Tradition

ZeroCool@feddit.ch to Lemmy Shitpost@lemmy.world – 540 points –
31

You are viewing a single comment

they should just switch to metric

Can you imagine a place that uses imperial units next to metric units, in some unholy alliance that’s clearly worse than imperial units alone? Welcome to the UK, bruv.

I mean we use US customary and metric too, but US customary measurements aren't always the same as Imperial.

1 US pint = 16 US fluid ounces

1 British pint = 20 British fluid ounces

But wait!

1 British pint = 19.2 US fluid ounces

Would you like to know more? Probably not, but anyways: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_the_imperial_and_US_customary_measurement_systems

In real money:

1 US pint = 473ml

1 UK pint = 568ml

Meanwhile the standard metric measure is 500ml. So US would benefit from dropping the pint in favour of metric, while UK drinkers would be understandably reluctant. Unfortunately, most UK bottles are now 500ml, thanks to shrinkflation. Newcastle Brown held out for a while, so did ciders, but these days pint bottles are quite rare.

Even better, we refer to bottles of liquor as a pint, a fifth and a handle. A pint is 375ml, a fifth is 750ml and a handle is 1.75l. Not even mixed - metric volumes with US customary names.