They use both. They were supposed to go totally metric as part of joining the EU, but there was so much resistance from the public that what has happened is that while, officially, many measures are supposed to be metric, people keep using the Imperial system. It's much the same here in Canada. We went metric in the 70s and 80s and officially we are totally metric, with road signs and such all being metric, but in practice many people still use feet and inches and pounds. If I walk into a store and ask for a pound of hamburger, they know what I mean. Prices for food are often posted in both systems, and lumber is advertised as 2x4s, though gasoline prices are only ever given per litre. We don't, and never have as far as I know, use a stone(14 lbs) as a weight measurement as they do in the UK.
We now tend to use a mixture of the two system. Most official measurements are now in metric - so a shop has to sell food in kilograms, and petrol in liters. Road signs still use miles, and milk and beer are sold in pints. Generally, older people are more likely to talk in fett and inches, while younger people will have learnt the metric system at school and may find the older measures confusing.
However, do remember that the old British system, called Imperial measures, was not exactly the same as the US measurements. an Imperial gallon is quite a bit larger than a US gallon.
When l in school in the 1970s lbs and ounces were outlawed for kg. The same with feet and inches. So metrification isn't new but you'll still never hear anyone say "l'm 1.8 m tall" or "London is 200km away" On a hot day we say it's 70-80 degrees but we never say it's 35 on a cold day. We buy petrol in litres but say a car does 40 to the gallon. (A UK gallon is about 1.3 US gallons)
Clothes are only in inches.
It may interest you that even in continental Europe you buy a 32inch TV and 14 inch tyres.
Football (soccer) commentators use yards, but metres in rugby.
Metrication hasn't entered popular speech. We still say "go the extra mile", "inch by inch", a mean boss gets his "pound of flesh". Tools are metric. You never get a 5/16 spanner. There's a very, very slow tendency towards metrification. We've officially been a metric country for over 40 years but at this rate the total conversion won't happen in the lifetime of anyone alive today.
All the World except America has the skill and ability to use both metric and imperial measurements along side each other. Even The Concord plane when it was built had a mixture of metric and Imperial sizes. That is why, when you write about METRIC the spelling is METR### not the illiterate Meter, Liter, even Center, (from CenTRal) used in America.
Also Gas is just that GAS, what you usually put in cars is Petrol or Diesel, and occasionally the real gas, (LPG, CNG or LNG).
Officially we are supposed to use the Metric system. However, a very large section of the population still use old British measurements and weights.
Give you an example.
UK is measured in Miles and not Kilometres - drive along any road or motorway here in UK and every sign will tell you how many miles it is to town named on board.
The railways here in UK are measured in 'chains' that's 22 yards - visit any railway station here in UK and you'll find a disc on a wall somewhere with a number of on it '284' - that's the number of 'chains' to the end of the line.
Go in to any pub and beer is sold by the pint or half pint. Only bottled beers are measured using the metric system.
According to this link the railways will eventually switch to the metric system
http://www.railnews.co.uk/news/2013/10/0...
The thing about English measurements is that they are almost always related to us humans. The English Yard was arrived at when one of our Kings back in the middle ages settled the argument about it's length by saying one yard was the same as the length of his right arm - three feet - he was six feet tall etc. Your arm is half your height etc.
London UK
The metric system is taught in schools but one still buys a pint in the pubs and all road signs are in miles. The speed limit is in miles per hour
Shops do sell in kilograms but some still display the price per lb
Britain has retained its shoe sizes
However, in the main all industrial standards are
metric or international standard or si unit. and have been since we joined the common market in the seventies.
I over heard some one on the train recently saying that when he first started he needed three sets of spanners. whitworth AF and metric. Now all he needs is metric
So your cousin is not wrong but it is not the whole story.
I buy 4 pints of milk and a pint of beer, the speed limit in urban areas is 30 miles per hour 70 on motorways. I am 5 feet 10 inches tall and weigh 15 stone. I will eat an 8oz steak. My car runs on petrol measured in miles to the gallon. I pay in
