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From: "Adam H. Kerman" <ahk@chinet.com>
Newsgroups: rec.arts.tv
Subject: Re: [OT] Is English just badly pronounced French?
Date: Sun, 31 Mar 2024 18:51:48 -0000 (UTC)
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suzeeq <suzee@imbris.com> wrote:
>On 3/31/2024 10:56 AM, Rhino wrote:
>>Sun, 31 Mar 2024 06:35:33 -0700 suzeeq <suzee@imbris.com>:

>>>>. . . 

>>>While GB officially went metric, many people still use the Imperial
>>>measurements, at least for linear measures, not so much for weight.

>>The Brits weigh themselves in "stones" not pounds or kilograms. (I
>>believe a stone is 14 pounds.) These stones are definitely not metric
>>but I'm not sure they can truly be called Imperial either since they
>>aren't used anywhere outside the UK, as far as I know.

>Yeah, I don't know where stone comes from. I was thinking smaller, like 
>pounds and ounces.

These were literal stones of a uniform weight used in trade, and
depending on the trade good, varied from 6 pounds to 21 pounds. They
would have been used on a balance scale.

Yes, they are part of the Imperial system. Various acts of Parliament
starting in 1835 were intended to phase them out but that obviously
never happened.

As a matter of trivia, yes the British Imperial System and U.S.
Customary System use a unit of mass. It's called the slug. It's derived
from a hypthetical 1 pound force accelerating a mass by 1 ft/second squared.