I'm sure I read somewhere that, in some US states, there were proper Km road signs. I am sure I've seen pictures of them. Is this correct?
Do they still exist today? There were signs on a local country road near where I live that read 1/2Km that dated from (at the very least) the late 1970s. In 1975, it was expected that the UK would become almost fully metric, and I believe these signs were a sort of test bed for this. Of course, the usual suspects kicked up a fuss about this, so full metrication was never realised here. Did something similar to this happen over in the US? ----- Original Message ----- From: Carleton MacDonald To: U.S. Metric Association Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2010 4:11 AM Subject: [USMA:48222] Re: attitudes In 2002 my old 1988 Saab 900 died on Autoroute* 15 in Quebec, about a third of the way between Brossard and St-Bernard-de-Lacolle on the US border. (We were heading home and it becomes Interstate 87 once south of the big dotted line.) The engine blew. Knowing I'd be calling for help, and knowing I'd have to indicate (in French) where we were, I managed to coast to a stop right next to a small green vertical sign that said "km 26". This was on top of a railroad overpass and the road was straight and from there I could see the km 27 post. *UK: motorway, US: freeway Carleton From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Stephen Humphreys Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 17:45 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:48206] Re: attitudes Martin - I have always believed you regarding those little signs. I have never doubted you - because I knew anyway. There was never a need to 'try'. My point is - there is no 'm', no 'km' and nothing other than a number on them- there is nothing there to hint at the measurement units used. They are not there for general consumption (I think everyone knows this) but used as a way of locating you in an emergency. I understand you might use them for whatever reason but please ask 50 people what they say about these little signs - see what sort of response there is. You don't have to get concerned with my opinion of you , btw, because you have always been very good arguer, reasonable and realistic when you debate. It's a pleasure to read your posts. Although I would love for you to admit the significance of those signs you talk about ;-) Here's a scary thought - I've been in the same debate as you (going back the defunct bwma board together) for OVER A DECADE! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:48203] Re: attitudes Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2010 22:07:17 +0100 Steve H ought to already knows this - I have been trying to educate him about that matter on other boards for many years. Since I first drew it to his attention, the Government have erected driver location signs. I am sure that he knows what they are, if he doesn't, he can always go to the Wikipedia article which will guide him through authoritative references. Most of the motorway article concerning English motorways have the Driver Location Signs at each junction cataloged - one of the anomalies is the M4 where only the English part has driver location signs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Stephen Davis Sent: 09 July 2010 19:28 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:48142] Re: attitudes Steve: There are kilometre signs on all British motorway's -not opinion, fact. 99.9 per cent of pre-packaged goods are in hard metric-not opinion, fact. All loose goods in supermarkets are weighed in metric at the checkout, not opinion - fact. There are dual measurement signs on British roads, particularly for bridge heights, not opinion, fact. Wines and spirits are sold in metric measures in bars in the UK - not opinion, fact. Like it or not, almost everything voiced by Anthony and myself is 100 per cent fact. "What is being 'tried on' here is submitting a minutae of very feeble 'less than side issues' against something so obvious it more or less punches you in the face and revealing this pedantry as the sum of the argument being put across." I'm showing you facts you continually try to deny. Any one of them can be easily looked up. It's like me saying "David Cameron is the Prime Minister" and you continually saying "no he's not!" in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary But, as I've said before, you know this full well. But I suspect you'll carry on trolling! ----- Original Message ----- From: Stephen Humphreys To: [email protected] ; [email protected] Sent: Friday, July 09, 2010 3:02 PM Subject: RE: [USMA:48126] Re: attitudes It's a fact that not all road signs in the UK are in English. Better put out that roadsigns are multilingual then. Stephen - you must realise that the whole subject here is very opinionated. The debate would not exist otherwise. What is being 'tried on' here is submitting a minutae of very feeble 'less than side issues' against something so obvious it more or less punches you in the face and revealing this pedantry as the sum of the argument being put across. I had to fill my tyres with air the other day - the machine would ONLY give me PSI. Thus do I rush here to claim that the entire tyre making industry and the economy surrounding it is purely imperial? What I saw was fact - the gauge only said PSI - therefore there is no room for any more opinion. Correct? (By the way - using those emergency sticks just to try to put out that there's this metric manna on our roads - that's scraping the barrel a teeny bit isn't it?) