It's all about Metric -v- Imperial. In the UK we used to use Imperial weights and measures for everything, so:

Length = inches, feet, yards, furlongs, miles
Area = square feet, acres
Volume = liquid ounce, pint, gallon
Mass = ounce, pound, stone, hundredweight, ton

The thing is Imperial measurements are not base 10 (based on the decimal system), so... we have 16 ounces to a pound, 14 pounds to a stone, 112 pounds to a hundredweight, 20 hundredweight to a ton, which is 20 lots of 112 pounds, or 2240 pounds to an Imperial ton.



This worked for us, but it was hard work in terms of international trade, which is why we now use the Metric system more often than not, with 1000 kilos to the ton. Beer is still sold in pint glasses though, even if technically it is 568 millilitres!