brit measurments question

[Benjamin]

>>> I was waiting for an opportunity like this - can any of you Brits 
tell me what measurements are used in the UK? For height, distance, 
weight (people and products), temperature (climate and body)? I know 
this requires some work. I looked in 'the best of British' posted 
here a while back, and couldn't find this. I'm sorry.<<<

Generally if you put everything in Imperial it won't be out of place, 
though it depends on the age of the person I think.  Definitely 
height and weight of people, distances along roads etc are Imperial 
(ie. in feet, stones, miles) Weight of products is probably still in 
pounds and ounces, though occassionally in grams - most things are 
still in imperial-size packages, but labelled in SI/EU units. (e.g. 
you can buy 568ml of milk (1 pt.) and 227g butter (1/2 lb))  Things 
like Coke, water, flour though are all in litres and Kilos.  
Measuring small distances other than people is probably in 
centimetres and metres. 

Temperature is difficult,  I think most people under, say, about 
thirty think in degrees centigrade (Celsius) and cannot work in 
Farenheit (and vice versa for older people) perhaps the fact that the 
two scales are not proportional (the zero is in a different place) 
means that conversion is more difficult conceptually. Paper burns at 
451F though :)

Incidentally, the EU insists on things being sold in grams/litres 
etc, but pints of Guinness (and bitter and lager etc) are exempt.  A 
single measure of spirits isn't, however, and is 25ml in Britain (but 
35ml in Ireland... :)

Finally, some road signs (and I think only in Ireland, now) are 
starting to appear in km rather than miles.  This is pointless and 
just leads to confusion, especially when drivers from the airport 
insist on doing under 30 kmph... 
 
There you go, a long and boring bit of work avoidance 

-Ben.

By the way, on a terminology point, 'Britain' does not include any of 
the island of Ireland, whereas 'UK' includes (the province of)
Northern Ireland. 'Ireland' may also include Northern Ireland, 
depending on who you talk to, and what they are talking about.  Off 
to teach my grandmother to suck eggs.