sports commentators and feet and inches

[gunnamatta bay]

Just wondering why so many sports commentators still refer to feet and inches when describing players. Many are young enough to have not been taught this at school yet you will him them talking in six foot two inches eg. (even the occasional pounds/ounces)

Are they instructed to do it by their bosses? If so why? it must be confusing for the youngins.

 

[Scorpio30]

I use metric for all measurements except a persons height...weird.

 

[Johns Magic]

I assume because it's a bit vaguer so leaves a bit of margin for error.

We know club websites are frequently listing heights in centimetres incorrectly. I certainly wouldn't be repeating those figures if I was a commentator.

 

[some11]

5' 9" - 175.26cm
5' 10" - 177.80cm
5' 11" - 180.34cm
6' 0" - 182.88

Just one of those things where imperial is easier for relativism.

 

[dubo]

eight inches sounds much better

 

[Evil_Mush]

Yeah I'm the same in that I prefer using feet/inches for height, but kgs and all other metric system measures for anything else.

I think it's mostly from growing up watching rasslin' that's drilled the height measure into my brain.

 

[Apey]

Some of them are old farts who probably still think the imperial system is in place in Australia. Eg. Rabs.

 

[Twatface Magee]

Can't stand when people use stone as a weight measurement.

 

[Lambretta]

Can't stand when people use stone as a weight measurement.

Why is this?

I weigh 11 stones - I also happen to weigh between 69 and 70 kilos
They're merely different ways of expressing exactly the same thing

Mind you, I get annoyed at the Americans foregoing the use of Stones and breaking the measurement into the much small pounds

I weigh 154 pounds, but I'd never refer to myself that way. Might as well say I weigh 2,464 ounces. Ridonkulous.

 

[some11]

Because I only ever heard stone as a weight measurement by my late grandfather, no one knows how many kgs it compares to.

It just isn't used anymore in any form that is relevant.

 

[firechild]

I use imperial measurements for a few things. Height is the main one but surfboards are generally measured in feet/inches, hockey sticks are measured in inches, ceiling heights are still commonly referred to in feet/inches, aquariums are measured in feet, depending on manufacturer and even if they aren't, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180cm aquariums are standards. Never contemplated what my weight was in stones or pounds though.

 

[veggiepatch1959]

eight inches sounds much better

You'd bend over for eight inches anytime.

 

[The Charlatan]

I came through my trade at a time where the schools all taught metric and the tradesmen all used imperial still, so I ended up learning both. So I confuse the f**k out of everyone because I'll use imperial or metric around people who don't understand.

The only imperial measurement I don't really understand is Fahrenheit.

 

[veggiepatch1959]

I use imperial measurements for a few things. Height is the main one but surfboards are generally measured in feet/inches, hockey sticks are measured in inches, ceiling heights are still commonly referred to in feet/inches, aquariums are measured in feet, depending on manufacturer and even if they aren't, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180cm aquariums are standards. Never contemplated what my weight was in stones or pounds though.

Got two surfboards...a 6' 1" roundtail and a 6' 10" rounded pintail. I'm f**ked what their metric lengths are.

Every day of the week you'll hear commentators say "Joe Blow from Dorrigo...he's 6 foot five and 125 kilos."

Meanwhile, meteorologists will say "100 mm of rain fell at Birdsville today...that's 4 inches on the old scale."

My schooling went from 1964 till 1976, so I had the best of both worlds. Living with metric and imperial AND decimal and £sd made my life heaps easier. Like being fluent in another language I suppose.

 

[veggiepatch1959]

The only imperial measurement I don't really understand is Fahrenheit.

Daniel Fahrenheit should be removed from all science records. Give me Anders Celsius any day of the week.

The same can be said for the other idiots who developed the following units:-

60 seconds in a minute - 60 minutes in a hour - 24 hours in a day - 7 days in a weeks - 12 months in a year. Can't deny the fact that there are 365 days a year (except leap years).

Twelve inches in a foot - 3 feet in a yard - 22 yards in a chain - 5280 feet in a mile - 1760 yards in a mile - 6 feet in a fathom - 6080 feet in a nautical mile.

I could state hundreds of dumb units of measurement but I would take up forum resources.

Think about this....we have ten fingers and toes. Our number system is based on the decimal system. The only thing in history that the French did well was to invent the metric system (except for sinking the Rainbow Warrior.....stinking greenies).

 

[Apey]

60 seconds in a minute - 60 minutes in a hour - 24 hours in a day - 7 days in a weeks - 12 months in a year. Can't deny the fact that there are 365 days a year (except leap years).

These measurements are very, very old (several 1000s of years BC) and come from ancient civilisations working in base 12 and base 60 systems with respect to early astronomy, instead of base 10.

 

[veggiepatch1959]

These measurements are very, very old (several 1000s of years BC) and come from ancient civilisations working in base 12 and base 60 systems with respect to early astronomy, instead of base 10.

I remember that some civilisations had a hexadecimal system....Aztecs, Mayans...dunno.

And the binary system was developed from ON/OFF.

 

[Twatface Magee]

Why is this?

I weigh 11 stones - I also happen to weigh between 69 and 70 kilos
They're merely different ways of expressing exactly the same thing

Mind you, I get annoyed at the Americans foregoing the use of Stones and breaking the measurement into the much small pounds

I weigh 154 pounds, but I'd never refer to myself that way. Might as well say I weigh 2,464 ounces. Ridonkulous.

As someone else said, I and most others have no idea when it comes to converting stone.
The larger numbers kilos or pounds make sense because they are more accurate.
Stone is just crazy.

 

[veggiepatch1959]

"Hey butcher....I'll have a kilo of thick sausages with that pound of rump steak."

 

[Bastard Squad]

I think its down to the number of syllables

Inches is 2 syllables
Feet is one syllable
Centimeters is 4 syllables

So feet and inches are easier to say.

Kilos can be abbreviated to Ks, he weighs 60ks, or I drove 60ks, so that's easier to say.