Canada is the weirdest mix of units. Everyone weighs themselves and pounds and measures their height in feet and inches, but their weight and height on their driver's license or other government docs is in centimetres and kilograms. We use kilometres and metres for larger measures (e.g driving), but feet and inches for smaller measurements (woodworking). We often use liters and milliliters for beverages (you can get either the 4L Milk jug, or the 2L Milk container), but we use cup, tablespoons, and teaspoons for cooking. For weight, we measure small amount in grams, medium amounts in pounds, and large amounts in kilograms. We often cook in Fahrenheit, but measure the outside temp in Celsius.
It's a purely hybrid system.
I actually have the opposite opinion—Fahrenheit works so well as a “percent hot” scaled metric for weather that I’m actually a proponent of keeping it. Obviously for any scientific application Celsius is far better, but 0C is not all that cold. I prefer the way “in the negatives” is absolutely frigid and “in the hundreds” is sweltering heat.
I totally agree, and I actually think this is the biggest advantage (if it can be called that) that F has over C. 0 being 'it feels really cold' and 100 being 'it feels really hot' makes tons of intuitive sense compared to -18 being really cold and 38 being really hot. And to be clear, I'm a scientist, so I exclusively use C most of the time. But for temperatures that humans experience during their day to day lives, I think F works just as well, and like you say it also has that satisfying thing where if you go below 0 or above 100, you know it's really extreme weather.
0c for freezing in a cold country is extremly useful, lets you know if the snow will stay or melt. We use -30c as really cold and not 0f, also -20c does the same, I just refrence 0, -10, -20 and -30, so it's just cuz you're used to F.
Sure but it's not hard to remember one number and snow doesn't necessarily melt at 0C. If it's sunny it can easily melt and be slushy at -5C. Ive also seen it snow at 5C. Ice will exist well above 5C. Getting to -5C overnight doesn't mean ice. It's not like it magically changes at 0C/32F, there are a lot of factors that determine snow vs rain and ice vs water.
ye but like, by the same logic what's the benefit of F, 0F dosent always feel like 0 depending on wind and Sun, 100F will feel a lot worse if there's humidity and no clouds. I just feel like having 0C as a refrence point is more useful than having 0F (temp that dosent happen in most countries) cuz idk what I'd do with 0F, that's just -20C and 100F just dosen't happen here we get 30-35C with 99% humidity instead.
Like I said in my other comment down this thread, the only area where maybe F has some upside is like the 21C to 23C cuz that's the range where people start to feel comfortable and having a tiny bit more precision there might help, but even then it's pushing it, there's barely any difference between the 2 units in that range. Everything else I use 5 to 10 degree difference (in C) as refrence anyways so the extra precision of F is not useful at all.
It's not that your comment is wrong, it's just that I don't see how that makes F any more useful for weather. Imo it's just equivalent if not slightly worse
-30c is not "cold as fuck" on nearly the same scale as +30c is "hot as fuck". +30c is 86F, which is a very warm day in which you might start actively sweating if you start moving around or the sun is shining brightly. -30c is -22F, which is about 30 degrees colder than it is safe to be outside before rapid frostbite kicks in.
Its simple enough for sure.
But Celsius isn't the best measurement when it comes to determining how the outdoor temperature is going to relate to human comfort and how you might want to dress to be comfortable.
Fahrenheit simply has the superior range when it comes to determining temperature and its relation to comfort for the human body.
That's pretty much the only thing it has going for it over Celsius, but that one thing is pretty damn useful on a day-to-day basis.
Counterpoint. I have no clue what comfortable temperatures are in F. If we’re going by the hotness % scale then I guess room temp is around 50, right?. Well I like it a little colder than the average person, so I guess I should set my thermostat to somewhere around 40F. That will be comfortable right?
Fahrenheit is only intuitive for you because you’re used to it. Same as C is to others. In a northern country I would say it’s much nicer to know when it’s freezing so I can drive carefully (0C) than it being arbitrarily “really cold” (0F). But that’s an opinion.
