[LEAPSECS] the abbreviation UTC

[Tony Finch]

On 18 Aug 2011, at 19:53, mike cook <michael.cook at sfr.fr> wrote:

> 

> When the UK converted to metric weights, large numbers of shop owners were convicted and fined for selling goods on a non existent weight scale (imperial pound and ounces) instead of kilogrammes., even though the scales were accurate.


Please report information to a higher standard than the Daily Mail and News International.

Shop keepers in the UK are allowed to advertise goods using old measures so long as they also use standard measures. We have been using the two systems of units in parallel for decades, gradually converting in keeping with the traditional British fudgey incremental change. The old measures are not nonexistent in any sense.

Note that "imperial" refers to the metric-style measures of volume defined in 1824. Pounds and ounces are avoirdupois.

The US customary measures are older than the imperial system. The most extreme example is the Winchester Bushel used for measuring volumes of grain, and this unit dates back over 1000 years.

Tony.
--
f.anthony.n.finch  <dot at dotat.at>  http://dotat.at/