Color (US) vs Colour (All other English)

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**Kilkrazy**

Gogsnik wrote:
I think the only thing I use in metric is the mm; it is also the measurement I use most frequently due to model building but for almost everything else I use inches (unless the particular item is measured metrically, timber for instance, in which cases cm's and metres it is), feet and miles.

Had an American do one term at university and frequently had to remind him how many pounds were in a stone although, I have no idea why he kept asking.

They don't have stones in the USA.

Probably a good thing you didn't get on to the hundredweight.

**Hordini**

Kilkrazy wrote:

They don't have stones in the USA.

It is true that we don't regularly use the stone as a unit of measure in the US. That said, I bought a scale a couple years ago, and while I was messing with the settings, I found out that in addition to pounds and kilograms (both of which I expected), I could also set it to display weight in stones. Needless to say, I found this very entertaining.

So I guess some of us do have stones in the US, it's just very uncommon.

**Pacific**

Koppo wrote:
The weird thing about the UK is that we still use the imperial system for many everyday things:

Speeds of vehicles is in Miles per hour
Height of people is usually expressed as feet and inches
Beer is sold in pints, but milk in litres (which is still usually the metric equiv. of pints)
Weight of people is in Stones and pounds
Cars have horsepower but cubic centimeter engines
Large distances are in miles, short ones in meters, shorter still in feet, shorter still in millimeters.
Meat is sold in KG, but weed in sixteenth ounces.

And then you get your proper esoteric measurements

Cricket stumps are 1 chain from each other
Horse races are over furlongs

Always thought that 'chains' was a measurement used alongside railway tracks?

Also, amusing that EU rulings on the use of metrics has yet to extend to the measurement of illegal drugs

**Jihadin**

Wait. US and UK also measure the height of the horse by "hands" right?

**welshhoppo**

Horses are measured in hands.

A hand is four inches.

And at least we don't say donut. It's doughnut

**Koppo**

Pacific wrote:

Always thought that 'chains' was a measurement used alongside railway tracks?

Also, amusing that EU rulings on the use of metrics has yet to extend to the measurement of illegal drugs

Railway engineering used to be chains, links etc. My father used to work on the railways as a surveyor in the '60s and used to have an actual chain for measuring.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Ohh, just found this wiki page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_words_having_different_meanings_in_American_and_British_English:_A%E2%80%93L

**BlaxicanX**

Psienesis wrote:
Grey Templar wrote:
It is a very common misconception that we don't use the Metric system. We use it when making any precise measurements and important calculations. We only still use Imperial units for things like highway speed and cooking at home. Most people here are perfectly capable of using both, and we almost never have reason to convert between the two.

I would point out that *some* Americans are perfectly capable of using the metric system, as applies to their field (such as mechanics using metric tools)... but outside of that, most Americans cannot figure out the metric system to save their lives.

Word.

Hell, I was an electrician for over a year and I still don't know how to use metric. lol

**ScootyPuffJunior**

We use metic in pipefitting pretty often. As a matter of fact, I worked on the Census Bureau headquarters in mid-2000s and it was done entirely in metric.

The older guys struggled a little bit (I ended up converting the measurements to Imperial on the mechanical penthouse blueprints for my crew) but just about anyone that graduated high school from the 90s on was used metric measurements in some capacity.

**Jihadin**

Good rule of thumb. Pun intended. I own two sets of tools

**DarkLink**

welshhoppo wrote:

And at least we don't say donut. It's doughnut

You know it's spelled correctly in British English if it has a bunch of random pointless silent letters inserted randomly for no good reason.

**insaniak**

DarkLink wrote:
welshhoppo wrote:

And at least we don't say donut. It's doughnut

You know it's spelled correctly in British English if it has a bunch of random pointless silent letters inserted randomly for no good reason.

Both 'doughnut' and 'donut' originated in the US.

**Jihadin**

insaniak wrote:
DarkLink wrote:
welshhoppo wrote:

And at least we don't say donut. It's doughnut

You know it's spelled correctly in British English if it has a bunch of random pointless silent letters inserted randomly for no good reason.

Both 'doughnut' and 'donut' originated in the US.

In the US we don't screw around with the extra letters when freshly made donuts are on the shelves
Krispy Kreme
Dunkin Donuts

OMG.....just gained two pounds just thinking of freshly made donuts

**Ahtman**

The colour of the aluminum armour in the advertisement was displeasing so the man went to the privacy of his garage and tended to his herb garden.

**insaniak**

Ahtman wrote:
The colour of the aluminum armour in the advertisement was displeasing so the man went to the privacy of his garage and tended to his herb garden.

Aluminium...