Very true, John Unfortunately (IMO), the anti-metric activists have a very, very good PR mechanism & a few influential supporters. They also have some really idiotic supporters though - who are always good for a laugh! It's always easier to make an argument for "let's keep the status quo" than to make an argument for change. It doesn't help that the anti-metrication activists play fast & loose with the truth and that the press publish their lies without checking. Untrue headlines like "Criminal record for selling a pound of bananas" & "EU back down -bananas can be sold by the pound again!" just show how anti-metric activists are willing to twist the truth to peddle their supposedly "pro-choice" agenda. However, a little work & references to real life tend to expose the tissue of half-truths peddled by extreme anti-metricists like Stephen. My kitchen probably has a few more dual marked items than yours, but it is still overwhelmingly full of products marked in metric only.
--- On Fri, 10/4/09, John Frewen-Lord <[email protected]> wrote: From: John Frewen-Lord <[email protected]> Subject: [USMA:44507] Re: metric Britain To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Date: Friday, 10 April, 2009, 12:34 PM #yiv111480920 DIV { MARGIN:0px;} At the risk of flogging a dead horse, the attached scans confirm that Britain is far more metric than people like Stephen Humphreys like to make out. One of the scans shows a recipe that is on a small packing slip/newsletter that comes with a weekly organic veggie box my other half has on order from a local farm, Woodlands Farm (this really is local, not national or even county-wide). The recipe is metric. This from a farmer in Lincolnshire, a very conservative (and Conservative) part of the country. [For US readers, Conservatives are similar to Republicans, i.e. right wing as opposed to left wing Labour, equivalent to Democrats.] The other scans are from an installation booklet that came with a new electric shower I recently bought. Apart from a single reference to an inlet pipe diameter, it is ENTIRELY metric. I believe that, as I've said before, it is politicians aided and abetted by, for whatever reason, a hostile UK press, who are trying to prevent Britain from becoming fully metric. I believe the average person is quite comfortable with metric - how else to explain, for example, the recipe I've attached? There was no legal compulsion for it to be printed in metric - yet Woodland Farm obviously felt that was what their customers wanted. Have a good Easter everybody - I'm off now for my 400 km drive to my cousins's flat in Bournemouth. Cheers John F-L ----- Original Message ----- From: Jeremiah MacGregor To: U.S. Metric Association Sent: Friday, April 10, 2009 5:44 AM Subject: [USMA:44499] Re: metric Britain You are deliberately trying to obfuscate the issue. The man simply did an inventory of his kitchen cupboards and refrigerator to get a sample of how British industry marks their packages. He proved that the vast majority are metric only. Thus in all honest from his inventory we can say British industry is NOT imperial friendly. Where measurement is important, such as in engineering and manufacturing, again metric is dominant if not the only system used. In this environment there is no imperial and definitely no dual.. In buying a ladder, there is no measurement. You buy it by description. In making a ladder there is measurement and those units are metric (millimetres). Stephen, everyone knows you use minute and insignificant details in order to present a far different picture then reality. You really need to wake up and get real. Your fantasy version of the use of imperial is very opposite that of the real world. Have you ever done an inventory like John did? Or is your cupboard and refrigerator bare due to your personal boycott of anything metric? Jerry From: Stephen Humphreys <[email protected]> To: [email protected]; U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, April 6, 2009 3:05:52 PM Subject: RE: [USMA:44421] Re: metric Britain #yiv111480920 .hmmessage P {margin:0px;padding:0px;}#yiv111480920 {font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana;} In all honesty - you could approach this at an imperial-friendly or metric-friendly (or dual-friendly) argument to prove a point. I'd suggest that there's prob more metric than imperial however with things regarding items where measurement is important you'll usually get imperial or dual. I had to buy a ladder most recently -you can probably guess the length shown and the human weight it cold withstand - Thus for that shopping experience it was excusively 'dual'. I'm not sure why you reacted so bizzarely to this "Jerry" - most people know how it is. Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2009 19:14:09 -0700 From: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:44421] Re: metric Britain To: [email protected] #yiv111480920 .ExternalClass DIV {} John, Shame on you for showing us that imperial is virtually dead in the UK. Stephen wanted everyone here to believe that imperial is everywhere. I sure would like to see what is in Stephen's cupboards and fridge. If a person refuses to buy anything metric then I would expect his fridge to contain only milk and his cupboards to contain chalk, pear and apple spread, Specialty coffee for cafetierres and some Belgian Waffles (not shown). Jerry From: John Frewen-Lord <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, April 5, 2009 1:39:24 PM Subject: [USMA:44400] metric Britain Regarding the recent discussions on dual marking/labelling in respect of the UK, I just thought I'd do a quick check on various items I have in my house. I have listed a total of 57 items (no connection to Mr Heinz!), these I feel being somewhat representative of our shopping and DIY activities. This is far, far from exhaustive (we obviously have far too much stuff in our house!). Some items are national name brands (e.g. Branston, makers of pickle and other garnishes), and are shown in single quotes. Tesco, Asda (owned by Wal-Mart), Morrisons, Somerfield and Waitrose are UK supermarket chains, Tesco being the biggest. I couldn't find any Sainsburys items, another supermarket chain, so I guess we don't shop there much! B&Q, Wickes and Homebase are DIY chains. I found just four items that had imperial marking as well as metric - and for only one of them was the quantity a rational imperial quantity (but shown as metric first). However, this is an item we have had in our fridge for a long time, and it is quite likely to have since been repackaged in a rational metric size. The interesting thing is that I really had to hunt for ANYTHING that had an imperial marking - everything IS metric. That said, some of the metric sizes are a bit odd (740 mL, 340 g, etc). But still metric, no imperial shown. I have shown the quantity labelling EXACTLY as it appears on the packaging, errors and all. If you like metric (and we obviously all do, with the exception of Stephen Humphreys), then enjoy!! John F-L -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Garage/workshop B&Q 'Zorbo' halogen light fixture - base 50 cm long, projection 70 cm long Wickes quick drying varnish - 1 Litre B&Q bevelled edge mirror - 600 mm x 600 mm (24" x 24" approx.) 4mm thick 3.6kg weight Wickes marking chalk - 50g/1.75oz Homebase pine cladding - 94mm x 9mm, Length = 2.4metre B&Q Plastic angle - 2400 x 12 x 12 B&Q Chamferred architrave [wood door trim in US-speak] - 15mm x 45mm x 2.1M [that is an upper case M] Wickes pine Scotia moulding - 15 x 15 x 2400 Wickes silicone sealant - 310 ml B&Q foam/rubber draft excluder - 15mm x 5.1m Halfords windscreen [windshield in US-speak] washer antifreeze concentrate - 2 Litres (makes up to 5 Litres of washer fluid) Food and kitchen Specialty coffee for cafetierres, package of 8 boxes, each box - 75g/2.65oz Morrisons pre-packed bacon - 250 g 'Natures Best' cod liver oil - 300ml 'Pure' non-dairy soya spread - 500g 'Whole Foods' pear & apple spread - 227g/8oz 'Bay Tree' Christmas marmalade - 340g Morrisons pre-wrapped individually priced broccoli - 0.370 kg [and priced at 192p/kg] Morrisons pre-packaged mozzarella cheese - 200g Evian bottled water - 1l [cursive l] Tesco bottled water - 5 Litres Quaker instant porridge oats - 1 kg Tesco grapefruit juice - 1 Litre 'Veggie Wash' fruit and vegetable wash - 500ml Tesco frozen peas - 1 kg 'Julian Graves' rice crackers - 250g Somerfield custard powder - 300 g 'Amoy' soy sauce - 250ml 'Young's' 5 Coley Fillets (frozen) - 500 g 'Branston' canned spaghetti Bolognese - 410 g 'Lindt' Dark Chocolate - 100 g Tesco kitchen foil - 10 metres, 30cm wide approx. Waitrose syrup - 740ml 'Birds Eye' petis pois - 750g Cleaners/laundry 'Flash' cleaning spray - 500 ml 'Fairy' washing up liquid - 500ml Tesco dishwasher powder - 3 kg Tesco fabric conditioner - 1 Litre 'Finish' dishwasher salt - 2 kg Asda dishwasher rinse aid - 250 ml Boots [national chemist/drugstore chain] sterilising liquid - 600 ml Somerfield bathroom spray cleaner - 500 ml 'Domestos' spray cleaner - 500ml 'Delta' carper cleaner refill - 500ml 'Ecover' ecological laundry detergent - 1,5 L 'Vanish' laundry spray treatment - 500ml Asda toilet cleanser - 500ml 'Shower Shine' shower cleaner - Big 1 Litre Value for the price of 750ml Bathroom Tesco shaving foam - 250 ml RightGuard stick deodorant - 50 g 'Nivea' face wash - 30 ml L'Oreal shampoo/conditioner - 250ml 'Imperial Leather' 4-pack bar soap - 4 x 125g 'Wella' hair toner - 14ml 'Boots' SPF15 suntan lotion - 200 ml 'Nivea' spray deodorant - 92g/150ml Tesco herbal shampoo - 750ml Windows Live Messenger just got better. 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