Dan wrote: > 1) The proper name is English units. It has nothing to do with the present > practices of England, the country; that's where they originated from, so > that's what they're called. They're not "Roman" units (how ridiculous), > because the Romans didn't have "inches". This is just like how the English > language is called "English", even though the way it's spoken in places > like the USA and India is very, very different from the way it's spoken in > England presently.
In the UK, the units Dan is talking about are properly known as 'Imperial' units... While nearly all countries have some customary units, in most cases (including, I understand the US) these are related by local law to the internationally agreed SI units. I'm quite fond of my (Imperial) pint (568ml) and some of my Swedish friends still think informally in term of 'thumbs' (1 thumb ~ 25mm) and Swedish miles: ~10km IIRC. Incidentally, the Romans did have inches. Known as 'unica' in Latin, they equated quite closely to the 'imperial' inch at about 24.5mm. What _is_ different about the US is that quite a lot of engineering is still done in customary units which have become obsolescent in the rest of the world. Best wishes Chris Bartram in Wales/ yn Nghymru - not in England!
