But, as metric is the official measurement system of the UK (since 1965), "UK measures" would actually be a more accurate description of the metric system as used in the UK today, with the addition of miles and pints which are still legally allowed to be used in certain situations.
But, I don't understand why the Americans call their imperial-type units "English". They don't use the same units as the British imperial units which have been used historically by the English, they use their own Americanised version, which we could perhaps call "American units", although the USA has never officially had those units, but has had both those and metric since early days. Unfortunately they wanted to be different and came up with units that no one else in the world uses (in terms of measurement, although the names may be the same), but eventually had to accept the international definitions of the redefined inch and mile. Eventually they may even drop those altogether in favour of metric, if the public can be properly educated in that. Various US govts over time have been able to use propaganda to get people to believe whatever they wanted them to believe, they could do the same with getting people to accept metric. It just takes the will to do it, but too many leaders are afraid to bring it about.
David King
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Stephen Humphreys wrote:
I was under the impression that Americans simply call it "Customary" or "English". Personally I don't like the term "English" as 1) English is a language, and 2) What would you call it in Wales?!?
Over here (I'm from the UK) its either "imperial" or simply "UK measures". I think the older generation favour "imperial" and the younger generation "UK measures". It's not uncommon to hear "what's that in UK measures?". On the other hand, just the unit can be used to express the usage - like "what's that in miles". In this case reference to the type of unit gets lost altogether and you get the odd situation of people not even knowing if something is metric or imperial!
