# Has England Gone 100% Metric? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 30, 2016, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-england-gone-100-metric/764456 "2016-08-30T03:06:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-england-gone-100-metric/764456/1 "2016-08-30T03:06:40Z")
I would have assumed that England went metric years ago. For example, I think Canada went metric back when the US tried…except Canada succeeded! Anyway, [this Google link](https://www.google.com/#q=is+England+metrichttp://) says England had a long-running grace period to switch from the Imperial system by 2009. But, it is not clear if they have honored this, and to what extent. What’s the SD? Cheerio, ole chaps! P.S. If the link has issues, please Google on “is England metric?” ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-england-gone-100-metric/764456/2 "2016-08-30T03:41:43Z")
The UK is largely metric, but there are still a few anomalies. Distances on roadsigns and speed limits are indicated in miles (but petrol is sold in litres); beer is sold in pints. Pretty much all other goods are priced in metric units, but if produced in the UK are often labelled in both metric and imperial units. Schoolchildren are taught in SI units, but are still taught to be “cognisant” of the principal imperial units and their approximate equivalents in SI units. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-england-gone-100-metric/764456/3 "2016-08-30T05:49:23Z")
> **[Metrication in the United Kingdom](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_the_United_Kingdom)** > > Metrication, the process of introducing the metric system of measurement in place of imperial units, has made steady progress in the United Kingdom since the mid-20th century but today remains equivocal and varies by context. Most of government, industry and commerce use metric units, but imperial units are officially used to specify journey distances, vehicle speeds and the sizes of returnable milk containers, beer and cider glasses, and fresh milk is often still sold in multiples of pints, wi... ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-england-gone-100-metric/764456/4 "2016-08-30T06:18:54Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > The UK is largely metric, but there are still a few anomalies. Distances on roadsigns and speed limits are indicated in miles (but petrol is sold in litres); beer is sold in pints. Pretty much all other goods are priced in metric units, but if produced in the UK are often labelled in both metric and imperial units. Also, some products are still sold in what would be a round imperial quantity, but labelled in metric - for example, jam typically comes in 454g jars - that’s an imperial pound. Some of this will be because printing a different label is much easier than retooling a production line, but some is also just cultural inertia - people know what a jar of jam should look and feel like. ---
**Author:** ![iljitsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/77aa72/32.png) [@iljitsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iljitsch)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-england-gone-100-metric/764456/5 "2016-08-30T09:27:20Z")
That is one bigass jar of jam. The thing that surprised me a few years ago is the road signs. I think that’s basically it. Note that in Holland the words “ounce” (ons) and “pound” (pond) are still in relatively common use after having gone metric a century ago or so, although they are now informal ways to say 100 or 500 grams. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-england-gone-100-metric/764456/6 "2016-08-30T09:38:39Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > ~ some is also just cultural inertia - people know what a jar of jam should look and feel like. One might assume that this would change over time as production lines get replaced, but the jam in my cupboard is in 340 gram jars. This is about 12 oz, so is more to do with imperial than metric and probably another example of [supermarket shrinkage.](http://www.today.com/news/supermarket-shrinkage-its-not-your-imagination-experts-say-2D79677603) All the pre-packed veg in the fridge is in metric - mostly 500 grams and things like butter, are in 250 gram blocks. Milk, however, is one of the things that was never forced to go metric, so that comes in 4 pint cartons. Beer is another product that is still sold in pints. Petrol, however, was forced to switch to litres very early on. Go to a DIY store, and everything is metric. Things that were sold in dozens are now in tens (supermarket shrinkage again). Buy a carpet and that will be priced in square metres, but with a handy conversion chart to square yards. Watch a weather forecast and temperatures will almost always be given in degrees celsius. In short - the answer to the OP’s question is a resounding partly. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-england-gone-100-metric/764456/7 "2016-08-30T09:39:27Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > The UK is largely metric, but there are still a few anomalies. Distances on roadsigns and speed limits are indicated in miles (but petrol is sold in litres); beer is sold in pints. Milk can also be sold as pints, and troy ounces are still used for precious metals. In everyday life, a persons height is still commonly given in feet and inches, and similarly weight in stones and pounds. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-england-gone-100-metric/764456/8 "2016-08-30T09:41:44Z")
Brits still get weighed in pounds and stones, too. ETA: **Baron Greenback** ’s post wasn’t there when I started. And like in Holland, in Spain _palmos_ (handspans), _libras_ (pounds, with the weight meant varying by region because so did the old units) or _arrobas_ (a weight unit used for dry goods) are still in use. My own region still uses _robadas_ in its legal system, both because a lot of plots come up to an exact amount of _robadas_ but some funky number in hectares and because a lot of old laws have been absorbed into the current legal system but not updated. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-england-gone-100-metric/764456/9 "2016-08-30T09:42:12Z")
I’ve heard that the various forms of cannabis are still sold in ounces and fractions thereof, whereas illegal substances of a more powdery nature are firmly in the metric camp. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-england-gone-100-metric/764456/10 "2016-08-30T09:55:32Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > I’ve heard that the various forms of cannabis are still sold in ounces and fractions thereof, whereas illegal substances of a more powdery nature are firmly in the metric camp. That was certainly true 10 years ago, I bet it still is. Interestingly, gross weights of cannabis have been sold in multiples of half-kilos for at least 30 years. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-england-gone-100-metric/764456/11 "2016-08-30T09:59:49Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Brits still get weighed in pounds and stones, too. Only colloquially. ie, at home I weigh myself in stones and pounds, but the machines at the gym and my doctor talk kilos. Same with height. I can’t figure out why we cling stubbornly to mileage on road signs. Perhaps the government can’t face the expense of changing every sign in the country. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-england-gone-100-metric/764456/12 "2016-08-30T10:02:48Z")
