Recliner wrote:
We still say give them an inch and they'll take a mile.

Saying Give them 2.54cm and they'll take 1.6 kilometers just doesn't
sound the same...


The metric version would be, "give them a cm and they'll take a km".


Which unfortunately doesn't scan very well, "inch" and "mile" not
only sound different, but are only one syllable each, as opposed
to four syllables each. You might try

"give them a metre and they'll take a million",

which has a nice bit of alliteration, but on everyday scales an inch
is small, but a metre is not-small. I suppose you might shift to
weights, and say

"give them a gram and they'll take a tonne";

or perhaps volume, with

"give them a mil (ie millilitre) and they'll take a lakeful",

which trades the lack of a big volume unit for an extra "l"
from "lakeful".


#Paul