Take the metric/imperial argument out of the equation and I'm sure you'll
at least get close to seeing what I mean. If there were no such thing as
imperial then fair enough it would be a way to protect the consumer - but
seeing as imperial has been used (and continues to) before, as well as,
and despite metric then these rules appear to ban words rather than
protect customers.
It can happen on both sides. I refer to the previous example I quoted of
the protesting butcher who refuses to serve in metric. The man also has a
sign up in his shop saying "English spoken here". Who is doing the
censoring?
My post was intended to take the imperial/metric debate out of the argument
- just for one moment - to identify with my uneasy feelings over the whole
thing.
However, let me make my view perfectly clear - when it comes to the
butcher's shop or the green grocer I believe that both systems should be
used with no preference to either on offer. The preference should be left
entirely with the customer.
In this type of situation imperial can either "evolve out" or remain intact
due to customer demand.
I really don't think that prosecutions, convictions and offences are a valid
way of promoting or encouraging anything. Many people, under those
circumstances, become stubborn and are even willing to "fight the system" in
an almost natural reaction.
What I can't get my head around is why some people get a metric scale and
some people don't get a metric scale.
What's wrong with dual scales once the current one "wears out"? That way
everyone is happy except the "banning brigade" - which I have come to learn
is quite a minority (on either side).
