What are " stones"

24

Replies

  • BrokenButterfly
    BrokenButterfly Posts: 224
    I totally agree, but I won't be shouting about it until I've lost 4 stone!! lol :)

    This brings up a good point.

    Is stones practical when weighting a person? The resolution is so big that it seems like it would be more appropriate when weighing big things.

    My goal weight is barely over 2 stones away, but 30 lbs is something that I can see a change in every week.

    If you're used to weighing in stones then it makes perfect sense that way! Before I joined MFP, I had no idea what 175 pounds looked like or was equal to. I dunno... I suppose it's just a way of breaking the whole thing down into 'manageable sized chunks' :D
  • _John
    _John Posts: 27 Member
    Stones are always used here in the UK :)

    But for some odd reason only when referring to a person's weight. When shopping or in the kitchen people in the UK use kilos (now some odd person will come and say they use pounds).

    --
  • Hoakiebs
    Hoakiebs Posts: 430 Member
    Contextually, it could also refer to cajones. But we're assuming you mean weight measurement.
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    If Google is suppose to replace all conversation, cyber or otherwise, then what is the point of having message boards? ;)
    I don't recall anyone saying that it should replace all conversation. But if you're looking for factual information, why would you go to a message board and type in "what are stones" when you could do the same on Google and get an instant answer? If I need to do a math problem I use a calculator; I don't ask around.
  • pinkupooh
    pinkupooh Posts: 155
    slightly bigger than a pebble but smaller than rocks......


    joking aside, stones are common usage in the UK. One stone = 14lbs. Therefore someone says they weigh 10 stone, they weigh 140lbs.


    good to know. I also wondered what stone was, but since it was referenced in a weight related conversation, I had figured may be 10 lb = 1 stone....;)
  • Hoakiebs
    Hoakiebs Posts: 430 Member
    Thank God someone had the guts to ask that .I've been wondering what a stone equals in pounds for awhile now!
    "google" is your friend!
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    I totally agree, but I won't be shouting about it until I've lost 4 stone!! lol :)

    This brings up a good point.

    Is stones practical when weighting a person? The resolution is so big that it seems like it would be more appropriate when weighing big things.

    My goal weight is barely over 2 stones away, but 30 lbs is something that I can see a change in every week.
    This is like saying feet is not accurate for measuring height. I'm 67 inches tall so I say 5 feet 7 inches... I don't round it to 6 feet.
  • RoosterB
    RoosterB Posts: 214 Member
    Stones are always used here in the UK :)

    But for some odd reason only when referring to a person's weight. When shopping or in the kitchen people in the UK use kilos (now some odd person will come and say they use pounds).

    --

    Or ounces in the kitchen :)
  • tamsinwhitfield
    tamsinwhitfield Posts: 135 Member
    Stones are always used here in the UK :)

    But for some odd reason only when referring to a person's weight. When shopping or in the kitchen people in the UK use kilos (now some odd person will come and say they use pounds).

    --

    It's not really odd - it's just been a gradual conversion to metric from imperial. You use imperial and metric measurements for different types of distance equally as frequently (e.g. "100 metres away" versus "10 miles away"). I couldn't estimate a yard if you paid me (because in small units, we usually think in centimetres and metres), but I know roughly how far a mile is, since we still use this for distance measurements.
  • AtticusFinch
    AtticusFinch Posts: 1,262 Member
    I totally agree, but I won't be shouting about it until I've lost 4 stone!! lol :)

    This brings up a good point.

    Is stones practical when weighting a person? The resolution is so big that it seems like it would be more appropriate when weighing big things.

    My goal weight is barely over 2 stones away, but 30 lbs is something that I can see a change in every week.

    It's perfectly viable and is why it's still widely used in the UK, would you describe your height solely in inch units? No, you'd use a combo of feet and inches, and we use a combo of Stones and lbs.

    It's just a British quirk, and many younger Brits are almost completely metric anyway, expressing weight in Kilograms. (If it helps, we have to do some mental conversions when we read US descriptions of volume expressed in cups)


    :drinker:
  • dreamshadows
    dreamshadows Posts: 734 Member
    Chunks of rock?

    Actually I don't know either. Some older system for measuring I'd guess.
  • wolfi622
    wolfi622 Posts: 206
    If Google is suppose to replace all conversation, cyber or otherwise, then what is the point of having message boards? ;)
    I don't recall anyone saying that it should replace all conversation. But if you're looking for factual information, why would you go to a message board and type in "what are stones" when you could do the same on Google and get an instant answer? If I need to do a math problem I use a calculator; I don't ask around.

    Well, to the person asking, the conversation might be preferable to the "instant answer". It's always struck me as odd that people often get snarky and annoyed that someone asked a question in an online forum they could have got the answer too some other way.
  • brianblinn
    brianblinn Posts: 70 Member
    Never be afraid to ask a question. Have the 'stones" to ask! ;)
  • LauraSmyth28
    LauraSmyth28 Posts: 399 Member
    I agree it makes me sound lighter, I am 10 stone (or 140lbs).

    We use stones in Ireland too.

    If I see someone writing 100lbs I have to go "right, that's how many stone?". I can't think in lbs.
  • JosephSwaney49
    JosephSwaney49 Posts: 1 Member
    A "Stone" is a British measurement of weight. You might hear someone refer to a person or something as weighing "10 Stones" or "10 Stone." A single stone is equivalent to 14 lbs. Hope that helps!
  • julieellam
    julieellam Posts: 20 Member
    Stones are always used here in the UK :)

    But for some odd reason only when referring to a person's weight. When shopping or in the kitchen people in the UK use kilos (now some odd person will come and say they use pounds).

