[USMA:31344] Re: Metric in the U.K.

[David King]

I remember seeing an episode of the Simpsons (the cartoon series) when 
they went to the UK for a visit, and Homer got locked in the Tower of 
London. He wanted to get out, and prayed to God for release, and 
promised he would use the metric system if God released him, implying 
that he was promising to be like the British (taking into account the 
other things he said to, which I forget now) because the British are 
fully metric. Well, he was almost right.

David King
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Ezra Steinberg wrote:
I think it's probably true that most Americans don't understand how metric
the UK now is (despite the persisting muddle), let alone how much more
metric Australia is (or even the extent to which Canada is metric despite
the large presence of Imperial there, too).
My hunch is that most of the perception that American's have of the UK is
through television, particularly through British shows broadcast here in the
States. Unfortunately, it seems that British producers (including the BBC)
go out of their way to use Imperial on the shows broadcast in the USA,
whereas the same show broadcast in the UK might actually have used much more
metric if show to the home audience. In this way the extent to which the UK
has metricated continues to be masked by the British accomodation (or
American muscle -- or both) that slaps a veneer of Imperial on the UK
television products distributed over here.
Bloody shame, if you ask me ... :-(
Ezra
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "J. Ward" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, October 24, 2004 2:22 PM
Subject: [USMA:31342] Re: Metric in the U.K.

 

Hi David,
Your comments point out the humor in the following argument some friends
made in a recent conversation: "England doesn't use the metric system,
so why should we?"  I don't think they believed me when I explained that
on the contrary, measurement in the U.K. is predominantly metric!
J.