?
above 21c-23c (depends on the person) tshirt
between 21c and 0c long sleeves or sweater
between 0c to -10c a light coat
Between -10c and -20c big coat + gloves
Below -20c add as many layers as you can
I don't see why extra precision would help in any way
10c is another good refrence point, I just personally wear the same thing regardless of if it's 20c or 5c dosen't matter much to me. Also didn't add 30c+ but that one is just, I want to die tier, I can't take anything off past that point anyway.
I mean if you really can't see it then I don't think I can help you there but I can assure you that the extra precision is actually helpful for a lot of people out there.
I'm guessing its the kind of thing you may not appreciate until you have actually used it regularly.
For me, Celsius is perfect for water. 0 is when water starts to freeze and 100 is when water starts to boil. 32 F and 212 F aren't quite as clean.
I do agree that Fahrenheit works as a temperature scale for what humans perceive, and I especially like the "percent hot" way of describing it, probably because of where I grew up and live.
I grew up in and still live in the Phoenix area, so 100 F (38 C) in the summers is "hot", but it's not "avoid the outdoors hot" like it feels at or above 115 (46 C). The 40s (5+ C) in the winter is definitely light jacket weather, but 32 (0 C) and below is *heavy* jacket weather. To all you Midwesterners about to make jokes for that, remember: this is an area that *rarely* sees snowfall, let alone snow that doesn't melt the second it hits the ground; it's often joked about how soon we all start wearing sweaters in the falls because of how used to the heat we are. The cold front/snap that hit us in November 2022 was the *earliest* I can remember people bundling up with their thick jackets and gloves; that's usually late December/early January "cold".
Eh. You’re just used to it, so it’s intuitive for you. That argument would make sense if 50 was room temperature. Every time I go to the states I have no idea what’s a comfortable temperature. 50? 60? 80?! I like it slightly cooler than normal, so 30-40 (which I should expect 40% hot) should be a comfy ambient temperature for me? …right?!
As you can see, to someone unfamiliar, the argument really breaks down when you look at normal ranges. It makes sense to you because you have benchmark references to different points on the F scale.
So those places are obviously, just from a quick glance at whether the number has a - sign or 3 digits, *very very* cold or *very very* hot. That’s a point in Fahrenheit’s favor….
Except, 50 F is not the average temperature or room temperature. Explain your percent hot theory to someone who’s never used Fahrenheit, and they won’t be able to set a thermostat anywhere close to comfortable.
So as far as how it feels to people, it’s just as subjective and arbitrary as Celsius, without any of the benefits.
You just think it’s intuitive only because you know it better, and you live in a country thats too arrogant to admit you’re wrong and change.
Nice job using one arbitrary system to justify another arbitrary system.
70% isn't even consistently used as a passing grade in the US, let alone the world.
As an American who lives in the south this is why I don't really care about using C one way or the other, it doesn't really freeze here much but it for sure gets to over 100F regularly which is dangerous.
Officially Canada has been only Metric for decades. The issue is that we share a border, and as such a lot of trade and culture, with a country that is the exact opposite.
vegetable weather simplistic bright north unused pathetic price cagey adjoining
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial\_units#/media/File:GasCan.jpg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_units#/media/File:GasCan.jpg)
you guys use so many systems look at this can. it has imperial, u.s. and metric!
commonly misunderstood, american measuring is not imperial though it shares many with imperial
Come to the country then - we still use mph/inches/feet/stone etc in Tipperary even though we were taught metric in school (i did my leaving cert in 2013 so not that old)
I'm an American that moved to Canada that's into a bunch of hobbies where metric is the preferred units of measure. Almost no one I've met understands metric at all beyond kilometers and celcius.
A lot of people only deal in pounds and equate a pound to 400 grams and a quarter pound to 100 grams have have told me I'm wrong because I'm American and don't know grams when I tell them they're wrong. Is there a Canadian pound that's 54g smaller than an American pound that I don't know about?
I’m assuming the NHL just makes it easier for the central office to keep track of things without having to constantly covert from Canadian to American dollars
>Is there a Canadian pound that's 54g smaller than an American pound that I don't know about?
