What are " stones"

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245

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  • captdb2000wechanged
    captdb2000wechanged Posts: 9
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    Stones is the British rock group that had some great hits. Lead man Mick Jagger. Awesome group.
  • Tamara6984
    Tamara6984 Posts: 30
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    I totally agree, but I won't be shouting about it until I've lost 4 stone!! lol :)
  • cjhart81
    cjhart81 Posts: 200 Member
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    Yup its stones in the UK :D 1 stone = 14lbs
  • tamsinwhitfield
    tamsinwhitfield Posts: 135 Member
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    It just makes us Brits appear lighter. 14 stone sounds far better than 196lbs.

    I actually think 14 stone sounds much worse - small units lose all meaning, but larger single units have a tendency to be more meaningful (plus it's etymologically identical to feet and inches; you'd never say you were 64 inches tall, or whatever your height is once converted).
  • elexichoccyeater
    elexichoccyeater Posts: 310 Member
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    In the North East we say 'clem' instead of stone so someone could be 14 clem!!! just to confuse you even more x
  • Hev_uk
    Hev_uk Posts: 82 Member
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    It just makes us Brits appear lighter. 14 stone sounds far better than 196lbs.

    Haha! This! I much prefer to say my weight in stones
  • wolfi622
    wolfi622 Posts: 206
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    If Google is suppose to replace all conversation, cyber or otherwise, then what is the point of having message boards? ;)
  • wewon
    wewon Posts: 838 Member
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    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.
  • gracie2586
    gracie2586 Posts: 69 Member
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    Thank God someone had the guts to ask that .I've been wondering what a stone equals in pounds for awhile now!
  • markyb1977
    markyb1977 Posts: 28 Member
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    We are very imperial... lol
  • BrokenButterfly
    BrokenButterfly Posts: 224
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    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
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    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
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    Contextually, it could also refer to cajones. But we're assuming you mean weight measurement.
  • ElizabethRoad
    ElizabethRoad Posts: 5,138 Member
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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
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    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: 1,263 Member
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    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:

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