Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

[jfollows]

I’m much older, and my first language is metric but I have conversational imperial. There won’t be many people under 60 who weren’t taught exclusively in metric.

I’m sure that’s right.
I’m 64 and I was taught, for example, 1,760 yards in a mile, although chains only came along with my railway interest.
My brother is two years younger than me, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have a clue about imperial measures.

 

[AndrewE]

In the early 1960's I was taught ... 22 yards = 1 chain, 10 8 chains = 1 furlong, 10 furlongs = 1 mile.
Our exercise books had tables of old measurements on the back cover including obsolete things like "rods, poles or perches "

Funnily enough when we cleared my dad's stuff I found a tape measure with odd divisions, which turned out to be chains and links - one hundredth of a chain!

 

[35B]

I’m much older, and my first language is metric but I have conversational imperial. There won’t be many people under 60 who weren’t taught exclusively in metric. Although I will say that I have metricised my brain for a few things relatively recently, moving from stones for a person’s weight to kg only 3 years ago. (Because it is straightforward to remember that every gram of fat is ~10kcal, and therefore every 100 calories burned or not eaten is another 10g of weight loss. Or vice versa)



I’m exclusively metres for altitude and km for distance. Causes some fun on walking / cycling trips as I have to convert for two of my fellow particpants (both of whom are younger, one much more so!)

This 51 year old was taught in mixed units.

 

[jfollows]

In the early 1960's I was taught ... 22 yards = 1 chain, 10 chains = 1 furlong, 10 furlongs = 1 mile.
Our exercise books had tables of old measurements on the back cover including obsolete things like "rods, poles or perches "

Funnily enough when we cleared my dad's stuff I found a tape measure with odd divisions, which turned out to be chains and links - one hundredth of a chain!

You were taught badly, then!
8 furlongs to one mile.

 

[bspahh]

I’m sure that’s right.
I’m 64 and I was taught, for example, 1,760 yards in a mile, although chains only came along with my railway interest.
My brother is two years younger than me, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have a clue about imperial measures.

I'm 58 and I remember rulers with cm and inches which got replaced with metric-only ones when I was 6.

I suspect I learnt the imperial units from the page in a diary, when I've been bored at school. I know 9 of the 39 Imperial units in this diagram.

 

[KT550]

I’m sure that’s right.
I’m 64 and I was taught, for example, 1,760 yards in a mile, although chains only came along with my railway interest.
My brother is two years younger than me, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have a clue about imperial measures.

Same here, started secondary school in 1975 and was only taught metric.
I still struggle with imperial weights e.g. ounces, pounds and stones.

 

[Killingworth]

Silvine exercise books with all the measurements in tables on the back cover.

Silliness* still seem to be going.

Correction, Silvine - predictive text! Didn't have that when hand writing.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

In the early 1960's I was taught ... 22 yards = 1 chain, 10 chains = 1 furlong, 10 furlongs = 1 mile.

Could be fun the next time the '2000 Guineas' horse race is run!

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Could be fun the next time the '2000 Guineas' horse race is run!

Cue a "Mad AI picture" with 2000 exhausted guinea pigs flaking out on a racecourse...?

 

[AndrewE]

Could be fun the next time the '2000 Guineas' horse race is run!

yeah! put it down to approaching senility.... (or post-Covid brain-fog.)

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 Jan 2026 ==

@jfollows

You were taught badly, then! 8 furlongs to one mile.

@Mcr Warrior

Could be fun the next time the '2000 Guineas' horse race is run!

put it down to approaching senility - or post-Covid brain fog!

 

[jfollows]

put it down to approaching senility - or post-Covid brain fog!

I’ve been there too!

 

[AM9]

Cue a "Mad AI picture" with 2000 exhausted guinea pigs flaking out on a racecourse...?

... or guinea fowls strutting along.

