I may have hinted………
 

that I find that system FAR superior to anything commonly used here and totally agree with you. Standards International is just what it says and when the shortsighted, ignorant, egotistical bureaucrats and moguls that run this country get their heads out of their ass, it may change.:mad: [FAT CHANCE]
The only thing they saw in 1970 was that it was politically unpopular (only because of being unfamiliar), and would cost a few dollars from the top of their piles, when it was legislated and passed that the US WOULD adapt the metric system.:rolleyes: They couldn’t see past the complacent heaps to note the hole in the bottom of their pockets that was being created. This attitude did become apparent from the other end as the global evolution enveloped our industrial might.:redghost:
Had this happened, today an inch, a quart (?is that dry measure or wet?) and a 16 ounce pound :confused: would be a curiosity like the spittoon.
As long as they squeeze their dollars until George shits in their pocket, they deserve what they get and somebody else WILL eat their lunch.:eek:

Australia used to have the old british system of measurement. In my life time I have been through currency change from pounds shilling and pence to the decimal system of dollars and cents. It is a whole lot easier doing things in 10's than 12's.

Then we went from imperial measurements to metric. It is hard getting your head around it at first but it is so much easier to measure something like 355mm than say 1 foot 5 and 3/16ths of an inch. There is a significant cost factor to it and that is why the US baulked at it I think. But now they are out of step with the rest of the world. Canada is metric maybe they are not as backward as the country south of them reckons. :)

The farenhieght scale for temperature is so bloody ridiculous. Fancy starting at 32 for freezing point and having 212 for boiling point. The celsius scale of 0 for freezing and 100 for boiling (point of water ) is much more logical.

Talking of a mixture, I once worked on Italian Macchi Jet trainers which were powered by a Bristol Siddley Viper engine of british manufacure. All the airfame nuts bolts and screws were metric and the engine had british threads and imperial measure nuts and bolts. Of course america has its own thread system and never the twain shall meet lol. But the most interesting thing was the Macchi maintenance manual. It was orginally produced in Italian of course and the engine manual was in english but got translated into Italian. when Australia bought the Macchi the manuals all got translated to English. The engine manual was a pretty funny book as it was translated from english to Italian and then back to English. We eventually got the originals from Bristol Siddley and it was very funny comparing them.

I did see something about an 'Outing' in an earlier post. To me that means going out somewhere for a picnic or a day in the country. To be outed is to be declared a homosexual publicly.
English is such a strange lanuage and with americans, Canadians, Australians and the like stuffing around with it, it makes it even more strange LOL.

Keep the differences coming in, I am enjoying this thread.

a few more i remember: tyre/tire cheque/check boot/trunk

Hmmm...you want dialect?...LOL... Don't make me get out the Redneck/English dictionary...

Hmm.

Speaking as a Canuck...

I totally agree that Metric makes more sense than Imperial, and I can't for the life of me do calculations beyond the most basic in Imperial.

That said... Things here aren't all that clear-cut.

I couldn't tell you how much I weigh or how tall I am in Metric (even if I were willing to divulge that top-secret information :D) --- I've always been measured in feet and inches and pounds. I cook in cups and teaspoons and tablespoons, at Fahrenheit temperatures --- but have no clue about pints and quarts (except when it comes to beer and berries, respectively). I measure the temperature outside in Celsius degrees; I drive distances measured in kilometres; I know my own weight in pounds but weigh my cat and dog in Metric... For tangible distances, I'm equally at home with inches or centimetres, but if it's less than a finger-width in size or more than a half-dozen paces, I have to measure in Metric. Confused yet? :confused: (I am!)

Now let's bring in the language issue. I lived in the South-West of England for a year when I was younger, and made the mistake once of asking a friend "Should I wear this vest with these pants?" --- those of you in North America know that I was talking about a sleeveless garment that buttons over a shirt, and an ankle-length two-legged garment. However, to my friend in Somerset, I had just asked if I ought to wear a particular undershirt with a particular pair of underwear... (NOT a mistake I made again in a hurry!! :o)

That's just the most glaring (and most embarrassing!!) example. There were a huge number of differences, mostly minor, but some more major. Another example that I STILL get teased about is a little difference that I somehow brought back with me when I came back to Canada: I say, as my English friends do, that "I'm meant to do this" meaning that I'm supposed to do it --- my friends here think that I'm speaking in the sense of ultimate destiny when I talk like that, whereas I really only mean to say that it's an assignment for school or work...

