingual, but anyone under 35 or so doesn't really get the Old Ways, bar understanding Fahrenheit when on holiday in the States. (thank christ we don't have that here!) Sorry for the lengthy off-topicness. Your post just made me think of all that.

Chz | 05.06.20 - 9:58 a.m. | #

I only understand (human) height in feet and inches and I only understand (human) weight in kg :( So to get anywhere with either of these tables I need to open up one of those conversion sites. When it comes to cooking I'm pretty much fluent in US/imperial/metric. There's no rhyme or reason to it all, just what my brain has absorbed over the years. Like the weather - these days Celsius works best for me as I only understand Fahrenheit from 70 degrees upwards. Basically, I'm most fluent in metric except for human height - any other kind of height and I'm back to metric.

anon | 05.06.20 - 10:42 a.m. | #

Another one who learnt both at school, and even taught metric for a while, but living in America for nearly 2 decades knocked it all out of me!
I am more or less bi-lingual in length but haven't a clue about metric weights. I can work in pounds or stones, though pounds come more naturally to me now.
Wouldn't know a metric speed limit if I was run over by one!

Back on topic though, the bottom end o the healthy range feels most normal for me - it's where I feel most comfortable in my skin and is what I was as a teenager.
Generally I hover in the middle of the healthy range, but Christmas usually pushes me to to the top of it!

Cornish Cockney | 05.06.20 - 11:01 a.m. | #

I learned metric at school exclusively, but at a time when England was still largely measured in imperial units (in many ways, it still is) so I am a bit screwed up. If I need accuracy, I'll use metric. I think of long distances in miles, but short distances in metres (or cm or mm), except for heights in feet and inches, and informal distances ("about an inch"). I think of weights in kg, but can imagine a pound (about half a kilo) of sugar. And volumes in litres, but can imagine a pint (about half a litre) of milk or beer.

Andrew | 05.06.20 - 11:57 a.m. | #

I think it's quite nice that we can use both systems colloquially. After all Imperial Measurements are part of this country's "cultural" heritage

Mikey C | 05.06.20 - 12:30 p.m. | #

Bring back rods, poles and perches I say, not to mention pecks and bushels - sheer poetry :-)

Cau1khead | 06.06.20 - 11:52 a.m. | #

I have no problem with using miles for distance and mph for speed in the UK, then switching to km and km/h in Australia. But I couldn't instinctively tell you how far places in the UK are apart in km, or distances in Australia in miles without pausing to work it out.

Converting between feet and cm for height is easy as multiplying/dividing by 2.5 is equivalent to multiplying/dividing by 4 then adjusting the decimal places, and the 12 times table (for inches) was drilled into me.

John | 06.06.20 - 1:46 p.m. | #











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