r/OldSchoolCool • u/wemtastic • Oct 09 '25

1950s A ton-up girl fixing her Triumph, 1950s

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11.0k Upvotes

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96

u/SandboxSurvivalist Oct 09 '25

TIL the British didn't start adopting the metric system until 1965.

138

u/PM_THE_REAPER Oct 09 '25

Partially. The UK still uses mph.

71

u/Forgotthebloodypassw Oct 09 '25

And drink pints, which is also confusing as they are 20oz, not 16oz as in America. This pisses off many British visitors.

23

u/Discobastard Oct 09 '25

Yes. Yes it does. Fucking lightweights

17

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '25

[deleted]

11

u/Forgotthebloodypassw Oct 09 '25

Oh it gets worse. As long at they aren't explicitly called pints the glass can be whatever they like, which is why you often find a dome at the bottom of the glass.

9

u/load_more_comets Oct 09 '25

What in the ever loving fuck? Really? I've never noticed that, and I go to bars like every Friday. I have to check now.

9

u/Spork_Warrior Oct 09 '25

We'd like to have a report by Saturday, please

10

u/load_more_comets Oct 09 '25

Promptly, around noonish. Gonna be nursing a hangover again.

7

u/findallthebears Oct 09 '25

The domes are to make the glass more resistant to shattering, not to fool you

4

u/TabbyOverlord Oct 09 '25

Yet strangely, British 'pint' glasses, that hold like an actual pint, are generally flat across the bottom.

Must be the extra hydrostatic pressure from us getting all of the pint we paid for.

1

u/findallthebears Oct 09 '25

Again, the dome is not to defraud you. It serves a structural purpose.

Pint glasses with the dome can easily be slightly larger to allow filling to a full pint.

1

u/TabbyOverlord Oct 09 '25

Again, no UK glass has a dome. And UK glasses can't defraud you because they governed by the Weights and Measures Acts and the Licensed Premisis Acts.

It will either be exactly 1 UK pint to the brim, or there will be a whith line on the glass showing where exactly 1 pint comes up to.

Selling short measures is illegal.

7

u/Discobastard Oct 09 '25

The fuck is that about!? 😂

Almost like they don't want us to get pissed

8

u/Forgotthebloodypassw Oct 09 '25

As British mate said, "So I've got to drink six pints to get the same effect as five?"

3

u/Discobastard Oct 09 '25

😂 right though! 😂

9

u/blue_strat Oct 09 '25

Rubbish. The dome supports the structure of the glass: you see the same thing in wine bottles. The capacity of the glass has to be what it's labelled or sold as.

2

u/zatalak Oct 09 '25

In wine bottles the dome makes sense, there's high pressure during corking and it helps with holding back potential sediment while pouring.

5

u/blue_strat Oct 09 '25

There are lots of reasons for the punt and many apply to open containers. It makes a vessel more stable on a flat surface.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 09 '25

You’re a punt!

1

u/Toad_da_Unc Oct 09 '25

And medieval churches

4

u/mummy__napkin Oct 09 '25

The real lightweights are the Brits getting wasted off of 3% ABV beers

7

u/Discobastard Oct 09 '25

Haha, gotta say, they love some 7% smashers out there and probably some stronger!

Not what I'd go with on an all dayer tbh. Need to pace yourself across a full 24 hours 😂

5

u/TabbyOverlord Oct 09 '25

You what? Very few 3% beers on sale herre. 3.8% is the lowest for session beers (as in you can drink all evening without getting stupidly trollied). 4.5-5.0% is fairly standard.

The brewers have dialled back on the 5+% beers. 7% is loopy juice. Or cider, which is even loopier juice.

3

u/stewieatb Oct 09 '25

My dad can remember when pubs would only serve Theakston's Old Peculier in half pints due to the potency. This is back before they were sold to Scottish and Newcastle, and the OP was a beer you needed to chew on.

5

u/TabbyOverlord Oct 09 '25

Old Pec was a three course meal in a pint glass.

I can remember a long day working a canal boat over the Leeds and Liverpool. We got to a proper Theakston's pub proper tired and thirsty, drank one pint and thought 'you know what, I'm done'. Went back to the boat and slept.

1

u/talk_like_a_pirate Oct 10 '25

To be fair there's a high chance it's filled with some disgusting soapy IPA that is 3 times as strong as your standard Lager so it may be a safety measure...