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Lucky for me I am "Bilingual". Metrication happen in the UK whilst I was in Year Three at school (that's third grade Elementary for those on on the left side of the Atlantic, but who drive on the right side of the road).....



Yes Martin. Your "bilingualism" is very self-evident as witnessed by your use of the word "whilst" here.

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Now if someone could only explain to me why the US gallon is approx 20% less than the Imperial gallon, I would be happy. Is it just to make the Brits and Canuck's think they get 20% better mileage?



It appears the difference stems from the time from the middle ages when there were actually two liquid gallon measurements used...the "ale gallon" and the "wine gallon".

The origins of these differences lie in the variety of systems that were in use in Britain at the time of the establishment of the first colonies in North America. The American colonists adopted the English wine gallon of 231 cubic inches, and used it for all fluid purposes. The English of that period used this wine gallon, but they also had another gallon, the ale gallon of 282 cubic inches. In 1824, the British abandoned these two gallons when they adopted the British Imperial gallon, which they defined as the volume of 10 pounds of water, at a temperature of 62 °F, which, by calculation, is equivalent to about 277.42 cubic inches (4,546 cm³)- much closer to the ale gallon than the wine gallon, and whereas the wine gallon unit had become firmly established as the standard for a liquid gallon in the United States by this time.

Given it all stems from the British there must be a grape seed or barlycorn relationship there somehow. Thanks for taking us full circle.