by "Svend" (svend)
Published 09/24/2017 at 02:28
by "Svend" (svend)
Published 09/24/2017 at 02:28
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As we all know, some countries use the imperial system (the U.S. use U.S. Customary Units which are different to imperial units) while most use the metric system.
Is the U.K. the only country to use both imperial and metric at the same time?
We use imperial for distance (ie roads), metric for food (if using imperial, metric must also be shown), etc...
The E.U. tried on three occasions to make metric law in the U.K. but eventually they gave in and it was agreed we’d use both and it was made into law.
"shpuker" (shpuker)
09/24/2017 at 02:30, STARS: 3
Everyone should’ve switched over to metric and only metric 100 years ago.
"Svend" (svend)
09/24/2017 at 02:48, STARS: 0
I use imperial for some things such as distances but generally I only use miles and feet, I don’t use yards.
Metric doesn’t suit everyone. Part of the reason we kept imperial along with metric is cost. It was calculated as approximately £10billion alone to replace all the road signs in the U.K.
"TheD0k_2many toys 2little time" (thed0ck)
09/24/2017 at 03:05, STARS: 0
"Svend" (svend)
09/24/2017 at 03:35, STARS: 4
You were so close, then you posted trumpton and you lost it. Lol.
"DipodomysDeserti" (dipodomysdeserti)
09/24/2017 at 03:42, STARS: 2
Road sign on the I-19 in Arizona.
Everyone needs to switch to SI.
"valsidalv, reminding you that infiniti is an option" (valsidalv)
09/24/2017 at 03:44, STARS: 1
As a Canadian I use km/h for speed limits on the road. However if you ask for my height my answer will be 5' 10" as opposed to 178 cm. Why? Influence from the States... although we learned measurements using metre sticks and centimetre rulers certain things get kind of skewed.
"Svend" (svend)
09/24/2017 at 03:48, STARS: 0
Why is there a metric sign in America? and it’s in Arizona!?
‘SI’?
"DipodomysDeserti" (dipodomysdeserti)
09/24/2017 at 03:55, STARS: 1
In the ‘70s there was talk of the US switching to the metric system. They were putting up signs on the I19 and some forward thinking individual decided to put them in metric in anticipation of the switch. The switch never happened and no one cared enough to ever swap out the signs on a highway between Tucson, AZ, and Mexico.
SI = Systèm International. It’s the scientific standard. Basically like metric, but with a few exceptions, most notably temperature. You use Kelvin instead of Celsius (take Celsius and add 273). Kelvin is based on absolute zero instead of the freezing and boiling point of water.
"Svend" (svend)
09/24/2017 at 04:03, STARS: 1
I think the majority of the U.K. is proficient in both metric and imperial to use both. But we tend to do height and weight of ourselves in imperial.
The difficulty is when a U.S. OPPO says the cost of a gallon of fuel. We buy fuel in litres but drive our cars using miles per gallon, so with the U.S. gallon (3.78litres) being different to the U.K. gallon (4.55litres) and then converting USD$ to GBP£, it can be a headache.
"Svend" (svend)
09/24/2017 at 04:10, STARS: 1
Our news channels do a thing where if it’s hot they’ll use fahrenheit using the bigger number to emphasise the heat and if it’s cold, use celsius to use the small number to emphasise how cold it is.
It’s funny but we know what it is.
"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse)
09/24/2017 at 05:16, STARS: 1
I can still buy a pint (and I mean a proper pint, not a measly little American one), a pound of butter (though it’ll be packaged as 454g), buy land by the acre and weigh myself in stone and pounds. People are still so many feet and inches high and a place is decribed as being so many miles away even though there’s now no easy way of actually measuring the distance in miles as speedometers have been metric-only since 2005 and road signs were gradually changed before that. Other than that I can’t think of many Imperial units left in use.
Other than the furlong, if you’re horsey.
"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse)
09/24/2017 at 05:18, STARS: 0
That’s odd. Forecasts here switched to C years ago and nobody now uses F. It was a gradual change, not a sudden one as people became accustomed to hearing temperature forecast only in C and then almost despite themselves dropped F.
"Svend" (svend)
09/24/2017 at 05:29, STARS: 0
The weather is reported is celsius. But if it’s a particularly hot spell the news will emphasise it by putting the temperature in fahrenheit because the larger number will grab peoples attention more.
Generally we don’t use fahrenheit at all really and haven’t for sometime.
