An awfully effective, real-world-based system of weights and measures still used in some countries such as the US and partly in the UK - despite the almost
dictatorial pronuniciamentoes of the EU 'Yurp'} that everything must be measured in some - mis-measured - micro-fraction of the Earth's semi-demi-circumference.
Revolves around measuring weight, length, distance and energy etc. in units that actually do make sense - inch - called 'un pouce' in French is the length of the first digit of your thumb; span is the span of a man's hand fingers outstretched; a foot - 'un pied' in French - is - well . . . - the length of a foot; a yard is a pace or step;
acre is the area a horse will
plough in a day 220yards by 22 yards; a chain - 22 yards - is the length of a cricket pitch. And so on.
Unlike
the metric system which may have been taken on board by most countries and is used in - almost - all science - the brightness of nebulae is - please note - measured in crabs and millicrabs; but you knew that.
Seriously,
metric works for scienfitc calculations. But - when did you last have to work out the weight of an inch of rain falling on an acre (versus a
centimetre of rain on a hectare!).
Goliath was six cubits and a span; those Imperial units equate - in other Imperial units - to an improbabble nine foot eight tall.
Now, the metric equivalent is 2,95m (equally improbable, but not
blindingly obvious to a lay man).
"The Imperial system relates to human beings, and the things they are familiar with," said
Nichola to her pal Nic; "It can be used for
recondite scientific calculations, but metric may well be better for those."