I fully understand that this is very easy for you to say - but I also think it's a disservice to the decent posters here who look to events in other countries in relation to their own goal.
You may - for whatever reason you wish - want to put across that the UK is some form of metric paradise where groups like the UKMA need not exist and where there are never any arguments against metric but you are simply misleading people. You will know that when you woke up this morning - at some point you will have heard the word Fahrenheit if you have had the TV on, the radio on, or read the news somewhere. You will know that when you go to a major supermarket you are free to ask for loose stuff in lb and oz and converse that way with the seller - you will also know pre-packed examples of dual usage (not the inch pizzas - I'm thinking more of the pints of milk that I have yet to hear someone call a mulitple of 568ml). You will have dirven a car with GPS or used a portable version reminding you to 'turn left after 400 yards' and not batted an eyelid. In the same way as you will have seen mph only dials on new car models. You will know what mpg your car does and you will not know the metric equivelent. You will know that people near you know their height to the nearest inch and weight to the nearest pound. You will know all these things whilst mindfull of how the average Brit speaks. Yet you still feed a US based bullshitter with the trollery he needs to continue his very odd existance. Why do you do this, Stephen? From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:48127] RE: Wrong time to quote temperatures Date: Fri, 9 Jul 2010 14:20:38 +0100 "Pretty much as predicted, really". ...And, unfortunately for you, the vast majority of it absolute fact! Try harder, Steve! ----- Original Message ----- From: Stephen Humphreys To: U.S. Metric Association Sent: Friday, July 09, 2010 2:04 PM Subject: [USMA:48125] RE: Wrong time to quote temperatures Pretty much as predicted, really. Date: Fri, 9 Jul 2010 05:53:04 -0700 From: [email protected] Subject: Re: [USMA:48121] Wrong time to quote temperatures To: [email protected]; [email protected] Out of millions of products found on supermarket shelves, I'm sure you may find one or two that carry a supplemental unit to a metric value. But one would have to spend countless boring hours going up and down store shelves to find that elusive product with a supplemental declaration that would even IF it were there would not be in an amount a person would be satisfied seeing. It will be rounded metric with an un-rounded imperial. Most people are not going to waste their time worrying about some elusive supplemental unit when they can't be consistently found. Yet you make it sound like every product on the shelve carries a supplemental unit. I'm sure the majority of shoppers have long ago given up on relying on supplemental indicators that don't exist if they ever did. I sure would like to know who designated you spokesperson for everything everyone else thinks, does or says. If I were to guess, I would say you gave yourself the honour. I just checked the weather report for London via these links. I can find no Fahrenheit on the page. I see temperatures in the low '30s reported. These are links to British web sites. I have also found American weather sites that offer a choice between C and F but that is not the same thing as the UK weather services using F instead of C. http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast/8 http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/uk_forecast_temp.html http://www.xcweather.co.uk/GB/observations http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/weather/maps/forecastmaps?LANG=en&UP=0&R=0&MORE=0&DAY=0&MAPS=over&CONT=ukuk&LAND=___&TOFD=tag http://www.netweather.tv/ Here are some news articles with no mention of F: http://www.build.co.uk/national_news.asp?newsid=114048 http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/07/09/alert-over-sweltering-night-heat-115875-22399713/ http://www.chemistanddruggist.co.uk/c/portal/layout?p_l_id=259751&CMPI_SHARED_articleId=4198449&CMPI_SHARED_ImageArticleId=4198449&CMPI_SHARED_articleIdRelated=4198449&CMPI_SHARED_ToolsArticleId=4198449&CMPI_SHARED_CommentArticleId=4198449&articleTitle=Weekend%20heat%20wave%20brings%20health%20warning http://topnews.net.nz/content/26050-mercury-may-soar-past-all-records-east-anglia http://tvnz.co.nz/world-news/heatwave-alert-issued-south-east-england-3636385 Here is one article that adds Fahrenheit for the first two temperatures and nothing for the rest: http://www.staffordshirenewsletter.co.uk/News/Heat-health-alert-amid-hot-weather-50684.xnf?FeedSourceID=11&FeedImageID=13223&BodyFormat=1 The point is you are claiming that this practice of speaking Fahrenheit and not mentioning Celsius is present everywhere. Yet I can't find any proof of such a claim. Maybe you can provide a link to a media report where only Fahrenheit was used instead of Celsius. If what you say is true the proof should be overwhelming not obscure. Stooping to calling me by another name is an admission on your part that you are wrong and are throwing a tantrum because I have exposed your illusions. Why can't you simply just PROVE what you state instead of diverting away from the truth with name calling? Is this acceptable on this forum? Have I insulted you or called you names? So why must you do it to me? Where are your manners? From: Stephen Humphreys <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Fri, July 9, 2010 6:02:48 AM Subject: [USMA:48121] Wrong time to quote temperatures Needless to say the usual nonsense is back here referring to all things UK (eg 'no supplementary imperial on UK goods' - 'roads partly metricated' - that sort of thing) but the other recent suggestion is temperature. I'm fully aware (being from here) how much 'C' is used in reports etc but this weekend temperatures are going to soar - and the media have done the usual predictable thing - quoting that we will hit 'temperatures in the 90's' (I was awoken to this exclamation from the Radio this morning - BBC Radio London). I still find it an interesting quirk that we Brits do that 'switch' whenever the temps get hot. You'd never hear "Well temps will be plunging to 32 degrees" and mean Fahrenheit - however when the sun has it's hat on, something stirs in us! :-) Could that *ever* happen in the USA? Say if the met office there decided to push the C-scale a bit more (bear in mind that we still use mph for wind speed - so it really is a mix) I - for one - will be enjoying it - Celsius or Fahrenheit! I suppose it's up to Schweisthall now to show a internet link to some hairdresser saying the word 'celsius'! ;-) Get a new e-mail account with Hotmail - Free. Sign-up now. 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