I don't think the UK is as un-metric as you try to lead us to believe. I
know from the conversations here and from other people's experiences that
there is enough of a metric environment in the UK that makes it difficult to
ignore metric, even if one tries too..
I wish the UK posters here would answer my question from a previous posting
as to the day to day exposures people have with metric and how it is
handled. Maybe you have located a radio station that uses English units,
but what about the ones that don't? What do the people who listen to them
do when they here reports in metric? What about the people who read metric
information in the newspaper? Do they translate it? Do they ignore it? Do
they understand it as it is?
What does the average person who buys gasoline by the litre do? Do they
carry a calculator to convert their purchase to gallons? What about the
shops where loose goods are weighed in your presence and the point of sale
is in kilograms? What about a DIY store where measured goods, like wire or
rope, are sold by the metre? Do they ask for lengths in feet? Then how do
they know what they are getting unless they know the metre equivalent? If
someone asked for 30 feet of electrical cord and the clerk measured out 12
m, would the customer know whether he/she got what he/she asked for?
Maybe nobody on the street understands metric. Then all the better for the
shops. Maybe they like it that way. What better way to increase sales then
on people's ignorance. No wonder stores like Tesco make huge profits. They
feed off of the public's ignorance. If there is a mess in the UK, don't
expect it to be fixed. If the mess benefits business at the customer's
expense then the mess is desirable.
I would agree with your assessment of 1908 Victorian Britain and the
Olympics, except for the fact that other events were in metres and not
yards. Even the Victorians had to follow the Olympic rules. The marathon
wasn't a set distance until 1921 so the Olympic committee most likely gave
the host country some leverage. Can anyone explain why the Victorians
didn't insist that the Olympic events not be done in rounded yards instead
of rounded metres?
What is 9 stone in kilograms?
Dan
Yet the London Olympic Marathon was run in 1908 and according other
posters here and Wikipedia was set at 42.195 km. No mention of 26 miles
(41.843 km) is made as the intended original distance before it was
lengthened to pass the Queen's box. So we can't assume 26 miles was the
originally intended distance.
Considering how 'unmetric' the UK is in 2005 exactly how metric do you
think the UK was in 1908?
The idea that in Victorian Britain, at the height of the British Empire,
the UK was more more metric than it is today in respect of marathons (and
in fact that the UK was metric at all) is - to be honest - laughable. I
don't mean that offensively, but think about it for a moment.
I'm sure the biggest problems of the runners are dehydration, sore body
parts from the intense pounding on the pavement and jabs from runners
closeby pushing their way past.
Actually it has something to do with the digestive system shutting down
and why its best to be running in front of someone rather than behind
them. Hopefully you can fraw from that what I am talking about.
It ain't pretty!
I wonder how many litres (kilograms) of water one loses during a race.
Does anyone know?
Personally I don't - but I know that my wife is trying to get to 9 stone
before her next marathon.
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