Don’t worry, @MikeC - at BassBuzz everybody makes fun of everything, even about my really interesting questions or even my cool Harley Benton bass.
And I am going to take a stand here for imperial units - look at this page. It shows what would happen if we convert imperial to metric in idioms:
There’s also the snail!
I asked for some 38mm x 90mm studs at Home Depot. They just looked at me funny. They asked why I didn’t just buy a 2x4 if I wanted something 1.5 inches by 3.5 inches.
Cause 1.5" is 38.1mm and 3.5" is 88.9mm.
I have learned from the nut discussion that those differences can mean the world, but more importantly: I just had some issues putting 14mm tuners into holes for 17mm tuners, using a 17mm bushing with 14mm inner diameter.
Imagine my surprise when I found out that it did not fit exactly. There was a liitle bit of wiggle room for both the new 14mm tuner in the bushing and the bushing in the 17mm hole.
So, 14mm is actually 9/16", which is 14.3mm. 17mm is actually 11/16", which is 17.5mm. That’s not a lot, but not perfect for tuners that should fit reasonably tight
Of course, 9/16" is being sold as 14mm in Europe and 11/16" as 17mm.
Also, it is impossible to get a proper drill for those imperial dimensions.
I have improvised with copper tape, and now everything is good. But the metric / imperial war is still raging on in our very homes!
Side note: I always have to think of those guys below, when I read “imperial”. They are on the dark side of the Force, remember?
Must be the reason for my Imperial hangovers being worse 
This why you need two sets of everything. On the left are imperial wrenches (spanners for all the Poms) and on the right metric.
No sense in fighting it. I’ve given in and accepted that there are two systems and have moved on. I just find the correct sized wrench, drill bit etc and use that.
Or just be a hack and use the wrong size and Mickey Mouse it. As sung about by the fabulous Corb Lund.
Should be my motto to live by 
Thanks for reminding me I need to find my **** laser level
When in Rome… 
Luckily, and thank heavens for this, in the U.K., the vast majority of stuff that needs a spanner, an allen key or a Torx key is metric. Genuinely, I have no imperial measure spanners etc in my tool box!
Same in Holland and Germany!
Same everywhere but for two countries, I suspect.
