# Rule Brittania **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 11, 2007, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791 "2007-09-11T15:23:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791/41 "2007-09-13T11:45:15Z")
[QUOTE=e-logic] I have my TomTom set up for distances in KM which makes calculating journey times dead easy, half the number of KM left = no. of mins driving on the motorway. [/QUOTE] Or in miles, just take off a third (assuming you’re doing a steady 90 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![Arch\_Trout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9f8e36/32.png) [@Arch\_Trout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arch_Trout)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791/42 "2007-09-13T11:46:44Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] Identify the quote (no Googlecheating): [/QUOTE] 1984 springs to mind. But I may be completely wrong. ---
**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:** [September 13, 2007, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791/43 "2007-09-13T12:09:30Z")
1984 is correct. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791/44 "2007-09-13T12:40:57Z")
[QUOTE=Staggerlee] I’m another one from '77, caught between the old codgers and the wily continentals. But can we digitise **chowder** before the frost comes? I like the bullish ‘common sense’. Cheers to that! [/QUOTE] I’m not certain if I should be flattered or what, being an old codger an’ all. Humph, I’m a child of the 40s…so there. We had fings in my day you aint got today, rickets, Hitler,ringworm, rationing, to name just a few. Aaah the good old days…my arse 😛 ---
**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791/45 "2007-09-13T13:50:55Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m not certain if I should be flattered or what, being an old codger an’ all. Best not to get yourself to worked up about it grandad. Come on now, why don’t you sit down and i’ll get you a nice cup of tea. Why don’t we see if Songs of Praise is on? You like Songs of Praise - its one of your favourites! There we go… 😃 > [@](#): > > Aaah the good old days…my arse I’ve got a United Colours of Beneton colour changing t-shirt and a copy of the Mr Blobby song stashed somewhere ready for when people start doing the “good old days” speech about the 80s and 90s. Nostalgia’s a bitch. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791/46 "2007-09-13T15:18:26Z")
Listen you young whippersnapper ::shakes cane:: I can’t stand tea so you’d better fetch me a cup of strong black coffee and be bloody quick about it. Songs of bleedin’ praise? Noels House Party or better still Jim’l fix It. Oh and couple of digestive or rich tea 'fore I forget You bought the Mr Blobby song? now tell me who it is that’s daft \*kids these days, don’t know they’re born ---
**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791/47 "2007-09-13T16:07:41Z")
> [@](#): > > You bought the Mr Blobby song? now tell me who it is that’s daft Nah, it was left in the CD drive of a computer i was using one time in the Library at Uni. The thought that someone had been _working_ whilst listening to that (was a non-internet box) was truly horrifying, even then! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791/48 "2007-09-13T18:55:45Z")
[QUOTE=garius] a non-internet box [/QUOTE] What’s one of them, pops? ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791/49 "2007-09-13T19:18:55Z")
Hopefully we can get back to £.s.d. as the next step ---
**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791/50 "2007-09-13T19:28:36Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] What’s one of them, pops? [/QUOTE] fuck off boyo - i _know_ you’re older than me! 😃 (but yes, i am conscious that future generations will respond in abject horror at our tales of a world pre-internet!) ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791/51 "2007-09-13T20:22:15Z")
We have a large outdoor wooden water tank here at work. The first thing anyone asks about it is, “How much water does it hold?” I tell them it holds 27 myrialiters. Even the metrically-inclined just uncomprehendingly nod their heads and whistle. I suppose it doesn’t really matter what I say, it holds as much as they are looking at. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791/52 "2007-09-14T04:37:24Z")
Um, making allowance for cultural differences - how much would that be in soccer fields, say, one foot deep? (Here, we often measure things in gridiron fields - er, however you say that in British - whether that makes any sense or not.) Or maybe you could say one-fiftieth of an oil tanker’s hold - or something. ---
**Author:** ![dynamitedave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed655f/32.png) [@dynamitedave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dynamitedave)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791/53 "2007-09-14T07:29:29Z")
So the EU wanted beer and milk to be only sold in 0.5 or 1 litre measures?? Here, pints of milk became 600mls and I’m sure that’s what happened to pints of beer too. Now glass milk bottles have all but disappeared, I don’t know what the smaller sizes are, I just buy 2 litres at a time. ---
**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:** [September 14, 2007, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791/54 "2007-09-14T07:37:56Z")
[QUOTE=garius] Nostalgia’s a bitch. [/QUOTE] It’s not like the nostalgia we used to have. ---
**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791/55 "2007-09-14T08:42:50Z")
My personal favourite unit of measurement is the [mickey](http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/mickey.html). > [@](#): > > Here, we often measure things in gridiron fields - er, however you say that in British - whether that makes any sense or not. The truth is that both imperial **and** metric have both become obsolete over here - everything is measured in Football Pitches and Double-Decker Buses these days. ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791/56 "2007-09-14T09:30:19Z")
So how many mickeys do you get to the double-decker bus? And it is a proper red bus or one of the new imposters? ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791/57 "2007-09-14T09:38:41Z")
[QUOTE=garius] The truth is that both imperial **and** metric have both become obsolete over here - everything is measured in Football Pitches and Double-Decker Buses these days. [/QUOTE] And Nelson’s Columns. Five buses to a Nelson’s Column, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791/58 "2007-09-14T09:48:17Z")
[QUOTE=Usram] And Nelson’s Columns. Five buses to a Nelson’s Column, I believe. [/QUOTE] Don’t forget Waleses. Usually applied to deforestation or ice floe breakage. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791/59 "2007-09-14T11:51:01Z")
Oh, and don’t forget the \*\*[smoot](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot) \*\*!!! According to that wiki article you can set Google Earth to measure distances in smoots 😃 ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791/60 "2007-09-14T11:59:11Z")
W00t!!! I only just discovered Google Calculator!!! You can type, say, “3 rods in feet” or “1 imperial gallon in us gallons” or “3 miles in cubits” or “1 parsec in smoots” straight into the google search box! Hours of fun! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rule-brittania/418791.md?page=4)