Why do the Brits say 10x8 and 5x4?

[Keith Tapscott.]

Why is it that the British refer to LF cameras sizes differently from all the rest of the world?
Why do they call an 8x10 "10x8" and why do they refer to the little 4x5 as "5x4"???
Enquiring minds want to know...

Perhaps 4x5, 8x10 etc are more likely to be American formats. Maybe in Europe, formats such as Quarter Plate, Half Plate and Whole Plate were more common? I honestly don`t know.

[Keith Tapscott.]

Well, we all agree on 5x7.

Don`t you mean 7x5?

[Mick Fagan]

I think the more technically correct pronunciation down under is, "foive before".

At least that's how I say it, according to my German missus

Mick.

[Richard Kelham]

Don`t you mean 7x5?

I always thought it was Half Plate....

[SchwinnParamount]

Rob,
There are a few really fine American beers, just far to few.

Actually, there are hundreds of really good American beers. They are microbrews, all of them. Unfortunately, only the corporate brewed crap beers like budweiser and coors are exported... thereby giving American beer a really bad name.

I've made a strong effor to sample as many English, Belgian, German, and Czech beers as I can find. On that basis, I can say that a very many American micro brews stand shoulder to shoulder with the best Europe has to offer.

Maybe our government should make it a crime to export piss-water like Bud or Coors. It may not do any good for our reputation overseas though. Even if you held a gun to Budweiser's corporate head, they couldn't make a decent beer. They are too much beholden to the major stock holder to give a rip about something like "taste" or "quality". The law would merely dry up the whole export stream as no American company that cares about beer export knows or cares anything about taste.

Come to think of it, aren't the best British beers brewed by small houses tied to a single pub... or maybe a town?

[Uri Kolet]

Omergang Brewery in Cooperstown in upstate New York brews exquisite Belgian ales, as do Unibroue of Chambly, Quebec. Try Okanagan Spring's Porter; their brewery is in the Okangan Valley in the British Columbia Rockies.
By the way, all navigators, pilots, and seamen refer to latitude and longitude as lat. first followed by long., e.g. 45North 60West. If we had a single reference point for all map directions we'd have far less confusion and fewer navdata entry errors - but we'd still get lost!

[Gary Tarbert]

Actually, there are hundreds of really good American beers. They are microbrews, all of them. Unfortunately, only the corporate brewed crap beers like budweiser and coors are exported... thereby giving American beer a really bad name.

I've made a strong effor to sample as many English, Belgian, German, and Czech beers as I can find. On that basis, I can say that a very many American micro brews stand shoulder to shoulder with the best Europe has to offer.

Maybe our government should make it a crime to export piss-water like Bud or Coors. It may not do any good for our reputation overseas though. Even if you held a gun to Budweiser's corporate head, they couldn't make a decent beer. They are too much beholden to the major stock holder to give a rip about something like "taste" or "quality". The law would merely dry up the whole export stream as no American company that cares about beer export knows or cares anything about taste.

Come to think of it, aren't the best British beers brewed by small houses tied to a single pub... or maybe a town?

You forgot to add Millers they make it as crappy as anybody.
I allways wondered why the american slang for beer was suds until i tasted it ! yep just like dishwater.Cheers (but not with U.S beer)Gary

[Craig]

T
Old sports car joke:

Q: Why do the British drink warm beer?
A. Because they have Lucas refrigerators.

I've had 5 British cars ranging in year of build from 1964 to 1995. One was a Jaguar XJ12 that used various General Motors components like the transmission, ignition amp, AC system, and power steering. Guess what failed?

Every single GM component failed at least once in the 45,000 miles I owned it, and I went through 3 ignition amps and 2 AC compressors. Not a single Lucas component failed, not even a lightbulb. On my other cars I've had the odd bulb go, but no other Lucas item has failed.

So much for Lucas unreliability, the Jags without GM bits have been bulletproof.

[Andrew O'Neill]

Try Okanagan Spring's Porter; their brewery is in the Okangan Valley in the British Columbia Rockies.

Okanagan Valley? It's nowhere near the Rockies.