 

[philthetube]

In the Boys Brigade in the early 70's our cricket bag bag had a genuine chain in it, I have no idea why as it weighed a ton and we never had to measure a pitch

 

[Brightonboy]

I'm 58 and I remember rulers with cm and inches which got replaced with metric-only ones when I was 6.

I suspect I learnt the imperial units from the page in a diary, when I've been bored at school. I know 9 of the 39 Imperial units in this diagram.
View attachment 196613

Fathom, Shackle & Cable are still used at sea - in particular, fathoms for depth of water, shackles for the amount of anchor chain a ship has run out and cables for distance across the surface.

 

[GordonT]

Supposed health-giving essentials going back about 60 years ago such as malt extract, haliborange vitamin tablets and rosehip syrup.

 

[AndrewE]

Supposed health-giving essentials going back about 60 years ago such as malt extract,

was that Virol? I remember it as a very nice teaspoon of malt extract, but the Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virol makes it sound disgusting!

haliborange vitamin tablets and rosehip syrup.

Rosehip syrup was nice too, not that I had much of it. "Welfare" orange syrup, anyone? A distinctive flavour, not bad at all.
Bemax? (wheatgerm) apparently only available from Shipton mill nowadays, https://www.shipton-mill.com/products/organic-wheatgerm-and-bran-500g-508 for sprinkling on breakfast cereal.

 

[Killingworth]

Quiz question, how many square yards in an acre?

Old Yorkshire farmer's answer "fower, double fower, fower nowt"

For double points how many acres in a square mile?

 

[AM9]

Quiz question, how many square yards in an acre?

Old Yorkshire farmer's answer "fower, double fower, fower nowt"

For double points how many acres in a square mile?

640 rings a bell.

 

[Killingworth]

640 rings a bell.

Correct

 

[52290]

640 rings a bell.

Church bells are still weighed in imperial however. At the church I am a ringer at the tenor bell weighs 9cwt 1qtr 19lb or 479kg.

 

[EYFanatic]

Fathom, Shackle & Cable are still used at sea - in particular, fathoms for depth of water, shackles for the amount of anchor chain a ship has run out and cables for distance across the surface.

Another nautical term some say is outdated but still used is "steaming" to describe a vessel on passage

Full speed would be "steaming hard"

 

[AlterEgo]

Fathom, Shackle & Cable are still used at sea - in particular, fathoms for depth of water, shackles for the amount of anchor chain a ship has run out and cables for distance across the surface.

Aviation also uses imperial, with feet for height and nautical miles for distance. Knots for speed. One nm is one degree of latitude on a map.

 

[Tester]

Aviation also uses imperial, with feet for height and nautical miles for distance. Knots for speed. One nm is one degree of latitude on a map.

The world would be a very small place if so!

Actually one minute of latitude (1/60th of a degree).

 

[Harpo]

On mixed units, hearing builders ask for x metres of 4 by 2 always makes me smile.

 

[SargeNpton]

Telescopic aerials on the front or back wings of cars.

 

[AM9]

Telescopic aerials on the front or back wings of cars.

... or wire coat hangers stiffed into the broken boss of one.

 

[oldman]

On mixed units, hearing builders ask for x metres of 4 by 2 always makes me smile.

I once overheard a boy describing a friend as being only a couple of centimetres short of six foot. I suppose 180 didn't sound so good.

 

[simonw]

I once overheard a boy describing a friend as being only a couple of centimetres short of six foot. I suppose 180 didn't sound so good.

Two women overheard in a shop in the North some years ago.

A metric yard is 3 inches longer than a normal one

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Didn't a U.S. space probe crash on Mars in the late 1990s after a contractor used U.S. measurement units for the ground landing software (instead of metric) and NASA hadn't then realised this?

 

[sor]

Telescopic aerials on the front or back wings of cars.

It seemed like the height of luxury to have a car with a motorised aerial. My dad had a Volvo 960 with one, if I recall correctly it even had its own switch on the dash to manually lower as needed