United to regress to imperial measures code#
United to regress to imperial measures free#

The word imperial is used throughout Weir’s book to describe Olde English units. When I’m stressed out, I revert to imperial units. This tends to drive me back toward Ye Olde English which is more specific to the US.Īndy Weir’s recent book Project Hail Mary pierced my isolated existence in my little corner of the internet, and in life when he wrote sentences like: I’ve tried to use the term pre-metric more often as it conveys the idea that metric is the endpoint, and is not unlike the word prehistoric. Pat Naughtin, who is much more measured in his approach, coined the term pre-metric. The designation is meant to be pejorative, but over the years has really lost its psychological impact, and perhaps its usefulness. I often shortened this to Olde English units.

In actual fact, Ye Olde English would be pronounced The Old English when it was written with a Y. The Y was used to replace the symbol used for a thorn, which is a th sound. For me it really showed the archaic nature of the units. Imperial units would be New English units. What we use, I’ve also dubbed them US anarchy units (USAU), as they have no rhyme nor reason, and are not a system. They are simply there to make US measures look comfortably old and familiar.

United to regress to imperial measures code#

The United States Code refers to these units as “traditional systems of weights and measures.” I have also used the term skeuomorph units as the US units were originally defined directly, but are now just artifacts that are placed on top of metric measures with no actual purpose. The set of measures in the US can in no way be called systematic or a system. It wasĪlmost a dog-whistle name for: “if you’re an American then it’s our custom, and if you don’t use this set of units you have no cultural sensitivity.” Worse, some people would call it the US Customary System. The use of the word customary was too socially charged for my taste. Others often called our set of non-systematic units USC, for US Customary. After a lot of thought, I decided that technically the imperial system is not what is used in the US, and I should not call it imperial. The imperial gallon and the US gallon are not the same. They were introduced in the 19th century and are generally called imperial. The version of English measures last used in the UK are different.

The US gallon and bushel were defined in the 10th century, and the inch in the 14th century. The units used in the US are of medieval English origin. I realized that on a pedantic level he was right.

While it is still legal to price goods in pounds and ounces, these have to be displayed alongside the price in grams and kilograms.Many years ago a particular denizen of the metric corner of the internet constantly took me to task about using the word imperial to describe the default set of units employed in the US. And since 2000 when the EU’s weights and measures directive came into force, traders have been legally required to use metric units for the sale by weight or measure of fresh produce, which became a recurring issue for Eurosceptics about Brussels’ supposed interference in British life. Since 1995, goods sold in Europe have had to display metric weights and measurements.

United to regress to imperial measures free#

The prime minister, under increasing pressure after further damaging revelations in the Partygate scandal, is expected to announce next week that British shops will be allowed to sell products in pounds and ounces to coincide with celebrations for the monarch’s 70 years on the throne.Ī Cabinet source told the Mirror: “As the British people have been happy to use both imperial and metric measurements in their daily life it is good for the government to reflect that now we are free to change our regulations accordingly.”