    --

    I think we've officially changed from imperial to metric in the UK now John. I'm seeing a new (young) doctor now and she doesn't use stones/pounds, only KG. It is a little confusing and I always end up converting the number she gives me anyway.

    I like using stones as I can break down my targets easily. Ultimately I'd like to be 10 stone (140kg) but have step targets of 16 stone, 14 stone and 12 stone (224kg, 196kg and 168kg). I don't think I could see the progression the same in KG but that may be that I've always used stone as my unit of measure.
  • LauraSmyth28
    LauraSmyth28 Posts: 399 Member
    Oh and I CANNOT WAIT to lose 1 more lb, so I can be 9 stone something, instead of 10 stone.

    Not that this has anything to do with the conversation.
  • MrsR0SE
    MrsR0SE Posts: 313 Member
    It just makes us Brits appear lighter. 14 stone sounds far better than 196lbs.

    That's because it is lighter, lol 14 stone is 140lb :)
  • lisaabenjamin
    lisaabenjamin Posts: 665 Member
    In UK schools these days (and for at least the last 30 years) they always teach children to use the metric system, i.e. grams and kilograms for weight, and metres and centimetres for distance/height. But older people are more familiar with the imperial system, i.e. stones/pounds and feet/inches. So I know my height and weight in both metric and imperial because I was taught one way at school, but the other way by my parents. I think the generation below me will start to phase out imperial altogether. You never see the weight on food packaging in imperial measurements now, always metric (unless you shop in a really old-school independent grocers).
  • lisaabenjamin
    lisaabenjamin Posts: 665 Member
    It just makes us Brits appear lighter. 14 stone sounds far better than 196lbs.

    That's because it is lighter, lol 14 stone is 140lb :)

    Um, nope, 14 stone is 196lbs (14 x 14)
  • BigAardvaark
    BigAardvaark Posts: 43
    It just makes us Brits appear lighter. 14 stone sounds far better than 196lbs.

    That's because it is lighter, lol 14 stone is 140lb :)

    No, 10 stone is 140lbs
  • mermx
    mermx Posts: 976
    It just makes us Brits appear lighter. 14 stone sounds far better than 196lbs.

    That's because it is lighter, lol 14 stone is 140lb :)

    No 10 stones is 140lbs :-)
  • marcoscu
    marcoscu Posts: 99 Member
    Since I was a child the government here in the UK have been doing their best to make us go fully decimal - and that means using Kgs in place of pounces, ounces, stones etc. But most (older) people still think in terms of pounds and stones.
    It was bad enough when they changed the old money and then took away our furlongs, perches and poles!
  • stephenatl09
    stephenatl09 Posts: 186 Member
    I must have a dirty mind because that is not where I went ... weight measurement, huh ?!?!?!! (almost forgot my comma, the Grammar Gestapo is everywhere)
  • Z_I_L_L_A
    Z_I_L_L_A Posts: 2,399 Member
    So does 20+ stones equal a boulder? lol
  • MrsR0SE
    MrsR0SE Posts: 313 Member
    It just makes us Brits appear lighter. 14 stone sounds far better than 196lbs.

    That's because it is lighter, lol 14 stone is 140lb :)

    Um, nope, 14 stone is 196lbs (14 x 14)
    Whoops!! That why I get for trying to be clever!
  • wewon
    wewon Posts: 838 Member
    I totally agree, but I won't be shouting about it until I've lost 4 stone!! lol :)

    This brings up a good point.

    Is stones practical when weighting a person? The resolution is so big that it seems like it would be more appropriate when weighing big things.

    My goal weight is barely over 2 stones away, but 30 lbs is something that I can see a change in every week.

    It's perfectly viable and is why it's still widely used in the UK, would you describe your height solely in inch units? No, you'd use a combo of feet and inches, and we use a combo of Stones and lbs.

    It's just a British quirk, and many younger Brits are almost completely metric anyway, expressing weight in Kilograms. (If it helps, we have to do some mental conversions when we read US descriptions of volume expressed in cups)


    :drinker:

    I wouldn't describe my height in inches, but that would be more descriptive than describing it in yards.
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
    Chunks of rock?

    Actually I don't know either. Some older system for measuring I'd guess.
    srs?
  • hiker282
    hiker282 Posts: 983 Member
    A device used by the ancient Israelites used as a means of capital punishment.
  • jonnyman41
    jonnyman41 Posts: 1,032 Member
    Britain introduced metric measuing in 1971 though for many of us we still think in terms of imperial (pounds and stones, feet and inches) A few years ago the law said that things had to be sold in metric apart from pints of beer so we now buy meat and veg in kg but still get a pint down the pub lol. Milk is a grey area as, if you get your milk delivered by a milkman then you usually get it in pint bottles but if you buy down the supermarket then you buy in lts!!!! Distance for driving is still measured in miles (imperial) however for lenghts of things we tend to buy in meters (e.g carpet) Yet height of people is still mixed with some using feet and inches and others using m and cm. We are so mixed up here lol Babies now tend to get weighed in kg but for many adults, hearing that a baby was 7lb 3oz makes far more sense than the kg version.

    Finally stones are imperial and are linked to lb its just that for us we can judge if a person is heavy/light etc based on hearing that they are 6stone 10 (as in ten pounds) or 22 stone 9 etc.....

    Docs now tend to use metric measuring and many public pay scales offer your weight in either.

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