curious about "stone"

la8ydi

How much is a "stone" and where are those measurements used? I read a lot of posts about people losing "a stone" and I have no idea if that's really good or what. ;-)

anna_toffee

a stone is 14lbs. it's used in the UK mainly

Camera_BagintheUK

A stone is 14lbs. Brits of my generation have been brought up between imperial and metric measurements, so I weigh my food in grams but myself in stones and pounds.

ed: So a stone and a half is one stone seven.

adorable_aly

1 stone= 14lbs

la8ydi

Thanks! :-) So a "one stone" loss is significant...now I know!

SpecialSundae

Or 6.35kg

SuperstarDJ

A stone is 14lbs. Brits of my generation have been brought up between imperial and metric measurements, so I weigh my food in grams but myself in stones and pounds.

Lol! Me too.

I also use Fahrenheit when measuring body temperature, but Celsius when cooking or referring to the weather!

willrun4bagels

Anyone know how the term "stone" as a definition for that specific amount of weight came about? I am curious!

Camera_BagintheUK

A stone is 14lbs. Brits of my generation have been brought up between imperial and metric measurements, so I weigh my food in grams but myself in stones and pounds.

Lol! Me too.

I also use Fahrenheit when measuring body temperature, but Celsius when cooking or referring to the weather!

LOL but I'll still buy a pound of apples! And I'll measure fluids for cooking in mls rather than fluid oz, but order pints and half pints in the pub! I drive miles but measure meters and centimeters of fabric or paper. :bigsmile:

Camera_BagintheUK

Anyone know how the term "stone" as a definition for that specific amount of weight came about? I am curious!

It's literal - stones used to be used to weigh things for trade http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_(Imperial_mass)

Dovekat

I vaguely recall something about a common standard of measurement for commerce being set during the medieval period in England by one of our kings but History classes were a long time ago so I nipped over to Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_(unit)

jonnyman41

when you have been brought up with weighing body weight in stones and pounds it makes sense and you automatically have a sense of what someone means when they say they have lost a stone, weigh 16 stone, etc but can see it does not make sense to anyone not used to these measurements lol.

Franki261

Ha - totally. Likewise, if an American gives their weight, I have to go divide it by 14 before I have any idea what they're talking about.

I still think of my weight in stone and pounds although on here it's listed in kilos because my bathroom scales are metric only. My kitchen scales are metric too but I use a lot of online recipes which are often in ounces or - if they're from the US - cups (which I still haven't got my head around!).

samammay

A stone is 14lbs. Brits of my generation have been brought up between imperial and metric measurements, so I weigh my food in grams but myself in stones and pounds.

Lol! Me too.

I also use Fahrenheit when measuring body temperature, but Celsius when cooking or referring to the weather!

LOL but I'll still buy a pound of apples! And I'll measure fluids for cooking in mls rather than fluid oz, but order pints and half pints in the pub! I drive miles but measure meters and centimeters of fabric or paper. :bigsmile:

why on earth would you ever order a half a pint in a pub???

cafeaulait7

I've always wondered what the scales say, and I never tried it out when over there. Do they say like 10 S 3 lbs?

anna_toffee

yeah, it comes up on the scale like 10:13 or 10st 3. we tend to leave off the "lbs"

vwbug86

Anyone know how the term "stone" as a definition for that specific amount of weight came about? I am curious!

They same place they got "foot", "cup", "tablespoon", and "teaspoon"

The entire imperial system has made standard units of measure of everyday things.