We Canucks have our own weird linguistic goings-on too, eh? Check this out: it's a Canadian glossary... And I'd just like to take this opportunity to point out that we in Canada do NOT say "oot" or "hoos" (for "out" and "house") --- it's just that Americans say "awt" and "haws"! :D

Gee, I'm sorry, PF, I seem to have stolen that soap-box from you, and right after you'd paid for the rental too... :rolleyes: Maybe if I hike up my skirt a little while I stand up here pontificating, you'll forgive me? ;) :p

--- sweetstuff (who has obviously not posted at Pixies' in far too long and is now in the throes of absolute Pixtasy form suddenly making such a lengthy post... Ahhhh, that feels goooood! :o)

All,

there are 3 1/2 countries left in the world still using the inch system ... the half one is obvious, it is GB, (they are fervently trying every other day and succeeding better and better) then there is Birma, and Burundi still using it, but, (help me, folks) cannot remember which the 3rd country was ..... which was it, can you help me?

(sorry, could not resist :) )

Was quite amusing to me observing Americans sounding off about their own measuring standards, and, yes, to me too it appears as hmmh...a bit unbalanced (nice euphemism, Bernhard!). I've got no serious with problems with US feet and inches. But there are other things ... Why the heck did they let vinyl records start from the outer groove? Gear pitch is count of teeth per inch, about same is tap pitch. Completely weird to me :( . How do they intend to measure pitch then, a sliding caliper having no counter and hence being useless. And why do they measure wire thickness by the weight of a miles-long snippet of wire, which, put on a spool is too heavy for 2 men to lift? And the sliding caliper still being useless, having no built-in heavy weight gauge? Or was it that they measure the mileage of a given weight of wire, the sliding caliper then having no length counter???

US folks, relax, we Germans too have utterly stupid technical standards, if i think of it, every 2nd or 3rd DIN standard is Selbstzweck (probably best translated as: end in itself, a purpose being its own purpose, its own justification)

pantyfanatic,
this 10^9 notion is quite usual on technical forums as well as other strings describing mathematical functions like sqrt(x) or exp(x) . What amazes me are those folks drawing electronic circuits using ASCII characters only (only readable wih a constant width font :) )

You can all blame OldFart now!
 

This may have been the wrong subject to enforce your NO EARLY RETURN clause on.:D

…and respond on I will!;)

Grumbleguts-

I can paddle a canoe (or could 20 years ago) to the borders, but can truthfully say that the feelings of all the Americans I have ever known is one of honest fondness and respect for our Canadian brothers (and especially the sisters :p). The only backward consideration for a Canadian I have is while looking up the skirt of the pontificator on my soapbox. Our SugerFreeCandy makes it sound as though they are having a time of kicking the crap off their boots as well. But they are at least trying! [piss me off No.1, -10 points] WE’RE NOT!

Your engine manual must have been like reading the Rosetta Stone or playing the old Telegraph game where each person repeats a sentence down the line until it has no resemblance to the original.

Aeros731-
A least your Redneck/English dialect is your own evolved folly. [PMO No.2, -10 points] WE ADOPTED THIS STUPID SYSTEM FROM SOMEBODY ELSE IN AN OFFICIAL ACT OF THE US CONGRESS, even after we knew of the far better system.


And so you all know that I am using OldFarts SOAPBOX and not a LEMMON CRATE…..
dice45-

All the silky wet spots have a sweet taste to me. After I peek up all the skirts here at Pixies, I peek in a book or two and have found it a mistake to stamp the people with the same mark as their governments and the powers they live under. Seems to be the case all threw out history, from the Incas and Egyptians to the German history books. NOBODY, ANYWHERE, has the monopoly on a government full of corruption, abuse and ignorance. My thing is, as an American, I can do something about it, without fear, if only to start by hollering and pointing. Even if it’s something I contributed to. First one American points, and another looks, then another, and another…….. We Found slavery, the Teapot Dome, McCarthy, Watergate and many more including Vietnam this way. Sometimes rocking the canoe is not all bad and I can do it. Only really bad thing about the world is it’s full of people, and I’m one of them. Just working with that the best way I can and where I have the best chance to do something regardless of how small it is. [BEING AN AMERICAN, +100 pts]

!WRONG! Add up 2 miles, 3 chains, 4 yards, 2 feet and 7-1/2 inches without a calculator that has algebraic functions, if you have the time to spare. Then ask a 3rd grader to add 2 kilometers, 3 meters, 4 centimeters, and 5 millimeters. SEE HOW LONG IT TAKES. [PMO No.3, –10 pts.]