"duurtlang" (duurtlang)
09/24/2017 at 07:25, STARS: 1
It’s 99.99% metric here. Sometimes we use pounds, but only the 1 pound = 1/2 kg one. And only for the weight of new born babies and sometimes for food (ingredients for cooking). That’s all I can come up with, the legacy imperial units have been phased out a very long time ago.
"someassemblyrequired" (someassemblyrequired)
09/24/2017 at 07:53, STARS: 1
Canadian fuel economy figures are shown on the window sticker in L/100km and MPG (Imperial). Building materials/fasteners are all still Imperial measurements as well. Most importantly a pint in Canada is 20oz vs. 16oz in the states.
"JeepJeremy" (jeepjeremy)
09/24/2017 at 08:39, STARS: 1
Here in Ohio we use all 3: Milk can be bought by the gallon (or even 1/2 gallon because yay fractions) beer can be purchased in pints or even yards (a three foot tall draft dispenser at some bars), Soda is popularly purchased in 2 litre bottles, you can buy your Weed by the gram and fitness people often run 5ks on the weekend.
"e36Jeff now drives a ZHP" (e36jeff)
09/24/2017 at 08:54, STARS: 3
I agree that we should switch to SI with one exception. Non-scientific temperatures. The Celsius scale, while sort of fantastic for scientific uses(lets face it, you should be using Kelvin if you’re making scientific measurements), is not so great for telling someone the temp outside.
Here is my example: 0C is kinda cold, but not bad while 100C means you’re standing adjacent to a wildfire. 0F is damn cold and 100F is damn hot. Humans can, with proper clothing, can comfortably exist from 0-100F( I am aware they can exist outside of that range but it’s less comfortable). Fahrenheit is better for measuring temps in Human terms.
"FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com" (alphaass)
09/24/2017 at 09:46, STARS: 1
The USA is still 99% US system but there are a few things that are typically done in metric. Two off of the top of my head: soft drinks like Coca-Cola are typically sold in 0.5, 1, 2 and 3 liter bottles (oddly coexisting with 12 oz cans and 20 oz bottles) and medication is typically dosed in mL (but again some over the counter stuff will use teaspoons and 15 mL interchangeably). Whenever my kids are sick they get an RX for antibiotics or steroids dosed in mL from the bottle.
"Phyrxes once again has a wagon!" (phyrxes)
09/24/2017 at 10:28, STARS: 1
As a US based science teacher I enjoy doing a history of units lesson on the first day of class. After learning about all the rarely used Imperial/American units that I could effectively troll them with they are usually happy to embrace the metric system.
Once I get to rods, chains, furlongs, and hectares they ask are you going to ever use these in class? My response is “if I do it’s because you have done something as a class to irritate me.”. A snail accelerates from rest to a furlong per fortnight over twenty rods, what is acceleration and how long will it take to accomplished this?
"Eric @ opposite-lock.com" (theyrerolling)
09/24/2017 at 12:17, STARS: 1
Americans are identical to the British in this regard, except I believe the Brits can omit imperial in cases where they can’t in the US, and fuel is sold in liters there while it is sold in gallons here.
"Eric @ opposite-lock.com" (theyrerolling)
09/24/2017 at 12:26, STARS: 1
Système International - The presumptuous French being themselves.
I actually hate SI because it’s just as arbitrary and backward as Imperial, but they don’t want to accept that truth. I’d much rather use a system based on the human body or immutable forces of nature.
"Eric @ opposite-lock.com" (theyrerolling)
09/24/2017 at 12:37, STARS: 0
No, just no. Metric is arbitrary garbage just like Imperial. At least Imperial is based on human-oriented values.
I want a new system based on a metre being the distance light travels in 1/100000000th of a second in a vacuum (making the speed of light 100000km/s). That removes the senseless arbitrary nature of it being based on some inaccurate archaic measurement of the Earth divided by a random number. Earth is not special and if we’re to get off this rock we need to think outside the confines of this rock.
"Svend" (svend)
09/24/2017 at 12:39, STARS: 1
Lol.
It would be nice if we all used the same system, especially now Europe uses kW to measure engine power, so we now have kW, PS and BHP.
"shpuker" (shpuker)
09/24/2017 at 15:19, STARS: 0
Well if you come up with such a unit and it results in math that is at least as clean, then I’m all for it. In the mean time though I think I’ll stick to metric.
"Eric @ opposite-lock.com" (theyrerolling)
09/24/2017 at 15:49, STARS: 0
I’d definitely keep the powers of 10 for each incremental unit, since that is where they got it right.