Our next unelected PM?

[GlennB]

I have nothing against metric per se as it works well with currencies and temperature. I just feel that having everything metric is a kind of dumbing down. Stones and feet and inches work perfectly well.

If a document were being produced for him or by him would you think it reasonable for it to describe lengths, areas, weights, volumes and so on in imperial units? For my money it would be so laughable that I seriously thought the original article was a spoof.

I cannot bear hearing people say, 'Can I get...' when ordering food. It should be 'May I have...' as manners are important IMV.

What does this have to do with anything? We're discussing the language to be used by his staff in official matters.

 

[Darat]

I have nothing against metric per se as it works well with currencies and temperature. I just feel that having everything metric is a kind of dumbing down. Stones and feet and inches work perfectly well.

There will come a time when 5:30am becomes 5.5am, or 6:15am becomes 6.25pm because idiots can't cope with base 60 and that would be a shame IMV.

I cannot bear hearing people say, 'Can I get...' when ordering food. It should be 'May I have...' as manners are important IMV.

Problem for you and him is that anyone below the age of 50 doesn't have a clue about the imperial measures apart from miles and miles per hour. I was the generation that transitioned the change in public education so we had to learn both and learning imperial and using imperial measures it is by far harder than metric measures.

 

[ceptimus]

Except on the 3 occasions when they weren't.

I explained to you already that the ACTING First Minister (only Acting you notice) was in place briefly on three occasions when the leader of the largest party was away either due to illness, death, or resignation. In those cases a deputy, from the other party in the coalition, stood in in a caretaker role.

On each occasion the Acting FM was only in place for few weeks, before being replaced by the new leader of the largest party.

It's perfectly straightforward - I'm sure you understand really, and you only bother to bluster and obfuscate because you can't stand the fact that I am shown to be right once again.

In practice it's exactly the same set-up as at Westminister. The leader of the largest party is always PM/FM. The rules may allow something else but the reality is the same.

 

[ceptimus]

We still buy beer in pints so most people know that measure.

And we still, strangely, talk about miles per gallon, even though we've been buying our motor fuel in litres for ages - there seems to be a great reluctance to change over to miles or kilometers per litre, or the inverse system used by Europeans of litres consumed per 100km driven.

Another Imperial measure still in fairly common use is the barleycorn - which is one third of an inch. Shoe sizes are measured in barleycorns, though there is a weird fixed offset that is different for men, women, and children's shoe sizes.

 

[Vixen]

If a document were being produced for him or by him would you think it reasonable for it to describe lengths, areas, weights, volumes and so on in imperial units? For my money it would be so laughable that I seriously thought the original article was a spoof.



What does this have to do with anything? We're discussing the language to be used by his staff in official matters.

I expect the only mention of imperial units to be typed up by his secretaries in his letters and emails will be miles, stones, feet, inches and fahrenheit. I rather suspect one of them might have used the phrase, 'Can I get' and all the euphemisms he mentions. The word 'very' is totally meaningless (as is 'hopefully or 'actually' and many adverbs). It is so over-used it has the effect of diluting a sentence than adding to it. For example, 'It was a very cold night and I was very scared as it was very dark' is much improved as, 'It was a cold dark night. I was scared.'

 

[Vixen]

Problem for you and him is that anyone below the age of 50 doesn't have a clue about the imperial measures apart from miles and miles per hour. I was the generation that transitioned the change in public education so we had to learn both and learning imperial and using imperial measures it is by far harder than metric measures.

I disagree. Most people understand what a 2lb bag of sugar looks like and weighs or a half pint. They might be baffled by height 1.83m but can visualise it instantly when put in feet and inches.

My grandfather had a horse that was 15 hands (15 x 4" = 60" = five feet this is easily calculated. 1.524 metres. Who's going to easily remember or visualise that?

A furlong at six feet is elegant, as in when a horse wins by a furlong: you can visualise the length straight away. Likewise, a fathom, as it, too, is six feet. A knot is quite similar to a mile so when you are in a boat travelling at 40 knots you have a comparison point with car speed.