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:48126] Re: attitudes Date: Fri, 9 Jul 2010 14:14:20 +0100 Except that, those things I mentioned happen to be facts, not opinions. Which you well know. ----- Original Message ----- From: Stephen Humphreys To: U.S. Metric Association Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2010 10:28 PM Subject: [USMA:48113] Re: attitudes I think I will survive you saying that you have a different opinion to me, steve ;-) (Now where's that cigar....) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:48108] Re: attitudes Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 19:31:57 +0100 "Other than the obvious road signs and pint glasses in pubs, I see no other major uses of non-metric in the UK (the pint glass issue is somewhat a minor issue). Being a pro-metric person who wants total metrication you may see this as the UK not being as fully metric as you would like it." "Even road signs are not entirely non-metric in the UK. There are signs along highways that show kilometre distances that are ignored by the anti-metric fringe." "Products in the supermarkets are sold in metric only sizes and even the scales used to weigh your asked for goods are metric only. If you ask for an old amount you get a metric amount." Erm...all of the above happens to be entirely true, NOT bunkum as you suggest. Nice try, but no cigar! You continually try to suggest most of the time that the above is not entirely true....I'm happy to put you right. PS And yes....you did say ALMOST total bunkum, though, as ever, you never state which parts actually are bunkum...strange that! ----- Original Message ----- From: Stephen Humphreys To: U.S. Metric Association Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2010 4:20 PM Subject: [USMA:48096] Re: attitudes Hopefully most on the list will remember all this as (almost) total bunkum from previous attempts. The anti-US spin is just the cherry on the cake. For clearer realistic responses and final outcomes please refer to the previous times that this consolidated effort below have been raised and put to bed. These can be found via searching on the USMA list archives via the web front end rather than the distribution list. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 07:29:56 -0700 From: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:48095] Re: attitudes To: [email protected] America has always thought of itself as being holier than thou. When you have a superiority complex it makes you look inferior all of a sudden if you adopt the practices of those you have always looked down upon. Now that America is no longer superior it is still hard to break the habit and belief. It would seem Americans would prefer to be dirt poor and unemployed than to adopt the ways of the "French". Other than the obvious road signs and pint glasses in pubs, I see no other major uses of non-metric in the UK (the pint glass issue is somewhat a minor issue). Being a pro-metric person who wants total metrication you may see this as the UK not being as fully metric as you would like it. An anti-metric person would harp continuously on these two instances to claim the UK is not metric at all and ignore the 90+ % that is metric. Even road signs are not entirely non-metric in the UK. There are signs along highways that show kilometre distances that are ignored by the anti-metric fringe. There are signs that show metres but are marked off as yards (denied by the anti-metric fringe). And soon there will be height signs, possibly width signs too, that will show metres (in addition to out-dated units), something the anti-metric fringe is opposing. Even in pubs you can purchase products other than beer in metric amounts, such as wine and hard licquor. Products in the supermarkets are sold in metric only sizes and even the scales used to weigh your asked for goods are metric only. If you ask for an old amount you get a metric amount. You purchase petrol by the litre and hear weather reports in metric. Remnant uses of old unit names exist in every country and may continue to do so for a long time. You should at least be grateful that the UK is not in the same position as the US. I highly doubt the US will ever regain its pre-eminence even if it does metricate. No empire that has ever collapsed has ever returned to greatness. All have become insignificant and poor. Look at Iran (Persia), Iraq (Babylon), Egypt, Greece, Rome and the UK. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ From: John Frewen-Lord <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Thu, July 8, 2010 9:52:52 AM Subject: [USMA:48093] attitudes Does America not adopt the metric system out of sheer bloody-mindedness? On the BP oil spill, this article I find very telling (mostly imperial unfortunately). The UK is not much better, at least at governmental level. The day America changes its attitude to the rest of the world (of which SI is a fundamental part) is the day that the US will regain its pre-eminence, not until. http://www.financialpost.com/Avertible+catastrophe/3203808/story.html#ixzz0sGacwW4e John F-L ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Get a new e-mail account with Hotmail - Free. Sign-up now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Get a free e-mail account with Hotmail. Sign-up now. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Get a free e-mail account with Hotmail. Sign-up now. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Get a new e-mail account with Hotmail - Free. Sign-up now.
