The Post-Brexit Thread

[Muukalainen]

Out of idle curiosity, what sort of goods are still sold in imperial quantities? Milk, I think, is still available by the pint or quart, though it's also available in metric quantities, and beer I suppose is an obvious one. Wines and spirits went metric yonks ago, as did merchant yard timber, screws, nails, etc. I'll bet the old half hundredweight bag of cement has long since been the metric equivalent. How about meats, fruit and vegetables?

[ad hoc]

Out of idle curiosity, what sort of goods are still sold in imperial quantities? Milk, I think, is still available by the pint or quart, though it's also available in metric quantities, and beer I suppose is an obvious one. Wines and spirits went metric yonks ago, as did merchant yard timber, screws, nails, etc. I'll bet the old half hundredweight bag of cement has long since been the metric equivalent. How about meats, fruit and vegetables?

I think milk is sold by the litre

[Discordant Resonance]

In Ireland, one of the leading brands of honey is still sold in 1lb jars, though metrically labelled solely as 454g.

[Muukalainen]

Come to thik of it, isn't beer sold in imperial units only at the point of sale to the consumer, duty being levied at whatever the barrel size is in litres, and consequently traded wholesale in metric?

[Snake Plissken]

Milk is sold in litres. Vegetables and meat in grams.

[Fussbudget]

Fabrics, ribbons, thread etc. are sold in metres rather than yards everywhere but in the US. Although bizarrely imperial units are widely used in UK/NZ/Aus pattern instructions for small lengths (e.g. seam allowances are typically 3/8" or 5/8") so you get a weird mix of imperial and metric units

[ursus arctos]

Yeah, if the UK is antediluvian in this respect, the US dates from before the emergence of humans.

Lumber, sod, tile and other "home improvement" items are imperial.

Milk and juice are imperial (unless long life imports), fizzy drinks in bottles are metric, fizzy drinks in cans usually imperial.

[Capybara]

And, of course, a US pint is a different volume to a UK one.

[Snake Plissken]

Yeah, and that lot still use "cups" which is even weirder.

[ad hoc]

Assuming this act of weirdness is going to happen, what exactly will be repackaged? Producers aren't going to rebuild their production lines to put things in pint cartons or boxes of 1lb. So it is just market traders? In which case I think the best thing to do is to shop at markets and refuse to buy from anyone who won;t sell you a kilo of potatoes

[Snake Plissken]

Nothing is going to happen, no-one is going to change anything. It's all for show, just like everything else.

[ursus arctos]

I expect that it will be limited to the market stalls for fruit and veg run by the largely non-existent "metric martyrs".

All they want out of this are photo ops and media attention.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Another dead cat for the pile.

[ursus arctos]

Yeah, and that lot still use "cups" which is even weirder.

Cords of wood, anyone?

[San Bernardhinault]

Assuming this act of weirdness is going to happen, what exactly will be repackaged? Producers aren't going to rebuild their production lines to put things in pint cartons or boxes of 1lb. So it is just market traders? In which case I think the best thing to do is to shop at markets and refuse to buy from anyone who won;t sell you a kilo of potatoes

I think technically people will be "permitted" to sell, and to announce prices by, imperial rather than metric amounts. You'll be able to sell a half pound of butter and call it a half pound of butter rather than 227g of butter.

Of course, nothing will actually change. If you asked for a pound of bacon at the butcher last year they could still give you about half a kilo. That will also happen under the new rules.

As Snake says, it's all performative bollocks with no substance.

[ursus arctos]

They will need at least a few signs/chalkboards for the photo ops

[Sean of the Shed]

The only thing that is usually referred to in imperial apart from pump beer is your own height and weight.

[Ginger Yellow]

All they want out of this are photo ops and media attention.

And more culture war against the young.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

How long before someone senior in the government starts flying the kite of re-introducing pre-decimal currency? And who will do it first, Rees-Mogg?

[Capybara]

The only thing that is usually referred to in imperial apart from pump beer is your own height and weight.

But they are measured and recorded by the NHS in metres and kilos respectively.

[Capybara]

How long before someone senior in the government starts flying the kite of re-introducing pre-decimal currency? And who will do it first, Rees-Mogg?

My groat is on Mark Francois.

[ursus arctos]

I'm quite certain that Sunak has had to shoot that down several times already.

The City would go apeshit.

[Lang Spoon]

Weights and measures going metric had nothing to do with the EU. I'd bet Gove will quietly kills this off just like the Nordie Bridge and all the other Uncosted shite that tousle haired cunt talks.

[ursus arctos]

There is nothing to actually kill

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Given that shops in ireland have moved away from dealing in cents and two cents, and round the bill to the nearest 5 cent you could go back to pre decimal currency quite easily, just not pennies, and if you did it during a period of hyperinflation, no-one would notice the inevitable inflationary effect. .