There is nothing difficult about Imperial measures or avoirdupois - it is common sense and often 'by sight', based on the typical cup, spoon or handful.

 

[Garrison]

Our new PM is apparently planning to spend money like it was going out of style while promising tax cuts for the rich and at the same time planning a confrontational approach with the EU while having nothing new in the way of a plan, but hey lets discuss the merits of metric versus imperial, and the use of 'can I get', Trumpista diversion tactics at their finest.

 

[Vixen]

Our new PM is apparently planning to spend money like it was going out of style while promising tax cuts for the rich and at the same time planning a confrontational approach with the EU while having nothing new in the way of a plan, but hey lets discuss the merits of metric versus imperial, and the use of 'can I get', Trumpista diversion tactics at their finest.

He's using up reserves which aren't going to be there in the long run. Rather like winning £10 on the lottery. Might buy you a loaf of bread, butter and cheese today but as from tomorrow you have to get by on your usual budget.

Philip Hammond will be horrified as he understands what this surplus is (it's not for spending). Plus BoJo needs to budget for 'no deal' or even an agreed deal.

Note BoJo has broken the news over the weekend, so I expect there will be pandemonium at Prime Minister's Question time at his having spent the household savings.

 

[Andy_Ross]

A knot is quite similar to a mile so when you are in a boat travelling at 40 knots you have a comparison point with car speed.

A nautical mile is based on the circumference of the earth, and is equal to one minute of latitude at the equator.

A knot is a speed of one nautical mile per hour.

A nautical mile and a knot are not 'imperial' they are dictated by the circumference of the earth and the requirements of navigation.

 

[Andy_Ross]

he's promised new high speed rail between leeds and Manchester. Looking at up to £32 billion

 

[Arcade22]

Imperial measures are instinctively beautiful to my mathematical mind.

 

[GlennB]

A furlong at six feet is elegant, as in when a horse wins by a furlong: you can visualise the length straight away. Likewise, a fathom, as it, too, is six feet.

Except that a furlong is 220 yds

Are you just taking the mickey?

 

[ceptimus]

A furlong at six feet is elegant.

Might be elegant but it's also completely wrong. A furlong is an eighth of a mile - so that's 660 feet, or 10 chains.

A chain is nice unit of length equal to 22 yards. If you have a patch of land a furlong long by a chain wide, then it has an area of one acre.

 

[Mojo]

I expect the only mention of imperial units to be typed up by his secretaries in his letters and emails will be miles, stones, feet, inches and fahrenheit.

Fahrenheit? Sounds suspiciously European! Why can’t he use proper British temperature scales?

What’s wrong with Kelvin?

 

[Vixen]

A nautical mile is based on the circumference of the earth, and is equal to one minute of latitude at the equator.

A knot is a speed of one nautical mile per hour.

A nautical mile and a knot are not 'imperial' they are dictated by the circumference of the earth and the requirements of navigation.

No it's not (no pun intended) but it roughly equates to a land mile and not a kilometre. Thus easier to visualise when speeding along in a boat or an aeroplane.

 

[Vixen]

Might be elegant but it's also completely wrong. A furlong is an eighth of a mile - so that's 660 feet, or 10 chains.

A chain is nice unit of length equal to 22 yards. If you have a patch of land a furlong long by a chain wide, then it has an area of one acre.

OK. I stand corrected.

 

[Andy_Ross]

No it's not

Yes it is.

 

[GlennB]

No it's not ...

Yes it is.

What with you and ceptimus we have two people in the thread who are constantly arguing against established facts. What's going on?

 

[RecoveringYuppy]

Looks like GlennB and Captain Swoop misunderstood Vixen saying "no it's not". Appears to me she was agreeing with Captain Swoops assertion that the nautical mile is not Imperial.

 

[GlennB]

Looks like GlennB and Captain Swoop misunderstood Vixen saying "no it's not". Appears to me she was agreeing with Captain Swoops assertion that the nautical mile is not Imperial.

If so it was a weird way to put it.