Since the momentous decision to part ways with the European Union—affectionately known as Brexit—Great Britain has found itself in need of more than just new trade agreements and blue passports. No, dear reader, what we really needed was a measurement system that truly reflects the spirit of a post-EU Britain. Gone are the sterile millimeters and kilometers of our continental cousins! It’s time for a more whimsical, proudly British approach to sizing up the world.
So, here at The Sage Page, we’ve ditched the cold, clinical metric system in favor of something more fitting for a nation that brought you double-decker buses, smidgens, and the area you can swing a cat in. Why measure in sterile square meters when you could use football pitches, Big Ben, or the ever-reliable bag of sugar? Below, you’ll find our revolutionary tables of non-metric British measurements, designed to put a bit more character into your calculations. Because who wouldn’t prefer to know how many London black cabs you weigh or how many kettles could fill your bathtub?
Since we’ve said goodbye to Brussels bureaucracy, it’s only right that we embrace a system where precision takes a backseat to charm. After all, why would anyone bother with liters when you can measure in pints of beer? Who needs hectares when you have football pitches? And forget about tedious grams and kilograms—here, we like to weigh things in footballs, bags of sugar, and, when things get really heavy, London cabs. It’s a system as eccentric and lovable as a cup of tea on a rainy afternoon.
So, whether you’re calculating the area of your back garden in “cat-swinging spaces” or trying to gauge whether you can fit an entire jumbo jet’s worth of baked beans into a bathtub (don’t ask), our handy tables will guide you through this brave new world of post-Brexit British measurements. We may have left the EU behind, but we’ve gained a world where measuring things is not only accurate (ish), but also highly entertaining!
Weight Table
| Unit | Weight (g) | Relation to Previous/Next Measurement |
|---|---|---|
| Pinch of salt | ~0.15 g | – |
| Smidgen | 0.9 g | ~6 pinches of salt = 1 smidgen |
| Football | 400 g | ~444 smidgens = 1 football |
| Loaf of bread | 800 g | 2 footballs = 1 loaf of bread |
| Bag of sugar | 1,000 g (1 kg) | 1.25 loaves of bread = 1 bag of sugar |
| London black cab | 2,600 kg | ~2,600 bags of sugar = 1 London black cab |
| Double-decker bus | 12,000 kg | ~4.6 London black cabs = 1 double-decker bus |
| Jumbo jet | 400,000 kg | ~33.33 double-decker buses = 1 jumbo jet |
Volume Table
| Unit | Volume (L) | Relation to Previous/Next Measurement |
|---|---|---|
| Pinch of salt | ~0.15 ml (0.00015 L) | – |
| Dash | ~0.6 ml (0.0006 L) | ~4 pinches of salt = 1 dash |
| Smidgen | ~0.9 ml (0.0009 L) | ~1.5 dashes = 1 smidgen |
| Teaspoon | 5 ml (0.005 L) | ~5.56 smidgens = 1 teaspoon |
| Tablespoon | 15 ml (0.015 L) | 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon |
| Can of baked beans | 415 ml (0.415 L) | ~27.67 tablespoons = 1 can of baked beans |
| Pint of beer | 568 ml (0.568 L) | ~1.37 cans of baked beans = 1 pint of beer |
| Kettle | 1.5 L | ~2.64 pints of beer = 1 kettle |
| Bathtub | 80 L | ~53.33 kettles = 1 bathtub |
| Olympic swimming pool | 2,500,000 L | ~31,250 bathtubs = volume of 1 Olympic swimming pool (~2.5 million liters) |
Time Table
| Unit | Time (Seconds) | Relation to Previous/Next Measurement |
|---|---|---|
| Blink of an eye | 0.1 seconds | – |
| Heartbeat | 1 second | ~10 blinks of an eye = 1 heartbeat |
| Minute | 60 seconds | 60 heartbeats = 1 minute |
| Hour | 3,600 seconds | 60 minutes = 1 hour |
| Day | 86,400 seconds | 24 hours = 1 day |
| Week | 604,800 seconds | 7 days = 1 week |
| Year | 31,536,000 seconds | 52 weeks = 1 year |
Length/Height Table
| Unit | Length/Height | Relation to Previous/Next Measurement |
|---|---|---|
| Hand | 10.16 cm (0.1016 m) | – |
| Football | ~22 cm (~0.22 m) | ~2.2 hands = 1 football |
| London black cab | 4.57 m | ~20 footballs = length of 1 London black cab (4.57 m) |
| Double-decker bus | 9.75 m | ~2 London black cabs = length of 1 double-decker bus (9.75 m) |
| Big Ben | 96 m | ~9.84 double-decker buses = height of Big Ben (96 m) |
| Football pitch | 100 m | ~1.04 Big Bens = length of 1 football pitch (100 m) |
| Wembley Arch | 133 m | ~1.33 football pitches = height of Wembley Arch (133 m) |
Area Table
| Unit | Area (m²) | Relation to Previous/Next Measurement |
|---|---|---|
| Postage stamp | 0.000504 m² | – |
| Size of a hand | 0.0146 m² | ~29 postage stamps = 1 hand |
| Area you can swing a cat | 1.54 m² | ~106 hands = area you can swing a cat |
| Football pitch | 7,140 m² | ~4,636 areas you can swing a cat = 1 football pitch |
| Size of London | 1,572,000,000 m² (1,572 km²) | ~220,224 football pitches = size of London |
| Size of Wales | 20,779,000,000 m² (20,779 km²) | ~13.22 times the size of London = size of Wales |
| Size of Australia | 7,692,024,000,000 m² (7,692,024 km²) | ~370 times the size of Wales = size of Australia |
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