Measurements

[frualeydis]

Inspired by a post by marymont I took my measurements this morning and converted them properly to inches, not just using the approximation of 1"=2,5 cm. And here they are:
bust 42
waist 33
hips 43

And I weigh 160 lbs

It's much less than it has been for years really. And I have my period now, so in reality I am a little smaller than that.

One thing I wonder about is though, what do americans call the yard, feet, inches (as well as other measurements like pint etc) system? We call it "imperial measurements" when we talk about it (as opposed to metric), but what do you say?

Comments

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Ha, we just call it measuring because after all, it's for the rest of the world to have alternatives, not us!

[frualeydis.livejournal.com]

Haha! That was funny. My husband thought so too, since, as he said: "You have to be aware of the fact that there are more than one system to need names for them". I thought that was a little hard on the american people.

/Eva

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

I'm American born, I can say things like that! And I never heard Imperial used until I moved to the UK for the first time. Come to think of it, I never knew there was a metric system of measurement until I visited Sweden in 1968.

[kass-rants.livejournal.com]

It's not, really. It's truthful. Most of us think the world revolves around us. Also, most of us have never been farther away than Mexico or Canada, so we're very America-centric. =)

[ashariel.livejournal.com]

When we aren't being US-centric and referring to them as just "measurements," folks here do use the term "imperial."

[frualeydis.livejournal.com]

Aha! I learn something every day. Imperial sounds so british and I wasn't sure how people felt about the british empire, having had to fight to get out of it and so.

/Eva

[ashariel.livejournal.com]

There's quite a bit of Anglophilia over here!

[frualeydis.livejournal.com]

Now yes, but names usually have longer history than that, that's why I wasn't sure.

/Eva

[kass-rants.livejournal.com]

I don't think I've ever perceived an anti-Empire feeling here in the US.

Historically, we don't think of ourselves as ever having been part of the Empire. Anyway, doesn't the Empire begin with Victoria being crowned Empress of India?

[peronel.livejournal.com]

In England we use "Imperial". It's the system of the empire, after all.

Peronel

[frualeydis.livejournal.com]

I know you do, that's how I learnt it, back when I was in school we were taught british english and american english had a very low status. It is very different now, we're tryign to work on our kids' accents though. But I wasn't sure how the americans felt about the empire.

/Eva

[twe.livejournal.com]

I have heard it referred to as both "English" and "standard" over here.

Imperial and standard aren't the same.

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

It's most common to use "standard" when specifying the type of measurement, though it's sometimes also called "English". I think most car garages have "metric" and "standard" tools they have to switch between depending on the car they're working on. My Norwegian cousin, who works on a Norwegian-owned ship mostly staffed by Americans, jokingly mentioned their "metric-standard converter": a large mallet.

Americans are taught metric measurements in elementary school. Most Americans could tell you that a yard and a meter are almost the same and have a general idea of how big a centimeter is, though most of us get confused as to whether a mile is two kilometers or vice versa (because a mile is two kilometersish, but a kilo is two-and-some change pounds, and, just, what?).
But most of us can't do conversions in our heads because, while there was a big push to convert the country to metric in the 80s(?), it didn't catch on. Our complaint is mostly just that metric isn't... human-sized. You need a measurement of "about a foot" and saying "around thirty centimeters" really isn't very... round.

Also standard measurements subdivide into fractions not decimals, so for our engineers and mechanics, it's very handy-- it's convenient to always have a measurement that is half of another one, without having to resort to multiple decimal places. It's intuitive, though not as scientific-- half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth, thirty-second. You get used to that mode of thinking, and it is not easy to have to switch. Point-five just doesn't roll off the tongue (or the mind) the way "half" does.

ALSO: Imperial and standard are not the same. The British standardized the Imperial system AFTER the Americans did. An Imperial gallon is NOT the same as a standard gallon, it is larger (though most of the other measurements are roughly the same, I believe-- I don't know, as the Imperial system was replaced in the UK, but it also contains archaisms like "stone" [a unit of 14 pounds used, as far as I know, only to measure humans' weight]).

Americans are not always aware of this, because, as has been pointed out above, the standard system is often just called, "You know, feet and inches / pounds and ounces" or whatever the situation calls for. It is obvious by what figure you're quoting which system you're using.

Re: Imperial and standard aren't the same.

[(Anonymous)]

I knew about the gallon. And "stone", which really made wonder if I was stupid first time I heard it, since everybody else knew what it was, when I visited England.

/Eva

Re: Imperial and standard aren't the same.

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

I figured out what it is-- the Imperial *ounce* is different, so all the liquid measurements are off.
Hence, a "pint" in England is 20 Imperial ounces. This is mostly relevant when it comes to beer, which in the US you can get in the normal 16-ounce pints, slightly smaller than Imperial 20-ouncers, or in 20-US-oz glasses, which are huge.


But i would hazard a guess that the average American could not tell you how many fluid ounces are in a gallon either, because it's not something they have to measure often. (An American would know gallons, pints, and quarts, but perhaps not how they add up, because you buy things in gallons, half-gallons, quarts, or pints. The only time you get things in ounces is single-serve drinks-- usually 12-ounce beers [though now manufacturers are making 11.5 ounce bottles because customers don't notice] and 20-ounce soft drinks, which is ludicrous because a serving size is 8 ounces. But my point is, we don't know either, because we don't have to really.)

(For the record, it's 128 ounces to a gallon, US Standard, and I know that from mixing chemicals for photography classes.)

I suppose technically it's "US Standard." If you use Google calculator, they refer to them as US measurements.

But yes-- the relics of the old measuring systems in theoretically-metric countries are even more divorced from reason now. And I got totally confused by stone when I was in Britain, but it does make sense when you're used to it I guess.

[kass-rants.livejournal.com]

We call it "the English system". I mean, those of us in the US who recognise that other people are using other measurements. ;)

Everyone I know calls it "English, not metric". I've never heard it called "standard" but that could be a region thing. We're awfully Anglo-centric where I live.

[sarahbellem.livejournal.com]

I've always heard it called "imperial", if anything. There was an amusing time in the 70s when we were trying to switch to metric, but it never took off. Still, there are some places throughout the country where road signs are still listed in kilometers under the miles.

Saturday Night Live did a clever little sketch on the metric switch-over in 1978, called "The Decabet Sketch". Dan Ackroyd tries to make his case for condensing the 26 letters in the English alphabet into 10 easy to remember characters such as "ABCD" (pronounces ab-uc-deh) and LMNO (elemmeno). Unfortunately, it's got to be the only SNL sketch NOT on YouTube...

Us Yanks and our inability to rationalize base 10. :)

[femkederoas.livejournal.com]

It's very nearly become Englishnotmetric. *g* In a single breath.

Though the difference between our "English" system and the Imperial makes me wonder about the whole "A pint's a pound, the world around" saying - and if it applies across the board.

Sorry, little ramble off, there.