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The pesky little clause that derailed metrication in the United States.

In 1998, 89 MPs signed a parliamentary motion opposing compulsory metrication and the prosecution of traders continuing to use imperial.

Conservatives and even anti-establishment liberals clubbed Jimmy Carter with metric, and when Reagan essentially killed the conversion in 1982, the board responsible for pushing metrication conceded there was “overwhelming” opposition.

For this reason, labor unions were among the strongest opponents of 1970s-era metrication, fearing that the switch would make it easier to ship jobs off-shore.

That, along with the failure to decimalise the compass, was perhaps the metrication commission’s biggest setback.