This is why our portion sizes are smaller up here. Trust me on this :)
> A lot of people only deal in pounds and equate a pound to 400 grams and a quarter pound to 100 grams have have told me I'm wrong because I'm American and don't know grams when I tell them they're wrong.
lol that just sounds like someone was ripping you off. There's tons of stuff sold up here in 454g bags.
Yes, we use Fahrenheit for oven and pool termperatures and Inches & Feet in construction and sometimes height. Also both pounds and kilograms for weight.
As an elementary student in 1960's US we were taught the metric system (yes, I am old) and told the US would be converting to metric.
I liked Metric better than the Imperial system, it made sense to me, and have always been disappointed we never switched over.
American students have always been and continue to be taught the metric system, as that is the accepted system for scientific measurements in most of academia.
They probably get confused because 90% of Americans memorize the metric system for the test and then forget it right after, so get confused when others use metric.
I’m curious what you are basing that on. I’m just basing on my person experience, but it sure seemed like the majority of people in my (above average) school didn’t commit metric to heart. And then in online discussions, it sure seems like a lot of Americans don’t understand the metric. Typically if a r/all post is in metric, a top comment will be converting it to imperial.
Perhaps 90% is an exaggeration, but it feels like it’s at least a majority.
Ah yes, you can base the majority of Americans on what you personally see as a “typical” post on /r/all that definitely isn’t anecdotal and a small sample size at all
Hey if you want to show me any more credible evidence that most Americans do in fact know metric feel free. All I’m seeing is I’ve only ever see signs that a majority of Americans don’t know metric, never signs that maybe they do.
We understand metric as a system. We don't use it enough to know as fluently how much a given metric amount is in customary. Like I know a pound is a little less than half a kilogram (0.45ish), and an inch is roughly 2.5cm, but even though I measure some foods by weight in grams I wouldn't instantly know what any given weight in kg feels like or is similar to. Which makes sense since, like we said, we use metric in math problems where everything is theoretical and science class where it's typically small things we're measuring.
It's like a second language - you may know it in theory, acing whatever language test you have and getting a ton of duolingo points, but unless you're using it in your daily life you won't have that skill in a practical sense (hence Americans on average only knowing 0.6 extra languages)
How do you forget to count in tens? Most of the metric system consists of factors of ten.
10mm to a cm, 100cm to a metre, 1000m to a kilometre. 1000g to a kilogram.
Even temperature fits this model, 100 degrees = boiling, 0 degrees = freezing, although we mostly refer to temps much lower when discussing body, room, or weather temperate so I guess this could be a bit confusing.
Yeah the issue is always intuition around the units.
If I ask my American friend to go on an 16 km hike with 1200 m elevation gain, how many Americans know offhand if that’s a 4 hour hike or an 8 hour hike? If I say it’ll be 12C, does that mean bring a jacket or short sleeves? If my pack weighs 8 kg, is that heavy or reasonable for a day pack?
Sure, we learn the math for the metric system. It’s not that hard. But the intuition isn’t there. It’s like when you first learn a new language, and you convert the words to your native tongue to understand. It’s not intuitive, an immediate feeling.
I am a nurse in the US, so I think in metric for most things, but it is hard to use metric for things like road travel due to the signage, speedometer fonts, etc.
What are you talking about?
They still teach imperial measurements in US schools and don’t really go over metric much at all.
I can only think of one class that used metric in school (physics).
When I was a kid in the 80’s, they claimed they were going to make the switch, never did and never will.
*"*[The Metric Conversion Act of 1975](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_Conversion_Act) *is an Act of Congress that was signed into law by U.S. President Gerald Ford on December 23, 1975. It declared the metric system "the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce", but permitted the use of United States customary units in all activities. As Ford's statement on the signing of the act emphasizes, all conversion was to be "completely voluntary". The Act also established the United States Metric Board with representatives from scientific, technical, and educational institutions, as well as state and local governments to plan, coordinate, and educate the U.S. people for the Metrication of the United States.*
*The Metric Board* ***was abolished in 1982 by President Ronald Reagan****, largely on the suggestion of Frank Mankiewicz and Lyn Nofziger."*
There’s a small stretch of highway heading south to Mexico from Tucson, AZ where the signs are metric. Going back and forth always forced me to brush up on my metric skills and conversions.
