End the mystery, how much is a "stone"?

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  • shonora
    shonora Posts: 48 Member
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    Stone is a European measurement of weight. It used to vary from village to village before settling on about 14 lbs. It is no longer a "recognized" form of measurement, but is still used informally in some areas. It is especially common in Scotland and outlying areas of Europe. (P.S. I am American, but I am also one of those people to keep handy when you are playing Trivial Pursuit) :smokin:

    Its actually a recognized form of weight measurement all over the United Kingdom and Ireland not just Scotland!!
  • trud72
    trud72 Posts: 1,912 Member
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    Stone is a European measurement of weight. It used to vary from village to village before settling on about 14 lbs. It is no longer a "recognized" form of measurement, but is still used informally in some areas. It is especially common in Scotland and outlying areas of Europe. (P.S. I am American, but I am also one of those people to keep handy when you are playing Trivial Pursuit) :smokin:
    handy to know but i think you will find it all of the uk! :blushing:
  • Miss_dannii
    Miss_dannii Posts: 1,351 Member
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    No mystery, it's 14 pounds :)
  • GefMongoose
    GefMongoose Posts: 18
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    Stone is a European measurement of weight. It used to vary from village to village before settling on about 14 lbs. It is no longer a "recognized" form of measurement, but is still used informally in some areas. It is especially common in Scotland and outlying areas of Europe. (P.S. I am American, but I am also one of those people to keep handy when you are playing Trivial Pursuit) :smokin:

    Its actually a recognized form of weight measurement all over the United Kingdom and Ireland not just Scotland!!

    Agreed! I would never have said my weight in pounds, and still don't, I just understand pounds more after being on here. I'm 10 stone something so I always have to go through the thought process of 10 stone = 140lb, + however many pounds. haha.
  • chugglebunny
    chugglebunny Posts: 63
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    Yeah as another English girl, stones aren't informal at all. Everyone here I would imagine will answer in stones. Most people would have to stop and think about what they are in pounds.

    I quite like stones. Being a random odd number makes it more interesting :P For example. A lot of peoples goal weights here will be round numbers like "I want to weigh 130lbs" Where as I'd like to weigh 147lbs....because it's 10 and a half stone :) So a round figure for me as I use stones.
  • tuppance
    tuppance Posts: 132 Member
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    Most of us over here (Britain) use stones - we have to 'convert' to pounds for this site as it is Predominantly American

    To me 10 - 10 1/2 stone is an ideal weight whereas 140 lbs doesn't mean anything - whenever anyone says what weight they have lost in lbs I have to convert it into stone :)
  • mikonei
    mikonei Posts: 291 Member
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    Did you know that Google is a dirivitive of the word googol which is a unit of measurement that means near infinity? It is depicted as a number with 100 zeroes behind it. (like I said...I am full of useless information)

    actually that number is called a googolplex... (donno if i spelled that right)

    edit:
    i do remember learning that when i was around 10.. from one of those childcraft books... lol

    o_0 I knew how much a stone was, but came to see if there were any interesting responses. Found one! Ya learn something new every day :)
  • rdchick
    rdchick Posts: 49 Member
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    Yep definitely is the norm in the UK (I am from England) to say stones, lbs and oz. Just the way we are.

    I have a Dutch boyfriend and our scales are in KG, which is incredibly hard to get my head around. 6.6KG (roughly) in a stone so for me knowing I have lost 2lb means more to me than losing 1KG. Weird.

    So yes 14lbs in a stone
  • AMS58
    AMS58 Posts: 183 Member
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    Here in New Zealand it is 6.3kg :smile:
  • christinerush
    christinerush Posts: 155
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    14 pounds :smile:
  • Cal28
    Cal28 Posts: 514 Member
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    Yeah as another English girl, stones aren't informal at all. Everyone here I would imagine will answer in stones. Most people would have to stop and think about what they are in pounds.

    I quite like stones. Being a random odd number makes it more interesting :P For example. A lot of peoples goal weights here will be round numbers like "I want to weigh 130lbs" Where as I'd like to weigh 147lbs....because it's 10 and a half stone :) So a round figure for me as I use stones.

    I like stones too :smile:
    I've lost some weight which makes me 181.5lb (frustrating losing the next 1.5lb!) but in stones I've just gone back into the 12 stone range which seems better.

    Just moved to Aus and everyone here uses kg's which would drive me potty as they'd move so slow! lol. x
  • luvlyjanny
    luvlyjanny Posts: 85 Member
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    Stone is a European measurement of weight. It used to vary from village to village before settling on about 14 lbs. It is no longer a "recognized" form of measurement, but is still used informally in some areas. It is especially common in Scotland and outlying areas of Europe. (P.S. I am American, but I am also one of those people to keep handy when you are playing Trivial Pursuit) :smokin:

    :happy: i'm British and i didnt know this, thanks for sharing i shall come find you next time i play trivial pursuit x
  • caramkoala
    caramkoala Posts: 303 Member
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    I think it would be less confusing if people just said pounds. Stones do not make sense to me :-\

    I think it would be a lot less confusing if everyone used Kilograms! Yay for the metric system!:drinker:
  • sacha1977
    sacha1977 Posts: 26
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    Google Stones to pounds. They do the math for you!

    Ex: 50 Stones to pounds

    Response: 50 stones = 700 pounds

    I think it would be less confusing if people just said pounds. Stones do not make sense to me :-\
  • MrsR0SE
    MrsR0SE Posts: 343 Member
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    I always converting pounds to stone too :). I just can't visualise it in lb or kg! Although GB have officially 'gone metric ' to fit in with the rest of Europe, in real life it's still stones and pounds.

    More interestingly, why does the US not use stone? You use pounds and ounces all the time....why not stone too? Just wondering.......
  • MrsTattie
    MrsTattie Posts: 79 Member
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    My hubby uses kg and I use stones. So my profile pic at the moment shows 12-3.8.......which means 3.8 lbs till my number changes to 11 stone something! (huge mile"stone"!!) People will say 10 and a half stone etc. when on this site I mentally change people's weight to stone so I know whereabouts they are. Babies weights are given in both lbs and kg. my kids were all lbs until they hit about 21 lbs and then the nurse would mark it down as 1st7lbs.
  • HeidiRene
    HeidiRene Posts: 335 Member
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    Remember when we used to talk? You'd ask a friend a question, they'd know the answer and tell you? You remember, before Google made friends obsolete? Maybe you should google, Google.
    yeah... and then you would make fun of them for asking a stupid question... and it them with a foam bat.

    R u saying I asked a stupid question?
  • amyy902
    amyy902 Posts: 290 Member
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    i understand all 3. but kgs are like the best way, thats not a statement or a truth i just preferrrr them :)
  • InTenn
    InTenn Posts: 99
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    Did you know that Google is a dirivitive of the word googol which is a unit of measurement that means near infinity? It is depicted as a number with 100 zeroes behind it. (like I said...I am full of useless information)

    actually that number is called a googolplex... (donno if i spelled that right)

    edit:
    i do remember learning that when i was around 10.. from one of those childcraft books... lol
    Actually, googol is 1 followed by 100 zeros. Googolplex is 1 followed by googol zeros. Great piece of trivia... to write out googolplex without using scientific notation i.e., a 1 followed by a googol of zeros) would take a piece of paper so large it would not fit in the known universe. Googol is a lot.

    To the original topic - I always thought a stone was 5 farthings or something. Or maybe tuppence. I sometimes forget.
  • AliR105
    AliR105 Posts: 30 Member
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    Silly American! ;-)

    lol :) we british have it sorted out :)

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