Just back from a week in Somerset with exciting news for Imperial lovers everywhere!

If you take the kids to any Haven/British Holidays fun park, you will see adverts stating "Try our yards, they're going fast" (No comment!)

The adverts are for a "yard" of the soft drink of your choice, in a plastic hourglass shaped container with a lid & straw. It costs £3.50 for the first drink, but only £1.95 for every refill after that. This compares with £1.30 for a standard 16oz glass.

I asked the barman how much a "yard" contained, and he replied "32 ounces - that's 2 of these glasses" whilst indicating a 16 oz glass. He added "No-one understands how much 32 ounces is any more"

Obviously, to show my wholehearted support for imperial (OK, after pestering from the kids!) I bought them a "yard" each which they used during the holiday.

On my return home, I decided to check just how long a "yard" actually is in Somerset.

A yard is exactly 400mm long, and contains exactly 1 litre to the brim.

This imperial inaccuracy also extended to the pools, which had apparently correct depth markings of 0.4 metres & 1.2 metres. The imperial equivalents marked were 0.4 feet/20 inches and 1.2 feet/48 inches.

One out of 4 correct is a pretty good strike rate for imperial! Maybe ARM advised them on their conversions......

If the people selling the drink actually are pricing it on 32 ounces (909 mL) but are giving the buyer a whole litre, then that is to the public's advantage. It is like getting almost 100 mL free. With some of the postings to this forum of people complaining of metric downsizing, this is a good way to show that there is also metric upsizing and to be fair and balanced, notice of this should be made.

How can "everyone" in the UK know imperial as it is often claimed here, but don't have a clue as to what 32 ounces are? If they were told the bag held a litre, would that make it more understandable? If so, then that is how it should have been advertized. Makes you wonder though if the the 32 ounce glasses aren't really 1 L glasses and the 16 ounce aren't really 500 mL.

Maybe it wouldn't hurt to measure them to be sure. Except there would be opposition to this practice as some people don't want the real truth to be known.

Daniel

In the UK, soft drinks are not sold by measure. The licenced trade refer to many glass sizes as "10's" or "16's" etc, but these "measurements" are not advertised to the public, and these glasses are rarely filled to the brim or to any mark.

Only beer, wine & certain spirits must be sold in specified quantities. These liquids pass through or into "stamped" equipment.

With regard to the "yard", it wasn't filled to the brim, but to approx 2cm from the top, but no actual liquid measurement was used or advertised. The kids loved them though - and the lids stopped them spilling!

But how long is a yard? Is it really only 400mm?

"But how long is a yard? Is it really only 400 mm?"

A yard is whatever anyone wants it to be. This seems to be an ever happening thing with imperial unit names. They are used out of their once intended context and now can be used to mean almost anything. As seen with the posts on pints, the definition of pints may be fixed, but the usage of pints varies up and down the scale. Thus one can never be sure what the intended meaning is when the name is used.

On the USMA listserver there was a recent discussion about the Air France crash in Toronto. Interviewees were heard saying the plane skidded 200 m down the runway, but later reports, after the media editors stepped in, began reporting it as 200 yards. Thus we now accept that a yard is just another name for a metre.


Imperial users like to downplay this abuse and just get excited that the words are still used. And that may be fine, but we metric users and supporters expect much more. We want units that are accurate, precise and mean the same thing to everyone everywhere.

<<
On the USMA listserver there was a recent discussion about the Air France crash in Toronto. Interviewees were heard saying the plane skidded 200 m down the runway, but later reports, after the media editors stepped in, began reporting it as 200 yards. Thus we now accept that a yard is just another name for a metre.
>>

I really do not believe that these interviewees have the ability to distinguish between 200 yards and 200 metres visually on a runway. So you are losing no accuracy by changing the word metres to yards.

Berenger - Isn't a "proper yard" (as in for us Adults) 2 and a half pints?

BTW- Nice to see you've got a "new friend". He's very "special" you know ;-)

<<I really do not believe that these interviewees have the ability to distinguish between 200 yards and 200 metres visually on a runway. So you are losing no accuracy by changing the word metres to yards.
>>

True. And the plane is BIG, maybe 70-80 m? (I don't feel like looking up the spec). So where do you measure too. One end is 200 m, the other 270?

I suppose in a very technical sense, the overrun is defined from the end of the runway to the wheel truck furthest from the runway, since none should be off it. But I doubt that has been surveyed yet.

(I've since read he overflew 4000' of a 9000' runway and would have had trouble stopping on a dry day. So far, I haven't seen any confirmation he came in "hot," that is well above normal landing speed, but that seems likely too given weather. "Hot and long" is a very nad combination.)

