| The reason the long ton has 2240 pounds is that it consists of 20 hundredweights (cwt). The long cwt is 112 pounds, because it is 8 stone, 1 stone being 14 pounds. The short cwt is 100 pounds. I don't think that a short stone of 12.5 pounds was ever used. I also think the long weights were devised to allow for the gross weight of a container or wagon.
Here in Canada, we get the best and worst of both worlds, dealing with you Brits and Yankees (with apologies to those south of the Mason-Dixon line).
We also play both sides of the metric/imperial game, because we started metrification under Pierre Trudeau (a Liberal prime minister: to you Yanks, he'd be a Democrat, to you Brits, I guess Labour is the closest match; on the left of centre anyway), but then our government change hands, bringing in a Progressive Conservative crew (Republican/Tory/right wing) who felt we should not force business to spend money just because it made sense to join the rest of the planet under the metric system. So the job is half done, my bread comes in a 680 g loaf (24 oz) and until just this past fall, a can of apple juice held 1.82 litres (32 fl. oz.) The juice cans have gone to 1.6 l but stayed the same price. Quelle surprise. |
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