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Old Oct 13, 2004 | 08:25 AM
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english_bob
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From: Perth, Australia
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Without going into too much detail, we tend to use a combination of Imperial and Metric measures for different things. Some things are mandated from Europe, some changes to Metric are driven ourselves.

Distances for motoring tend to be miles first, kilometres second, so speed would usually be quoted in mph rather than kph, but many lengths are now quoted in metric.
Height is usually 'spoken' in Feet and Inches, but on your passport it is record in cm.
Large weights tend to be in tons or tonne, but most people measure their weight in stones and lbs.
Food and drink are now bought and sold in metric first, (imperial second if you are lucky).
Fuel is sold in litres, but fortunately our pint of beer is as yet unaffected.
Engine displacements are metric.
We use the GB Pound rather than the Euro as our economy never quite aligned with the economies of France and Germany (who really run Europe through Brussels), and each government who considered this feared they would not get elected.

I'm fortunate enough to have been at school when we decimalised our Imperial measurements so learning to convert to metric is fairly straightforward. I don't expect my kids will learn the 'older' measurements.
 
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