Preparing for metric dominance: alternatives to idioms using imperial units

The question assumes that if metric is dominant, then we need alternatives for non-metric idioms.

But this is incorrect. We can still use whichever idioms we want.

There are plenty of phrases and idioms using obsolete terms. We understand the meaning without knowing their origin. No problem.

There are officially metric countries that sell TVs, monitors, shirts and trousers by the inch. Some people don't even realise they are imperial units. Vinyl records are also sold by the inch (e.g. 12") and boxing gloves by the ounce (e.g. 16 oz).

So why should idioms, figurative by their nature, and not subject to retail law, require non-imperial replacements?

As long as they're useful, understood and used, they'll be used. Their meanings will change too, but still, they'll be used.

Be not afraid, in Russia we still use expressions that employ long-passed away names of measurement units like versta, sazhen and arshin.

For example, a lanky guy could be called "a versta of Kolomna", since centuries ago mile posts (actually, versta posts) installed by the Tzar's decree along the road from Moscow to Kolomna were exceptionally high. A verst is surprisingly close to a kilometer in length, but you won't hear the word in a TV report. Still, it lives on in fixed expressions.

Wikipedia has a section on the idiomatic expressions keeping old Russian measurement units afloat.

An English-speaking person now and then uses the word fathom despite it being obsolete.

(correction: "near-obsolete" - according to a comment below, "NOAA in the United States still uses fathoms and feet on nautical charts").

In Australia we want "metric" starting with decimal currency (dollars) in 1966, and ending with Real Estate measurements in 1987. The bulk of the conversion occurred in the 1974 to 1978 period, where almost every measurement for legal purposes was required to be in SI units.

Having an English heritage and ingrained use of Imperial measurements meant that we often used expressions such as

• open the window an inch please.

• they live miles away.

• As you mention: an ounce of common sense is worth a pound of theory.

• Penny wise pound foolish

These terms are still use

• an inch is about 2.5 cm - it's a useful term, and easier to say than the SI equivalent.

• miles has come to mean far.

• while few people know how many grams an ounce is, the saying still has currency because the relationship is relatively clear. An ounce is obviously much smaller than a pound.

• again, few people know how a penny or a pound relate to dollars and cents, but the meaning of the saying is clear.

It was uncommon to use terms like

• leagues

• links

• slugs

and only leagues has survived in any way, due to folk lore sayings such as seven league boots.

So fear not. Some sayings will endure, and some will be adapted by the population, and some will be invented. As you imply, the ones that are in use in the future will be those that are easy to use and understand.

I don't hear people in Australia saying the whole nine yards. If we want a picturesque way of saying everything we might say the whole Hog. They are not completely interchangeable.

As a final note, an American fast food chain sells a product here, called a "foot-long". No one has had any trouble understanding how big that is, despite the target demographic all being born after the demise of the foot.

Here are some idioms from Dutch:

• millimeter voor millimeter = millimetre by millimetre
• centimeter voor centimeter = centimetre by centimetre
• kilometers ver / weg / ver weg = kilometres away

For fun, I have looked at sandwich sizes, but every chain uses its own terms.

And although we have plenty of sayings regarding theory and practice, none involve weight.

A lot of old measurements have been metricated, e.g. 1 pond (‘pound’) = ½ kg.

• ieder pondje komt door 't mondje = every pound comes through your mouth = taste makes waist

And then there are fossils like:

• duimstok = thumb (i.e. inch) stick = carpenter's ruler (alternative: maatstok = measure stick)

But most of these are rare. A lot of people don't know what a ‘duimstok’ is, or know it as ‘maatstok’. Of those who do know, many don't know why it is called that.

On the whole, non-metric units are very rare in daily parlance, the two most notable exceptions are inches in computing and (the misuse of) calories in food (which are actually kilocalories).

(Feel free to edit this post to add examples.)