I think this is part of the reason why the US is so resistant to embrace metric - ridiculous things like pretending you'd have to rename a Quarter Pounder as a "113-Grammer" mean that the mere notion of metric sounds farcical to your average punter and the conversation is over before it can even start.
Meanwhile over in the UK they're quite comfortable using a hybrid of metric and imperial, and here on the European continent you can still buy a "Quarter Pounder" in McDonald's even though that system of measurement (not to mention the words "quarter" or "pound[er]") isn't used at all.
The beers you're talking about are served cool (though not ice cold as you're actually meant to taste something) and are generally quite good - they're made in smaller breweries often serving local communities and are usually served in pubs that tend to take pride in what they're serving[0] - cleaning the lines between each keg, monitoring temperatures in cellars, discarding kegs that are a bit off rather than serving them. "Flat" implies something was infused with carbon dioxide to become fizzy but then left out accidentally to go stale, whereas these are purposefully only as fizzy as the brewer intended. Sometimes there's a light carbonation, sometimes not.
The beers you want to avoid are those that are mass-produced and what I'd describe as "lager adjacent" - Carling, Fosters, Stella, Kronenbourg and whatever US stuff makes it over. They're served everywhere and are, in my opinion, quite underwhelming if you're used to proper lager-type beer (idk what the preferred English nomenclature is, here it's ležák).
I definitely prefer Czech beer but UK ales are something I do enjoy.
[0] - let's not mention Wetherspoons
I love a good pilsner. Give us the lowdown on that next!
Damn, when i was in the UK i thought a pint(of beer) (0.473 liter) is smaller that half liter. But this seems to be the US definition.
"The imperial pint (≈ 568 mL) is used in the United Kingdom and Ireland and to a limited extent in Commonwealth nations. In the United States, two kinds of pint are used: a liquid pint (≈ 473 mL) and a less common dry pint (≈ 551 mL)." - Wikipedia
You order a Royale with cheese. Haven't you seen Pulp Fiction?
My point is that it's more of a name/trademark than a measurement, so it doesn't necessarily make sense to convert or change it. To be honest if you measured a Quarter Pounder patty I suspect it'd end up being less than 113 grams anyway.
Ridiculous indeed. We should just breed smaller cows.
I wager a substantial number of the people who get actually angry about the thought of metric think a pound is more then half a kilo.
I dunno, the rags like the Daily Mail, Sun and especially the Express still sometimes have an article about something fairly unhinged to do with metric. Like a greengrocer refused to sell someone a pound of potatoes or something. And the right wing occasionally tried to stir some life out of their voters by saying they'll "bring back" the Imperial system.
Meanwhile all I want for Christmas is my satnav app to show me speed limits in MPH like the signage and the speedo, but measure distance to the next junction in metres not thousands of feet. Yards would do.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_Martyrs
I wonder if any other countries have bothered doing the same with their own systems. Also if there any in Canada, Australia, New Zealand who also want Imperial over metric.
With regards to volume, I am used to 750mL bottles of wine.
Converting distance is still unintuitive to me. The best method I came up with is that driving 60 miles per hour is about 100 km per hour.
Rarely used, yet pretty much universally understood.
Also, a regular burger here is 130-180g. A Quarter Pounder is smaller than I thought.
Jules: They don't call it a Quarter Pounder with cheese?
Vincent: No man, they got the metric system. They wouldn't know what the fuck a Quarter Pounder is.
Jules: Then what do they call it?
Vincent: They call it a Royale with cheese.
Jules: A Royale with cheese. What do they call a Big Mac?
Vincent: Well, a Big Mac's a Big Mac, but they call it le Big-Mac.
Jules: Le Big-Mac. Ha ha ha ha. What do they call a Whopper?
Vincent: I dunno, I didn't go into Burger King.
The idea that this would change is so bizarre
1. https://awrestaurants.com/blog/aw-third-pound-burger-fractio...
Especially since at the time the burger in question was launched the company had declined from a high of 2400 franchises to just 500 in the span of 10 years. Maybe some individuals in the focus group were confused, that would not surprise me, since you can find a "lizard people" contingent in any group. But I rather suspect the real answer is just “failing company continued to struggle to find its market”, rather than a significant fraction of Americans who use fractions in their day to day lives forgot in this one specific instance how they work.
Arithmetic is a pain in the butt though, since it’s a working mainly with fractions.
Here in the US it's mostly 8th (~3mm) of an inch or 16th of an inch (~1.5mm), but there's often some leeway kept because of the imprecise nature of rough lumber, expansion/contraction, etc. And those gaps are usually taken care of more with seals, caulking, etc.
Is stuff built down to the millimeter in Europe and how do you account for rough materials being bent/warped, etc?
[1] for example https://www.glastroesch.com/fileadmin/user_upload/Service/Fa...
[2] for example https://a3glassfabricator.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/tol...
Measurements are specified in mm, yes. How well they're adhered to depends on the application.
Factory-made kitchen cabinets, for example, are usually 600 mm wide, and this is pretty spot on (and since it's chipboard it won't warp much). The doors are specified a few mm under, so 597 mm for example.
Drywall comes in at 1200 mm; again, this is quite accurate. The studs then go on a convenient fraction, usually either 400 mm or 600 mm. However, there's much more leeway in precision since you don't see the studs once the wall is up.
And yes, seals and caulking and floor molding and other such tricks are used to cover up gaps where necessary.
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Personal anecdote: we recently got new a new fridge and a new freezer. I'd made measurements of the installation location (1200 mm), checked the appliance widths (595 mm), and figure it'd be tight but doable. Turns out the wall was slightly crooked, and I'd measured it near its widest location. Ended up cutting out the (chipboard) wall on one side.
IIRC, Pres Carter was for the conversion, and for starting work on resolving Climate Change. Too bad he was not re-elected, the US would probably be in a different place.