Tom,

Thanks for the update. This is, indeed, good news. (I also didn't realize
the Irish were so progressive when it comes to smoking regulations, too,
Bravo!)

While speed limits signs are FAR more important, I'm curious about what the
department will do about those pesky remaining distance signs in miles
(since I'm assuming these signs do NOT have explicit unit indications and
can therefore confuse folks who assume that they refer to kilometers rather
than miles). Any way to find out? Does the department even know for sure how
many there are and where they are?

Finally, I'm copying a reply I got this morning from Mike Joy about what he
has observed regarding metric and Imperial usage among the youth in
Australia (where he used to live) and New Zealand (his new home).

Cheers,
Ezra

--------------------------

Yes, in both Australia and New Zealand children use both imperial and
metric measures with the important difference being that they don't know
how to use the imperial system, nor do they want to learn it. They are
basically metric school kids but use imperial terms colloquially such as
what they hear in speech from older people or from American movies. So a
6 foot man, or a 10 gallon hat, or a 10 acre farm are just figures of
speech. For an accurate measure they have to use metric because imperial
rulers, etc. are not generally available.

So it's two different types of talking that are used, and kids like to
show off by being "American", so the sooner America goes metric the
better off our kids will be.

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