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

24

Replies

  • Cal28
    Cal28 Posts: 514 Member
    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
    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

    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
    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: 313 Member
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    Silly American! ;-)

    lol :) we british have it sorted out :)
  • luvlyjanny
    luvlyjanny Posts: 85 Member
    The real question is why stones??

    I much prefer the Beatles :)

    hahaaa oh i do love some of the responses on here :laugh:
  • Gail3260
    Gail3260 Posts: 354 Member
    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 :)


    ^^^^^Me too!!
  • ladyraven68
    ladyraven68 Posts: 2,003 Member
    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:

    Don't know why you think it is no longer recognised - it is the standard in the UK when talking about weight.

    it I said to my friends and family I was 177lb, nobody would have a clue what I meant, but 12st 9lb means something to them.
  • acwatters
    acwatters Posts: 9 Member
    In Ireland we still use stone and lbs too, and baking would be mostly pounds and oz, but I think officially the country is gone metric, you don't buy a pound of butter anymore, it's 454g or something. (Distances too, road signs and dials on new cars are all in km, but most people would still talk about miles and have to do quick conversions in their heads). The kids learn kilos etc at school so I'd say when they grow up they'll be all working in kilos - so will have even greater fun on sites like this! Scales are all dual format.
  • persian_star
    persian_star Posts: 197 Member
    I'm from England too and would always have answered the weight question with stone/lbs, just like I would answer height in ft/inches. However, I'm married to an american, so although our scales can do all 3 type of measurements (kg/lbs/st&lb) we have it set to lb so he can understand it, and I've actually found it really useful. I don't have an emotional attachment to 126 lbs as I do to 9 stone (me at heaviest) so I can be more objective, I can aim for 120 without being horrified that it's still over 8 1/2 stone (which is where I was for years before starting to eat too much!) Plus those lbs change much more quickly *l*
  • psychopiglet
    psychopiglet Posts: 130 Member
    Yeah, it's 14lbs. If measuring in lbs I never understand why it's so common in the US to use a huge number. You don't measure distance just in feet do you? LA is 12,903,211ft from NYC. Would you measure it like that? Or would you say LA is 3444 miles from NYC? It's the same thing.

    Also, "stone" is both singular and plural. So a small child might be 1 stone an adult might be 10 stone.
  • thankyou4thevenom
    thankyou4thevenom Posts: 1,581 Member
    It's double the weight of half a stone

    :laugh:


    14lbs is a stone or 6.3 kg.
  • sandown12
    sandown12 Posts: 648 Member
    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:

    It is used in the uk by doctors and weightloss groups and hospitals?
  • Fridaydalek
    Fridaydalek Posts: 28 Member
    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:

    It is used in the uk by doctors and weightloss groups and hospitals?

    Don't know about weightloss groups. In my experience, in health care it's metric. Last doctor's checkup I had I was told my weight in KG. Followed by me asking the inevitable "What's that in..."

    I think the healthcare professionals get this all the time, there was a conversion chart taped to the wall behind the scale!
  • sandown12
    sandown12 Posts: 648 Member
    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:

    It is used in the uk by doctors and weightloss groups and hospitals?

    Don't know about weightloss groups. In my experience, in health care it's metric. Last doctor's checkup I had I was told my weight in KG. Followed by the inevitable "What's that in..."

    I think the healthcare professionals get this all the time, there was a conversion chart taped to the wall behind the scale!

    My doctors have all weighed me in stones and lbs and the nurse asd I have smear tests ,I have been to many slimming clubs and its all done in stones and lbs cambridge diet lighterlife diet chemist scales all the same I have never been weighed in KG and all my home scales are in stones and lbs aand kgs all 3?
  • beckijay29
    beckijay29 Posts: 16
    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:

    It's not just in Scotland (Where I live) it's across the U.K. I was raised half in metric, half in imperial, like most early 20 something Brits.
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,686 Member
    It is used in the uk by doctors and weightloss groups and hospitals?

    When they're talking to someone over the age of 40 or so, who wasn't schooled in metric measurments, they'll generally say "95 kilo's - or 15 stones in 'proper measurments'" - much the same as saying "You're 1.84m tall - or 6 foot"

    Personally, I kind of work in all three - lb's stones or KG's as appropriate - my Dad's 79, and wouldn't understand KG's if they bit him on the backside, my Dr. and I work happily in KG's but it's only a simple bit of math to get to lb's to post on here so you former colonials can understand...
  • oouurr__aayylleeyycan
    oouurr__aayylleeyycan Posts: 149
    Oh dear... some of the comments on this thread are hilarious :)

    As pointed out by many of my fellow Englishman (and women!), a stone is 14lbs and yes, in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales it is still the most common measurement of mass used. Whilst we do get taught other measurement systems in school, stones and pounds are the predominant measurement we use. There's a reason they put all the measurement conversions in the back of diaries still!
  • oouurr__aayylleeyycan
    oouurr__aayylleeyycan Posts: 149
    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:

    It's not just in Scotland (Where I live) it's across the U.K. I was raised half in metric, half in imperial, like most early 20 something Brits.

    Haha, yep!! I agree! Like I said in my post, we were taught metric as well in school, but it was always a bit half-arsed because most of the teachers worked in imperial still anyway just like my parents did! Why fix it if it isn't broken, that's what I think :P
  • janb23
    janb23 Posts: 3
    Hi, first post here. When i was growing up in Australia it was ounces, pounds and stones. Now i am all grown up it is Kilo's. So my generation relate to both measurements. My parents still talk in stones and my kids wouldn't know a stone from an ounce. A recent trip to US had me doing my sums trying to convert everything.
  • david081
    david081 Posts: 489 Member
    Easy - 1 stone = 3584 drams...

    I thought everyone knew that...
  • TheBigYin
    TheBigYin Posts: 5,686 Member
    Oh - and one of the main reasons that the healthcare / weightloss people work in KG's and cm's is that it makes the maths MUCH easier for calculating BMI... weight in Kg's divided by height in Metres squared is an awful lot easier on a calculator than (weight in lb's * 703) divided by height in inches squared - at least when you're doing the calculation 50 times a day...
  • sammyjbray
    sammyjbray Posts: 146 Member
    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:

    It's not just in Scotland (Where I live) it's across the U.K. I was raised half in metric, half in imperial, like most early 20 something Brits.

    Haha, yep!! I agree! Like I said in my post, we were taught metric as well in school, but it was always a bit half-arsed because most of the teachers worked in imperial still anyway just like my parents did! Why fix it if it isn't broken, that's what I think :P

    My children do everything metric at school now, but if you asked my 13yo daughter how much she weighed, she'd give you the answer in stone and pounds still! I don't think it'll ever go, despite what the Europeans try to foist on us. :tongue:
  • girl_afraid82
    girl_afraid82 Posts: 178 Member
    I was taught metric at school, but still can't get my head around using it in terms of height or weight. All the theory is there, I just can't apply it!

    I struggle enough having to convert my weight into singular pounds, let alone kilos. It probably stems from always being weighed in stones and pounds as a kid. Even now, I've never heard anyone over here say 'I had a baby that weighed x amount of kilos'. It's always in pounds and ounces!
  • sirihermine
    sirihermine Posts: 123 Member
    As a scandinavian I grew up with the metric system. I've gotten my head around the lbs, feet and inches to use here, but I've never been able to grasp the stone measurement. (and since the uk is moving towards metric I'll just wait until we all calculate in centimeters and kilos)
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