The the European Union had intended to force the UK and Ireland to stop using miles on road signs, troy ounces for gold and other precious metals, and pints for milk, cider, and beer by 2010.
But Britain's citizens are now free to buy their ale by the pint and their potatoes by the pound without threat of interference from the EU.
The Brussels-based European Union announced this week that Britain can keep using its centuries-old system of imperial measures.
For the past 12 years, goods sold in the European Union have had to display weights and measures in metric terms. To appease a furious public, imperial units dating back to the Middle Ages were allowed to be posted alongside the metric in Britain, such as yards, furlongs, leagues, cables, links, poles, chains, drachms, stones, and hundredweights.Some shopkeepers violated EU regulations by continuing to sell things only in imperial measurements and they were fined.
The lone metric measure that the British appear to have accepted is the liter as a measure of gasoline, or "petrol," for motor vehicles. One explanation is that having to pay 95 pence per liter at the pump sounds better than 3.90 pounds — or $7.80 — per gallon.
British retailers still will be required under EU law to advertise items in metric measures, but no longer will they risk a hefty fine or the threat of jail for also openly measuring everything in imperial terms.
Sources: http://online.wsj.com and http://www.washingtontimes.com
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