Proper sizing

[Fat Rat]

This isn't going to turn into a political discussion but.....

Given our pending exit from the EU, of which I will express no opinion  can I now expect to be able to order shoes in sizes 1 - 12 rather that 40 - 75 (or whatever) and if clothing is listed as having a 50" chest, will that really be 50" or the bizarre EU variant which somehow translates to 40" 

[Rusty Nuts]

Yes. Unless the item was made outside the UK, and after the 1950s.

[Barbel Mick]

Interesting........I went to our local butcher 3/4 weeks before Christmas to order our Turkey. (We have, what is known in the trade apparently, a butterfly  no bone, just the breast meat rolled into a joint).
Anyway, we wanted one about 4/5lb but the lad behind the counter was possibly in his 20's so being a kind sort of chap and not wanting to cause confusion I said I'll have one at 2 kilo please. To which he replied "I'll order you one between 4 & 5 pounds is that OK?"
The other meats on display were priced in kilos, so is it just Turkeys that are sold in pounds and ounces or was the young lad being kind to an old retired gentleman? 

[Brockett]

My son is 40. He was never taught imperial measure and so now he only understands Kilos and Meters.
Back at the local timber yard they sell 2.4meters of 4"X2" so are they half way there or half way back?

[hotbulb]

.... and chipboard(or whatever we're supposed to call it now) still appears to be sold in 8' x 4' sheets... even if it's millimetres thick!

[Tusker]

https://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/tesco-price-comparison/Fresh_Milk/Tesco_Semi_Skimmed_Milk_1_Pint_568ml.html

Milk still in pints unless you want 568 ml. ???   

[Joe Rocket]

This is simply reluctence by the unadoring public.

Before 'decimalisation' I, as many other older folk, did maths in pounds and ounces and money in pounds, shillings and pence etc. After (1970ish?) everything was then seen in grammes and kilogrammes, even the pound (£) split into 100 bits. It was meant to modernise a backward system and perhaps a backward people.........

It is easier to use and simpler to calculate in but most trades kept all their familiar terms and they just haven't gone away. That butcher boy is, for some reason, using something he wasn't taught at school. Some form of cute mimicry persists (not without it's character and charm I must add) and it has a lot to do with old trades and skills that most of the British public no longer practice or wish to perpetuate. (Butchers and bakers are probably excluded)

One thing is probably true for both systems...... a 6XL is the same in both. 

As FR says, not getting political here but you can probably guess if 6 inches is more favourable than 150mm but in the case of Britain and the EU you can work out which side each dresses. 

[Ianmc]

“a backward system and a backward people” ??
    You won't get a visitors visa if you keep that up young fella!

[Rusty Nuts]

I was nearly 11 when we decimalised our currency. We couldn't carry on using shillings and half crowns because they were taken away, so we had to get used to the new money. Even if Penny Arrows more than doubled in price overnight. ( only 100 penny arrows for a quid, whereas you could get 240 of them for the same quid the day before, and the sweet shop man had bought them at imperial rate.)
Weights and measures were taught to us by old teachers who didn't use the new metrics, didn't understand them and didn't want to. We never learned it properly. Tape measures, rulers, scales were still produced with imperial units. Unlike the money, people could - and did - carry on using cubits and spans feet and inches, pints and miles.
Take them away and the next generation will be fluent in millimetres, litres and kilos.

[Joe Rocket]

Ianmc, that was 'perhaps a backward people'........ Yes I was certainly in stirring mood though. 

As for the visa, well I am still 'Brittanique'. 

France went through a decimalisation too into the Euro in 2002. I see FR's point of view when scholars had to learn off by heart that 1€ = 6.55957 FRF and shops continued to give prices in FRF for more than 15 years stating that exchange figure. 

Still, that's Europe eh?

[UK_Vstrom650]

I can't say I've ever had issues buying clothes in EU sizes or UK sizes...
Are you sure the 50 inch chest being a 40 inch isn't more to do with pies??   

[Fat Rat]

Here is an example,  eBay item
392605054871 is sized as an EU 50 which is a UK 40. Sometimes you will see something sized as a 50 inch chest,on closer inspection, it is a 40 inch chest 

[TLPower]

Tyres.

Imperial and metric on the same item, at least wheels are entirely imperial.

Unless of course we include the short lived Michelin TRX range

[Rusty Nuts]

That rather fetching jacket says eu size 50. And 40" chest. Not 50", just a size number. You seem to be suggesting that it would be easier for you to buy your old clothes if, say, we used the same system as most of the rest of the world rather than cling on to an insular outdated "why is everybody out of step except me" sort of way.
Women's sizes are worse. How can a single number like 12 describe multiple dimensions like height, width, leg length and ladybumps?

[hookie]

Here in France there's always been a mixture of metric and imperial (ist?) sizes. Many threaded plumbing fittings can be have mm bores and inch threads on them. TVs, tablet and laptop screens are measured in inches. Shoe sizes are often given in UK and metric sizes. The French don't worry about it all and don't get nationalistic about it. I suspect a lot of it has it's origins in the marketing pressure and global interests of the U.S. who've never been willing (or able?) to adopt to the metric system. Price labels in many shops still have cost in Francs in very small writing on them. I've never quite worked out why but might be to help the elderly who've yet to adapt to it or it may just be the French reminding themselves of who they are but without all the sabre rattling and wall building. They just get on with it.....

[Brockett]

To add to the comedy they make trousers proportional so a certain waist is tied (not literally)  to a leg length with the terms Short, Regular, and Long. Which is meaningless without a scale.  For me, it's a long way to the Sportsbike shop and JTS is int far north, unreachable by southerners while "r" is in the month. Local (to me) retailers sell Rev'it stuff, which it seems, is only made for skinny boys.

[mr_diver]

You can get regular, short and long in trousers but why not in shirts and jackets.

I buy a long sleeve shirt and it looks like the shirt equivalent of crop trousers!

My new Merlin bike trousers I bought for commuting were classed as long but are 3" shorter than my old HG long legs.
This has caused wet feet due to them dripping water down the backs of legs into the boots.

OK the boots are Haix safety boots but still quite tall.
Meaning I then had to spend another £100 for new taller sodding boots