Yardstick wrote:

"Softball: feet, ball's diameter in inches"

NOT TRUE!
Look at the rules and regulations at the official web site (http://www.internationalsoftball.com/TECHNICALCODE2001-03.pdf)

Metric prevails and the measurements in yards are given between brackets.

"Basketball: Courts are in feet, ball's diameter in inches"

NOT TRUE !
Look at the official FIBA web site (Official Basketball Rules) (http://www.fiba.com): ALL measurements are ONLY given in metric !

"Soccer: Yards"

NOT TRUE !
Look at http://a1801.g.akamai.net/f/1801/2004/3d/www.fifa.com/fifa/pub/lotg/Laws01en1-39.pdf (the official FIFA web site). ALL measurements are given in metres in all languages, except for English where the measurements in yards are given between brackets. This means that those measurements are inferior.

"Bowling: Feet, pounds, inches"
"Golf: yards"
"Tennis: Courts and net are in feet"

True, imperial prevails.

"Yardstick wrote:

'Softball: feet, ball's diameter in inches'

NOT TRUE!
Look at the rules and regulations at the official web site (http://www.internationalsoftball.com/TECHNICALCODE2001-03.pdf)"

-This may be a case of Cricket syndrome- the pitch is now 21.12m long, apparently, but it is still really just a chain.


"'Basketball: Courts are in feet, ball's diameter in inches'

NOT TRUE !
Look at the official FIBA web site (Official Basketball Rules) (http://www.fiba.com): ALL measurements are ONLY given in metric !"

-Perhaps more of the same. If you look at kids football cards now, they give measures in metres and kgs, but there is no way that football, this country or those kids are metric. Wait a second! You mention that next, don't you?


"'Soccer: Yards'

NOT TRUE !
Look at http://a1801.g.akamai.net/f/1801/2004/3d/www.fifa.com/fifa/pub/lotg/Laws01en1-39.pdf (the official FIFA web site). ALL measurements are given in metres in all languages, except for English where the measurements in yards are given between brackets. This means that those measurements are inferior."

- In football the pitch, the penalty box, 6 yard box, bar height and other things are all Imperial at their fundamental level. Imperial is not inferior in any respect other than that a few "clever" people thought it would be smart to change the signs.

You know, I have an English standard international CD-ROM (2000 Edition) that I got for free on a PC magazine cover. Well, it never defines the acre, for instance, on its own terms, instead it defines it as so many metres, so much to a hectare, if square it would be so many metres along each side and so many yards, and is so many rods and so many yards square. If that isn't patronising and uninformative, then I don't know what is.

Maybe that means that the acre is a metric measure...

It should have said, instead of giving all of those meaningless and irrelevant metricy conversion: An Acre is a rectangle whose length is 1 Furlong (220 yds, 1/8 Mile) and whose width is one chain (22 yards). It is 4,840 sq yds. This is >so many square metres<, and is >so many metres< in length and >so many metres< in width.:

Perhaps, it also may have wished to talk a bit about how traditionally an acre was viewed as the area that could be ploughed etc etc etc. Actually, I believe it did that.

In any case, the point I am trying to make is the patronising, uneducated and unintelligable nonsense that people are force fed, as opposed to just letting people get on with their own thing. I suppose the difference here is fundamentally a cultural one in all respects, but in the way that I mean, as follows: Europe is, essentially, a liberal place, but liberal in a strange 'Do as we say/do' way. Now, that attitude may be all well and good for a Father in talking to their Son, but it certainly isn't the way that Governments ought to talk to their "Children".

{NOT TRUE!
Look at the rules and regulations at the official web site (http://www.internationalsoftball.com/TECHNICALCODE2001-03.pdf)

Metric prevails and the measurements in yards are given between brackets}

Since when do people use yards in softball? Never in my life have I heard anything other than feet and inches. Ditto for baseball (distance from pitchers mound to home plate: 60' 6").

{NOT TRUE !
Look at the official FIBA web site (Official Basketball Rules) (http://www.fiba.com): ALL measurements are ONLY given in metric }

A regulation court has always been 96' by 50' in the U.S. Metric approximations are only used in international competition.

{NOT TRUE !
Look at http://a1801.g.akamai.net/f/1801/2004/3d/www.fifa.com/fifa/pub/lotg/Laws01en1-39.pdf (the official FIFA web site). ALL measurements are given in metres in all languages, except for English where the measurements in yards are given between brackets. This means that those measurements are inferior}

The rules may be written in meters, but it is only a rough translation from the true value in yards. That's why you get strange distances like 11 meters.

The Brazilian team were quoted as "walking 10yds back for the German free kick".

Seems that even Brazilians know what a yard is!!!

