The plank notion that Kampervan described is the same in Oz. The 2x4" was only ever that size (when measured with a carpenter's rule) when it was sawn to size at 'tmill (the one w' the trooble). In those days people used a plane to dress their timber after they purchased it; now it is supplied "dressed" and comes in the 'dressed' size. But suppliers still talk in terms of 'metric foot' when dealing with lengths, and the timber lengths are in multiples of 30cm.

And when McGrath wrote
""...the system will eventually disappear of its own" Not quite, so long as the Yanks hold firm, and I can't see them going metric in a hurry. Of course some of their non-metrics go a bit strange when it come to their mini-pints and gallons, and they've never caught on to using stones, but linear measurements such as inch, foot and miles should be safe enough."

I was reminded that, while the Americans have resisted some conversions, they have implemented others, particularly two of the linear ones he mentions. Most users wouldn't have noticed but the British inch and the American inch were different when converted to centimetres. The difference was significant only at the 4th decimal place (from memory) which is why few noticed when, in 1979 (again, from memory) the Americans changed their definition of the inch to 2.54cm exactly. This had implications for the American foot and the American mile but the differences were negligible for most people. Surveyors, though, had to change so that they use the meter (as they call it) as the basis for such measurements. But not many Americans are surveyors so the rest still think in what they assume are the traditional 'feet and inches'.

Cheers, Rowan