I may be about to show my utter ignorance here but I don’t care. I am quite happy for people to think I am stupid in certain contexts. Anyway…
Is it true that the English (or ‘imperial’) system of measurement is more commonly used in the USA than it is in England?
I [an englishman] was brought up to understand the metric system (with one exception - I prefer to think in miles than kilometres) and I do, far more than the imperial system. I find it difficult to understand imperial measurements, and only know my height in feet (6’1) because I had to. I understand it in centimetres (185cm)
I ask because if it is true then it is interesting for it’s irony.
The imperial system is definitely much more common in the US. Nearly everything is measured using imperial measures. However, some of these measures are different: for example the gallon and the pint are smaller in the US.
I was forced to learn the Metric system in 6th grade. It confused me. But damn, the math was easy! In profesionalism the metric system is used, but in everyday usage? Forget it. we Americans are either too lazy to truly convert or we are the last bastion of National individuality (you figgure it out)
Granted, we sell soda by the two liter bottle, but that’s about it on a daily basis, most soda is either a 12 oz can or a 20 oz. bottle.Beer here at a pub is bought either by the bottle, can, or mug. The mug varies in size according to the bar.
A U.S. pint is 16 liquid ounces, that is two cups.
2 pints are a U.S. quart
4 quarts is a U.S. gallon.
A solid ounce is different than a liquid ounce. One American pound is 16 soild ounces.(for selling some items this is broken into quarts as well.)
The U.K. Teaspoon and Tablespoon vary as well. As do the degrees on ovens. we Americans still have the Farenheit (SP?) Where most baked goods go in at around 350* Lemme tell ya it’s a riot tring to convert in cooking.(Is that gasmark 2? no! wait… Oh bloody hell… Where’s the meat thermometer?)
The Imperial system Britain once used is, for volume measurements, quite a bit larger than the U.S. One Imperial gallon is approx. 4.5 liters, whereas one U.S. “English” (yup, that’s what we call it) gallon is approx 3.8 liters.
So in a bar, an Imperial pint is about 20 U.S. ounces.
I think volume is the only difference between the two systems. Linear, mass, temperature measurements were the same.
The British pint is 20 fluid ounces, so our pint is larger. However, the US fluid ounce is bigger than ours so the ratio is not 20/16. A British pint is 0.568 litres, a US one is 0.473 litres.
I think your perception of weights and measures and their units depends on your age as much as your nationality. I think of my height in feet and inches, my weight in stone and pounds (note not just pounds Americans!), the temperature in Fahrenheit, distance in miles etc., but I also find the mental flip to metric/SI units easy to do, partly because of my technical education and partly because I was amongst the first generation of kids taught metric as an everyday system rather than a recondite scientific system.
To answer the OP, overall I believe the Imperial measures are more common in America than here. But America visitors seem surprised by our hybrid system, having built themselves up to expect a fully metric system as used in most European countries.
Yeah, you get beers in those teensy tooth-mugs, don’t you. Makes me feel like an alco, since I’ve seen “two beers” as an indication of a “binge drinker” in the US - and those beers aren’t even half a pint of beer, and even if they were, those pints would be smaller than ours. Sheesh, when I ‘go out for one’ I rarely leave without having had 3 pints, and that’s a quiet night!
South Africa is now fully metric - with some odd little quirks, such as cooldrink (soda) cans (and beer cans/bottles for the most part) being sold with volumes of 340ml.
The US pint has 16 fluid oz, just as a pound has 16 oz. An Imperial pint has 20 fluid oz. IIRC that is the only difference between the two systems. The differences in larger measures of volume are a consequence of this.
Britain has a mix of Imperial and metric, caused by the fact that the conversion has been half-hearted and drip-fed through in the face of opposition. By educating children in the last 30 years only in SI, various Governments (for pretty feeble reasons) have created the environment to force through metrication with weak opposition. It is now illegal to sell in non-metric measures (except pints of beer), even when both parties are happy with the units of measure and of account. Ho hum…
Oh I can never remember if a troy ounce is heavier than an avoirdupois one, Paul!
I started school in 1973 when the metric system was beginning to supplant Imperial in classes, and I think of warm temperatures in Fahrenheit (“It must be about eighty today” - note, this is a rare occurence where I live!), and colder ones in Centrigade, particularly if the temperature is near freezing. An admittedly small survey of colleagues of similar vintage reveals that I am not alone.