Just my thoughts- It was a carryover from the first phonograph media that was a cylinder and of course started from the outside edge. JUST STUPID MIND SET. [PMO No.4, -3 pts.]
.
!RIGHT! We have to make template type gages or count by hand or with a scriber point within a known distance. VERY AWKARD AND SUBJECT TO ERROR [PMO No.5, -5pts]

!RIGHT! And don’t forget sheet metal gages, related to nothing else size wise. Supposedly based on the yield of the product based on a know quantity of raw material. Different material specific gravity create different gage systems for the same type products. BACK ASSWARD APPROCH AND THINKING. [PMO No.6, -10 pts]

*Interesting notes*
Shotgun Bore Gages- An equal portion, of a pound of lead, formed into a sphere, determines the diameter of the bore and the portion number is the gage size. So a 12 gage shotgun bore has no reference to the size of the bore what so ever, but totally to the size of the lead ball made from 1/12 of pound of lead.

Pipe Sizes- Pipe is concerned with the volume of matter it is capable of containing. The I.D. is the functional size of a pipe but in order to make fittings it was necessary to standardize the O.D.. After this was done, different wall thickness was required for different applications, particularly when steam was the primary source of power which happened to be at the same point in the industrial revolution that standards were trying to be developed. So they changed the wall to meet the increasing pressure demands. This changes the I.D. which is the reference size of the product, so you have pipe sizes that have no relationship to the size designation.

Still undergoing development and modification. And it’s happening. [PMO No.7, -1 pt]

My whole point here is not just to grumble about any method or system, but to change it when it has proven to be no longer functional. I am VERY cautious about revolution but very supportive of evolution. Sometimes evolution moves forward with a jerking lung and then stabilizes for a period of time. When you do not move with it you become extinct.

Now let me get back under this soapbox and look up at the rewards of this life struggle. Get back up here SugarFreeCandy:p :D :p

pantyfanantic,

concerning the Imperial dimension units, won't take me that long, my electronic fist wedge (model HP48GX) knows them all and can add mixed units, even performing dimension analysis in the background and complaining about incompatible units.
So that's no problem. Calculalting W/O an electronic fist wedge, c'mon, we are in the electronic stone age! :)

Concerning throwing Americans in the same pot with American gov'ment, well i don't think this would be right.
If this gov'ment would have been elected properly .... but this is not the case. Has not been the case for 100 years. Since about 1900 (according to some historians i have read, metends to follow that opinion) ultmitate power in the US is wielded by the business tycoons, by the Wall Street. And either elections have been influenced or the elected have been tamed to suit the Wall Street needs after election. for the record, add an IMO, ok?



this probably comes from merchants defining units of technical goods they do not full understand as far as physical and technical properties, manufacturing, sizing and interfacing necessities are concerned.

Hey PF keep the soapbox mate. I enjoy your very specific and rational thinking. I didnt know how lead shot was sized but it doesn't seem all that logical now I know.

The decimal/metric system is very easy to grasp and it is hard to change from what you were brought up on. I too have problems still with a persons height, I still think I am 5' 7" tall not about 170cm but I am OK with being 75 Kg. Isnt that strange.

I mainly think metric now but using different spanners (oh yeah americans call them wrenches lol) I am very versatile in that I can use metric, AF and BSW ones with some precision.

Copper pipe in Australia is measured OD not ID as in the US. The US idea is the most practical in this instance.

We have Australian Standards that have caused some confusion if you are not conversant with them,. 1/2" pipe is 15mm but if you converted it exactly the it would be 12.7mm so the 15mm is sometimes confused with 5/8" but now that is 18mm with 20mm for 3/4". OD of course.

If you work in the industry as I have it is no problem. I design and install medical gas reticulation systems for hospitals and other gaseous applications. I have had a long involvement with the AS2896 - Design and Installation of Medical Gas Systems for Human Use. I have actually had several of my submissions adopted into the standard, something of which I am quite proud.

i'm just wondering what the total points score for PF was....

Do you want that in Metric or Imperial or Hibernian Point Gage Values ?:rolleyes:

My first language is an Acadian dialect. This consists mostly of old French words and expressions. French people absolutely can't understand it, however! :p (Neither from Québec nor from France!) When I visited France, I would talk to my friends in Acadian, and the people from there assumed I was talking english since they just couldn't make out anything I was saying. :confused:
Acadian dialects vary though. I have cousins who live barely an hour from here, and we have difficulty understanding each other. The differences in pronounciation and even the way we put sentences together are surprisingly different.
Unfortunately, in this modern age, we are losing many of our old expressions and becoming more and more influenced by English.:(

Is “three-dozen-hundred” a word even in our screwed up English system?:confused:









(And after I make my next post, this won’t make any sense to any body. LMAO That’s why I though it belonged here;) )

LOL ... a few I remember ....

Baby buggy/pram
orange juice /squash (where in America - squash is a veggie)
car hood/bonnet .... trunk/hood??

