>Don't get me wrong - I'm not typical Brit in my embracing the metric system. It just makes so much more sense to me. But you'll find all trade suppliers and DIY stores, etc, do it in metric. I was brought up on imperial but it's like 5 minutes' work to convert! The one way we'll probably never change, though, is in giving people's heights: a six-footer gives me a greater snse of size than 185 centimeterer :-)

Being born metric, "six-footer" didn't mean much to me. Sounded like much, but I was heavily disappointed when I calculated that it's so much smaller than "dvometraš" (two-meter-tall-guy).

> Hence, a woman, say, of 5'7" I can picture her.

I can't... I'd have to calculate. Now 168cm would be a measure I could use. IOW, it's all a matter of habit.

> But if I were measuring her for a dress, then cm/mm. Measuring for a bra though, I'd use the equestrian measure of "hands" <bg>

A friend of mine was buying one (or is it a pair?) for his girlfriend, and asked for a measure he just said "two handfuls". He had to show his hands so the clerk could gauge the size... and it was right.