Quote Originally Posted by Dalek Supreme D L View Post
Pedant

Imperial was introduced to the world by the British Empire..hence Imperial. America is the biggest country to stick with it, and not go metric as all of Europe has...under the fascist jack boot of the EU So calling it American (as it mainly is now) was in my book okay.


Regards D S D L
Pedant? – I’ll give you pedantic:

The so-called Imperial system the Americans continue to use is not a British invention at all, but was appropriated by the British from ancient European systems of weight and measures. The units of distance, the yard and mile, are taken from the system used by the ancient Romans. The mile for example is derived from the term mille passum = ‘1000 paces’, being the equivalent of 5000 (Roman) feet.

And the units of weight are taken from the Norman French system ‘avoirdupois’: a 15th century Middle English word derived from the Anglo-French avoir de pois = ‘goods of weight’, that is goods sold by weight.

Ironically, the metric system, that is, having a system based on multiples of 10 is a British invention. The idea of a metric system of weights and measures has been attributed to John Wilkins, first secretary of the Royal Society of London in 1668, however the idea did not catch on. It wasn’t until after the French revolution, some 120 years later, that the French and eventually the rest of Europe adopted the metric system.

Whilst there is a homely familiarity and comfort in the notion of pints, yards and miles, as a retired scientist I can tell you that the American retention of the imperial system can be very awkward. If you need information on the properties of materials, the data sheets from American suppliers are all quoted in Imperial units. For example thermal conductivities are often quoted in Btu inches/second/square foot/°F, where 1Btu is that amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water 1 degree Fahrenheit! It’s so much easier if it’s quoted in Watt/meter/°C.

Pedantically yours