Strangely, the 'kilometre' is not an Olympic athletic event, neither is half a kilometre (500 metres), nor quarter of a kilometre (250 metres) - despite the kilometre being the main distance unit used across the world.

Distances of 800 metres, 400 metres and 200 metres are run because it's the nearest the metric system can get to a half mile, quarter mile and furlong, respectively.

Just like the Speaker's Press Officer, who when asked by BWMA Director Vivian Linacre why the new Houses of Parliament blue-and-yellow (E.U. colours) plastic ruler, issued free to MPs, Lords and Ladies, was exactly 30 centimetres long, said: "It's the nearest we could get to a foot"

Tony Bennett

I don't know the history behind the chosen distances for athletic running events, but as I understand it they have their origins and traditions back in a pre-metric era (I think).

Still you gotta admitt, 100, 200, 400, 800 are nice rational numbers, better than their equivalents in yards.

It is also a binary sequence, like 1,2,4,8,16 ounces in a pound.

...except that the binary sequence breaks down when we come to the 1,500 metres and the 5,000 metres (nearest they could get to three miles)

Tony Bennett

Yes I was aware of that, in fact you have 1600 to complete the set for the (metric) mile.

I am inclined to agree that there is a natural tendency for the human mind to invoke powers of two when we scale up and down. Like we subdivide the inch into 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 1/16 etc.

It has to be observed though that imperial and other customary measures don't consistently do this. They are infected with other primes such as 3, 5, 7, 11 which are embedded in numbers such as these:
12, 20, 14, 1760.

With regard to 1500m and 5000m, still nice round numbers whether they were meant to emulate the mile(s) or not.

Binary is nice but it doesn't do for all especially as the general purpose system of numbers we all use in everyday life is denary (base 10).

Metric is founded (partly) on the principle that by making all multiples and subdivisions powers of 10, it requires no arithmetic to convert between different size units.

{Metric is founded (partly) on the principle that by making all multiples and subdivisions powers of 10, it requires no arithmetic to convert between different size units.}

Imperial is founded partly on the belief that halves, quarters and thirds, the most common divisions in measurement, should be whole numbers less than 20 wherever possible.

This runs directly counter to decimal divisions.

This "infection" as you say is no bad thing- for different tasks a 60 or 12 number basis is a good thing. I honestly believe that our system has been naturally evolving towards a combined base 12 and 16 system, for example: 1760 yards in a mile is a rather bizzaree number, but is close to 12^3 yards. I believe that a 12/60/any massively divisibale number must underpin the system, with a binary set of measures coming off of this eg. 60 minims in a fl dr, but from here on in (excepting the Imperial pint) it is binary; The mile is divided binarily, but is close to 12^3, have 6, 12 and other such yardages as a very important part, but yet has binary style numbers eg. 4840 sq yds in an acre.

Also, to note, why not, in order to increase its relevance, decrease the dram to 27 or 27.25 drams, as opposed to its current awful number? By doing this, the grain remains the same in weight, and due to it being a whole number in a dram and ounce, it increases is relevance and ease of use. Also, the metricators have less to bash us on.

My completely theoretical and totally impractical to implement, practical "Imperial" system:

Distance:
3 Inches= 1 Palm
12 Palms= 1 Yard
1/12 of a palm= 1 quarter inch.
each quarter inch is divided into 12 "lines".
3 feet= 1 yard.
12^3 yards= 1 mile (1728 yds, 5184 ft)
1/8 mile (216 yds)= 1 furlong.
Unsure about the chain, perhaps 24 yds.

Area:
1 chain x 1 furlong(216x24=5184sq yds)

and/or

12x12 yards= 1 gross area
144x12 yards= One-third acre
144x144 yards= 1 gross area

[you get the idea- something to this affect]

Weight:
27 or 27¼ or 28 (I prefer 27¼) grains to a dram.
16 drams(436 grains)= 1 ounce.
16 ounces (6976 grains)= 1 pound (current avoir. pound is 7000 grains).
16 pounds= 1 stone.
8 stone= 1 Hundredweight(128lbs)
32 stone= 1 high-quarter (512lbs)
4 hq/16cwt/128 stone= 1 ton (2048 lbs)

Volume/Capacity:
480 minims=1 fluid ounce
perhaps 30 minims to a fl dr (16 fl dr to one fl oz)

Perhaps change the minim to weigh the same as a grain, and fully align weight and capacity.

16 fl oz=1 pint
32 fl oz= 1 quart
8 pints= etc.

A pint weighs a pound.

Perhaps If I were tocarry this forward evebn further, I might shift the whole system by doing things such as making a pint 3¼^3 cubic inches.

Anyway, I just thought I'ld get that off of my chest