<<"But how long is a yard? Is it really only 400 mm?"

A yard is whatever anyone wants it to be. >>

I don't agree with that. However, Imperial/Customary is so narrowly used, that it is set primarily by national, not international standards (foot and pound are exception).

A yard is 0.9144 m everywhere. A US and Imperial gallon are different but each is well defined in a national standard. When there is any doubt, which gallon must be clearly identified.

But a drink can't be sold by length, it has to be sold by volume or weight so no short measure is involved. (He might be misrepresenting the glass)

<<A yard is whatever anyone wants it to be. >>

<<I don't agree with that. However, Imperial/Customary is so narrowly used, that it is set primarily by national, not international standards (foot and pound are exception).>>

John, when you're on a planet of your own (lets say, 'metron') anything is possible.

<<
But a drink can't be sold by length, it has to be sold by volume or weight so no short measure is involved. >>

John, you might not be aware that there is something called a "yard of ale". This was behind my question to Berenger. You can also get a half-yard and foot.

Here's one I prepares earlier(!) :

http://www.thefreefood.net/wp-photos/cambridge/7-7-04/100_0668.jpg

<<John, you might not be aware that there is something called a "yard of ale". This was behind my question to Berenger. You can also get a half-yard and foot.
>>

I'm aware but it is simply a marketing gimmick. Without knowing the diameter (assuming it is a cylinder) the actual volume could be anything. A 1 yd straw wouldn't hold much, a yard high by a yard diameter would be too much beer for me to lift or drink.

Given that the "yard" is not really specifying a volume, that fact that it is not really a yard is probably immaterial, even if it is still "wrong". I wonder what would happen if you whipped out a tape measure and said, "That's not a yard, not even half."

Odd shapes or aspect ratios can be misleading. I'd ask what the legal volume is before rushing to take that offer.

From the Guinness Book of Records site

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=49098

Fastest Yard Of Ale
Peter Dowdeswell of Earls Barton, Northants, England, drank a yard of ale containing 1.42 liters (2 pints) in 5 sec. at RAF Upper Heyford, Oxon on May 4, 1975

Obviously a soft Southerner though - the yard of ale at my old rugby club held 3 pints. It was really difficult to drink from - I usually spilled as much as I drank!

John - why do you think I asked the barman how much the "yards" contained before I bought them? I wanted to check that it was value for money!

And yes, I would agree that the fact that it is not really a yard is probably immaterial. I would suggest that they called them "yards" because of the similar shape to the "yard of ale" rather than intending to imply that they were actually a yard long.

<<John - why do you think I asked the barman >>

I know you'd ask. I'm worried about poor Stimpy. He's a trusting soul and doesn't seem to care what he get sold, short yards of beer, amphoras of petrol, etc.

Being a Cider drinker I've never done a yard of cider in my life. Imagine the ensuing "nasal burp"?

<<Fastest Yard Of Ale
Peter Dowdeswell of Earls Barton, Northants, England, drank a yard of ale containing 1.42 liters (2 pints) in 5 sec. at RAF Upper Heyford, Oxon on May 4, 1975>>

Erm.
That's a pint down the throat in 2 1/2 seconds.
And then another.

Jeeperz.

"Fastest Yard Of Ale
Peter Dowdeswell of Earls Barton, Northants, England, drank a yard of ale containing 1.42 liters (2 pints) in 5 sec. at RAF Upper Heyford, Oxon on May 4, 1975"


We have 1.5 L bottles of wine. Could we call that a "metre of wine"? So, a metre of ale would be 1.5 L of ale then, yes?

Oh, and furthermore:

<<Obviously a soft Southerner though - the yard of ale at my old rugby club held 3 pints. It was really difficult to drink from - I usually spilled as much as I drank!>>

Enough of the "soft southerner" jibe! You didn't mention how quickly you downed those three pints!

Divulge - or lose your Celtic Credibility!

;-)

Erm - dodge the question quickly!

It wasn't quite as quick as 2.5secs/pint

I was referring to the greater volumes drunk in God's Own Country!

(Last yard I drank in Wales was a full 3 pints - and we won at the old National Stadium the next day - and got the Grand Slam against England 2 weeks later)

<<Last yard I drank in Wales was a full 3 pints - and we won at the old National Stadium the next day >>

Do you see a cause and a reason there?

Maybe you should check the record books, just in case!

;-)

Erm BWMA

Can I ask what the edit was about in my message above?

I cannot recall anything remotely offensive in the message.

Do I have to start keeping copies of my posts to the site?

I wouldn't be too peeved Bergermeister. Entire threads by me have been deleted altogether.

Maybe I should become viciously pro-metric and start conquering the word etc....