In NA the car trunk is call the Boot in the UK

A camping trailer in NA is called a Caravan in the UK

In Na we have football and soccer, in most of the reat of the world they only have football which is soccer....

In Na they have a sofa, in the UK they have couches or cherterfields.

OHHHH I am glad to see this thread reappear :)

I have contributed to it a lot previously and hope we all get into it again.

One thing I find very frequently is that our Americans cousins rarely use the word too. eg I am too full to eat another bite.
It always seems to be spelt "to" which has a different meaning.

Teddy Bear knows as we chat regualarly and I am always pulling her up on it so she often types toooooo LOL.

but I would like to show some dictionary listings on some common words that we differ on

arse
// ‡ Colloquial
--noun 1. rump; bottom; buttocks; posterior. 2. a despised person. 3. impudence: what arse!

--phrase (verb) (arsed; arsing)
4. a boot up the arse, swift punishment or retribution.
5. a (nice) bit (or piece) of arse, a person considered as a sexual object.
6. a pain in the arse, an annoying person, thing, event, etc.: this computer is a pain in the arse.
7. arse about, in reverse or illogical order: he did the exercise completely arse about.
8. arse about (or around), to act like a fool; waste time.
9. arse about face, changed in direction; back to front.
10. arse over tit (or apex), fallen heavily and awkwardly, usually in a forward direction.
11. arse up, to spoil; cause to fail.
12. cover one's arse, to protect oneself.
13. down on one's arse, out of luck; destitute.
14. get one's arse into gear, to become organised and ready for action.
15. get the arse, a. to be dismissed, especially from employment. b. to be rejected or rebuffed.
16. give someone the arse, a. to dismiss someone, especially from employment. b. to reject or rebuff someone.
17. kick arse, Originally US a. to assert authority by being violent and aggressive towards people. b. to defeat opponents soundly.
18. kick someone's arse, a. to beat someone convincingly. b. to reprimand someone severely.
19. kiss my arse, (an expression of derision).
20. up Cook's arse, NZ (an expression of disgust).
[Middle English, from Old English ears]

pissed
// ‡ Colloquial
--adjective 1. drunk. 2. Originally US disgruntled; fed up; thoroughly discontent.
--phrase 3. pissed as a newt (or parrot), extremely drunk. 4. pissed off, disgruntled; fed up; thoroughly discontent.

"One thing I find very frequently is that our Americans cousins rarely use the word too. eg I am too full to eat another bite.
It always seems to be spelt "to" which has a different meaning."


That isn't so, Grumble. The use of the word "too" as you define it or use it here is indeed alive and well in the States. A few people may be mispelling it as "to" by mistake, but that's just because they've forgotten their spelling/grammar rules they learned in school (not that I'm singling out TeddyBear [smile]). I edited medical books here in the States for 24 years; believe me, the majority of us definitely use "too" just as you do.

It's too bad you two can't agree to share the tu-tu together!!!

Too , two wrongs don't make a right, but to be fair to the two of you, let's agree to differ!! :)

Two negatives can make a positive, but two positives only make a negative in "GLASGOW"~~~~~~~~

aye,right!!!!!

This is all too much for the two halves of a brain to comprehend.





(Oh yes:rolleyes: ………………… this language is a real logical thing.)

Gosh PF, is that all you have to say, I was expecting to read war and peace again, my oh my you can rattle on. lol. Don't ever change hun, we all love you as you are.

With Horseman12 coming from the south, I invariabely have to ask him what he means, and yet he understands most of what I say.....strange huh? Apart from all the words already mentioned, eg ass, fanny etc, the one he uses which I love is Whody, which I gather means eh? whats that you say? please repeat I don't understand...hehe

Can I mention though, common to the Brits, Aussies and Americans is a little phrase that no other language equalls, some languages don't even have anything that translates, and that is "I LOVE YOU" How sad for the French and German among us, because to me je t'aime and ich libe dich (sp?) just doesn't measure up to us!!!

Can you tell they struck a note (without intermodulation frequency distortion;) ) with me? lol


:)

I just learned in the South that the plural of "y'all" (translation -- "you all" or "they") is....


<drum roll>


ALL Y'ALL!


(yikes)

You mean all ya'll didn't know that? Awwww... well bless your heart!

"ALL Y'ALL"


OMG:o

LMAO

Don't post that on an international board OSUChe. The rest of the world already has a low enough opinion of the uncouth barbarians in the colonies.:rolleyes:

I beg your pardon??????

Lilith isn't that .... well bless your pea picken heart

a word that has taken my fancy is used by Quisath

Dayum what does it mean? I dinna ken LOL