Metric or Imperial Measurements - a poll

[Ruthy_K]

Hi Everyone Is it just me or does 10cm heels just not sound sexy, whereas 4" does !!! Similarly, does anyone know what a 34b or 36b bra is in metric ?? I was up in London on business today. So used the trip as an excuse to top up the heels collection. (A) 4 and 1/4 inch stilleto ankle boots from Top Shop (£35) ( 4" chunky knee highs with ankle buckle from Shoe Express (£15) © 4" stilleto knee highs from an individual outfit (£40) I had the most fun in © as I arrived in my male business suit, tried the heels on, walking around very confidently, and then I ended up trying on girlie clothes - oh so short skirts and flouncey tops. The lady was really great and said I looked very good as a girlie - even without me doing my hair and make-up. Gave the chunky boots an airing around the tube - Tottenham Court to Paddington. Then got a few more glances on the Inter City back to Swindon. I'll get some piccies sorted out - clubbing in Taunton sometime soon !! - also I'll also be posting a hard copy one to the very helpful assistant !!! See you all soon, [imperial] Ruthy

[chris100575]

Despite the fact that I usually use metric, I have a far better idea of the height of a heel when it's measured in inches. Go figure. Chris

[Firefox]

I don't care. We never use cm at work anyway, but mm for small objects or m for big ones. So if you said a 100mm heel I'd know exacly what you meant or even a 102mm heel for that matter!

[jemanda]

I grew up in a totally metric society and never even learnt about inches and lbs and oz's. But I can visualise inches much better than cm's even though I have never worked with them. If people ask me how tall I am I could tell them in imperial only. Its quite odd when I think about it. Maybe because cm's are such a small unit of measurement its just more difficult to relate it to the real world. Unfortunately they are easier to work with, as is the whole metric system, but then I grew up with it.. I assume anybody who grew up with imperial says the same thing about the imperial system

[shyguy]

Growing up and being at school in the 70's/80's in the UK, I had to learn both, and can easily convert often without thinking, but heels are always in inches to me.

[Secreto]

For heel heights - gotta be imperial for me. I'm a UK 70's/80's too fella so I use a right old mish mash of both: Height in inches Body weight in both (not lbs though) distance in miles but I can't suss yards so I use meters liquid in pints and litres other weights - lighter in grams. heavier in pounds I call 10pence two bob and I drink 0.57 of a litre of ale down the pub.

[shyguy]

I know what you mean secreto, I still work out petrol in pounds per gallon, and convert litres to gallons to do it. Same as you with body weight, and height. As I repair forklifts for a living, I also had to know tons and tonnes for the max loads etc. as customers often ask as the load ratings are done in kg at 500, 600 and 700 mm centres from the end of forks. But truck lift chains are now a mixture of imperial and metric pitches (5/8" 3/4" 1"and some are now 16 mm, and 25mm etc) and it's difficult to tell which is which for replacement, especially as some trucks use both imp and metric on one model.

[Dr. Shoe]

I know what you mean secreto, I still work out petrol in pounds per gallon, and convert litres to gallons to do it.

I hope you use the conversion factor 4.54609 (I learnt this by heart when I was handling aviation fuel)

If you're easily bored goto heels below.

Her's the thing. The fuel was delivered in cubic metres (26.4 on a tanker or through a meter on a pipeline), we stored it and dispensed it in litres (cube/1000) to bowsers that carried it in gallons (/4.54609) to aircraft that demanded a certain number of pounds of fuel (volume depended on the specific gravity which in turn was linked to FSII content and temperature!)

Changing everything to metric would have been so much simpler but we had tanks that were built in the 80s, bowsers that were built in the 70s and planes that were built in the 60s (BAC Lightnings).

We could have had no calculation until we got to the plane then just divide the KGs by the SG to give volume to the mass required (typically 0.810) so if a plane needed 1000 KG of fuel, they would need around 1234.56 litres.

Heels are measured in inches as a matter of convention in the UK but top piece diameter is in mm as are the ferrules, nominal leather thickness, last data, etc. Go figure!

[PJ]

...Similarly, does anyone know what a 34b or 36b bra is in metric ??...

Check out http://www.double-d.com/fittingroom/convert.html

[xaphod]

... snip... Its quite odd when I think about it. Maybe because cm's are such a small unit of measurement its just more difficult to relate it to the real world. ..... snip....

I use whatever measurement unit is convenient.

Being an imperial man, all precision metalwork is in 'thou' (thousandths of an inch), which is the most practical unit I work to when messing about with engines.

Oddly enough, I do woodwork in millimetres. Within the odd mm, this is the most accurate I can cut wood.

Heels will always be in inches !

BTW, the increment of of one UK shoe size was 'the length of one barleycorn' (which I believe is now standardised to 1/3 of an inch ... ie 8.5 mm)

Xa

[Ruthy_K]

Hi everyone

Thanks for your replies.

As promised, a piccie of the boots.

Please click here

http://65.160.96.70/hhplace/images/1077370564.jpg

I will be out again this week, so should have some more for you.

Ruthy

x

[Dr. Shoe]

BTW, the increment of of one UK shoe size was 'the length of one barleycorn' (which I believe is now standardised to 1/3 of an inch ... ie 8.5 mm)

Xa

That is quite correct. Interestingly, the width is a quarter of that so this comes out to 1/12th of an inch. When grading patterns you have to grade equally both sides and split the length into thirds and apply 1/24th to teach side and 1/9th to each section respectively. Do you know how hard it is to measure 1.0625 accurately by eye? (So we cheat.)

[xaphod]

Well, blow me down, I looked up the definition of Jansky units, and look what I found under Paris Point

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/cdkaese/obsoleteunits.htm

So, we now find 'pointure'= eurosize * 2/3 (in cm)

Funnily enough, this practical unit of 6.67 mm isn't too far removed from the UK unit of 8.5 mm.

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I'll tell a little story about practical units, and metric indoctrination of Imperial unit old pharts like me.

I used to rent an old house with a long garden (down the Avenues in my old town, for FFs benefit.) One sunny day the kids next door were having races with their friends up and down the garden. I was working in my garage and overheard the following remark.

'You only beat me by 2 centimetres'.

It seems that a young child who has never been taught anything to do with inches thinks that a unit which measures a 'tiny amount' is closer to 2cm than 1cm. Funnily enough, 2cm is a hell of a sight closer to 1 inch, than it is to 1cm !

Xa

[stilettofan]

I think, the answer to this question depends largely on the system you grew up in. For me, 12 cm sounds very sexy, but 5 inches also does. If you were conducting a poll on the streets of any city in continental Europe, I bet that at least 50% of people don't even know, that an inch is a measurement, and another 45% don't know how much that is in millimetres. I know about the uproar in the UK, when the government wanted to impose the metric system ("thanks" to the EU) and the confusion that followed. I can perfectly understand, that anyone who grew up with the imperial system and has used it ever since, didn't want to change. So it's totally clear, who finds which measurements sexier... But, luckily, if you see it and feel it, the real height of a heel will always be the same everywhere -whether you measure it in inches, cm's or anything you would want to call it.