> [@iljitsch](#): > > Note that in Holland the words “ounce” (ons) and “pound” (pond) are still in relatively common use after having gone metric a century ago or so, although they are now informal ways to say 100 or 500 grams. Not just the Netherlands. You will occasionally hear (as rough and approximate measures in conversation), “once” and “pouce” in French and “Pfund” in German. 100g isn’t an ounce, BTW, it’s just short of a quarter-pound. The mixed usage in the UK means that, say, people will ask for a couple of metres of 4x2. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-england-gone-100-metric/764456/13 "2016-08-30T10:37:50Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Milk, however, is one of the things that was never forced to go metric, so that comes in 4 pint cartons. Beer is another product that is still sold in pints. In the USA, nothing was ever forced to go metric. Yet for some reason, large bottles of soda have been in liters (in various sizes, including 1, 1.5, 2, and 3 liter bottles) for several decades. By my memory, this occurred when they switched from glass bottles (which were 28 ounces, not a quart) to much-lighter plastic. But the small bottles have remained at 8 or 12 ounces, never going metric. (I’m not mentioning the 20-ounce bottles, as they are a recent development for the sugar generation.) Here’s my question: Why did the large bottles go metric, yet the small ones didn’t? And why did the large bottles stay metric even when it became obvious that the USA was not going to give up their quarts and pounds? ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-england-gone-100-metric/764456/14 "2016-08-30T14:43:14Z")
> [@iljitsch](#): > > That is one bigass jar of jam. The thing that surprised me a few years ago is the road signs. I think that’s basically it. > > Note that in Holland the words “ounce” (ons) and “pound” (pond) are still in relatively common use after having gone metric a century ago or so, although they are now informal ways to say 100 or 500 grams. Really 100 grams means an “ounce” and 1/5 of a “pound”. Was the Dutch ounce in a relation like that to the Dutch pound? A British/American ounce is 1/16 of a pound and approximately 28 grams. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-england-gone-100-metric/764456/15 "2016-08-30T15:30:32Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > One might assume that this would change over time as production lines get replaced, but the jam in my cupboard is in 340 gram jars. This is about 12 oz, so is more to do with imperial than metric and probably another example of [supermarket shrinkage.](http://www.today.com/news/supermarket-shrinkage-its-not-your-imagination-experts-say-2D79677603) I guess the real reason is there’s just no need to change anything except the legal label. Selling something that is measured in metric units doesn’t imply it has to be in a round number of those units - I imagine most manufacturers just regard this as a non-problem. If you’re starting a new product from scratch in the new system, you might very well start with a round number, but for existing products, you sort of make it fit the market anyway (as it’s easier to guarantee your product will fit in its proper place on the shelf, and will feel right in the hands of the customers). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-england-gone-100-metric/764456/16 "2016-08-30T15:32:56Z")
> [@iljitsch](#): > > That is one bigass jar of jam. It’s not so big - around about the same size as a standard can of beans. Sugar is heavy. Or maybe it _is_ a big jam jar by international standards - come to think of it, when I buy jam in Spain, it’s usually in smaller jars. ---
**Author:** ![Bones\_Daley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@Bones\_Daley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bones_Daley)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-england-gone-100-metric/764456/17 "2016-08-30T15:41:57Z")
One thing which has always bemused me, and this applies to the US as well as the UK, in fact I think it is worldwide, is that guitar string gauges are always measured in thousandths of an inch , so, for example a light gauge set goes .012" - .054" and a medium set goes .013" - .056" , yet the thickness of picks (plectrums ) is universally measured in millimeters. Strange. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-england-gone-100-metric/764456/18 "2016-08-30T17:07:41Z")
> [@Bones\_Daley](#): > > One thing which has always bemused me, and this applies to the US as well as the UK, in fact I think it is worldwide, is that guitar string gauges are always measured in thousandths of an inch , so, for example a light gauge set goes .012" - .054" and a medium set goes .013" - .056" , yet the thickness of picks (plectrums ) is universally measured in millimeters. Strange. Possibly because people don’t usually think of the size in inches - it’s a “gauge”, and I refer to the high E of a light set as “012 gauge”. We forget what it’s actually measuring, as we do with shotgun gauges - a particular gun is just a “12 gauge”. Oh, and I don’t buy picks in mm, either. I use Fender mediums. ---
**Author:** ![Bones\_Daley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@Bones\_Daley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bones_Daley)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-england-gone-100-metric/764456/19 "2016-08-30T17:51:24Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > Possibly because people don’t usually think of the size in inches - it’s a “gauge”, and I refer to the high E of a light set as “012 gauge”. We forget what it’s actually measuring, as we do with shotgun gauges - a particular gun is just a “12 gauge”. > > Oh, and I don’t buy picks in mm, either. I use Fender mediums. I am not really concerned about what the end user may or may not have in mind when buying picks and strings … the question that interests me is why the **manufacturers** (even in the US) have chosen to use fractions of a millimeter to describe their pick thicknesses and fractions of an inch to describe their string gauges. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2016, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-england-gone-100-metric/764456/20 "2016-08-30T18:20:04Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > the US tried…except Canada succeeded! Canada is the least metric of the metric countries. Most products are labelled in metric, but the quantities are clearly on the pre-metric system: butter is sold in 454g packages, for example. Everything at Home Depot is in the Imperial system, because we’re so interconnected with the US supply chain. From my experience, as rough approximations, I’d say the US is about 10% metric and Canada is about 60%, and the UK is about 80%. I’ve told this story here before, but I tried ordering half a kilo of lunchmeat in a Canadian supermarket once, and they didn’t understand until I rephrased it as “500 grams” (the pricing is per 100g.) That suggests a pretty poor understanding of the metric system. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-england-gone-100-metric/764456.md?page=2)