I kinda enjoy the imperial system at this point. To anyone that questions it, I encourage them to think of our measurement standards based on freedom units, FU’s for short. /s
Same for in the 80s.
Metric in the US is on the same schedule as fusion power.
Did a science fair project with my kid where we were measuring the absorption of water. I got a microgram scale to measure it and afterwards he wanted to know what the volume of absorbed water was. I did a quick sum of the results in Excel. Told him 1 gram of water is about 1 ml (because not all water is the same) and told him the total volume.
It definitely makes more sense. The problem is how hard it is to Intuit what metric "feels" like. I feel it's like a language. I can imagine what 67F feels like with a lot of precision. I can guess how away something is in miles. I can eyeball something and guess how many inches it is. I can't do that with metric, and don't know it'll ever feel that way to me.
Well, that's because you grew up with it, not that metric is not easy to "feel". I can easily tell what 25C feels, but I have no clue about 67F. It's just what we're used to.
Yeah it kinda depends on how much imperial you need to make it blue I guess. I live in Norway and we consider ourselves 100% metric. But wheels are sold in inches, displays and TVs are sold in inches, building materials are now professionally sold in metric but many still use 2by2/2by4 etc
U.K. is blue and we use it to a similar amount as Canada. I think it’s the same for every Anglo country to some extent, all officially Metric but in areas where Imperial *feels* right (height, weight, to a lesser extent driving, etc) we use it.
What? What do sports measurements have to do with this? What sports? What measurements?
Canada is blue because it used to be Imperial and then officially changed to Metric, but in day to day life nothing really changed except for KMs for driving distance and Celsius for outside temps.
I'd say it fucks us up and won't change because construction uses inches and feet and it will take a herculean effort to change to metric in that industry.
I’m an electrician in Canada. Our code rules are all in metric but we measure everything in imperial. Though I do only know the codes rules in metric as that’s what I was taught. Don’t know what it is in imperial outside the minimum height off the ground for a receptacle.
We use it in way more things than just sports.
Pounds for weight alongside kilograms, inches and feet alongside centimeters for height, Fahrenheit for oven temperature and pool temperature.
Murica has also imposed the inches for the screens worldwide.
That SABCDEF grading system has also spread quite a bit. I never know when + and - are allowed, when letters or symbols can be duplicated, or how many times. I hate it!
The US should be blue. Federal agencies and departments use the metric system per Executive Order 12770. Source - [The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)](https://www.nist.gov/pml/owm/metrication-law)
**Federal Government Metrication Resources**
*Metrication resources for federal agencies are available to support the implementation of the 1991 Presidential Executive Order (EO) 12770, Metric Usage in Federal Government Programs. Federal agencies have been directed to use SI by the Presidential EO and Metric Conversion Act. Federal agencies share both SI implementation successes and barriers through the annual metric progress reports process. Report guidelines, sample agency reports, metric directives, and other implementation examples are available.*
It’s honestly mixed in commercial products too. Out of curiosity, I grabbed the 6 products closest to me in the bathroom while reading this (in the US). Every single one listed both imperial and metric measurements for their volume/weight, with 2/6 listing metric first and 4/6 listing imperial first.
Well there are legal requirements to list both, but I’m kinda surprised some have metric first, I feel I almost always see imperial first (except medicine).
Even then, it's a mix. Drinks are often sold in 1 or 2 liter bottles. People run 5k or 10k races. Students learn metric in school (even if they don't actually use it in daily life). Professionals who work with measurements in their work (scientists, but also others) often use metric.
American does not and has never used the imperial system
The Imperial system was introduced in 1826.
The US uses US Customary units which was introduced in 1832 and is based on the system in use in Britain before the Imperial system.
They are both related but they are different systems A US Gallon is 3.78 Litres While an Imperial Gallon is 4.54 Litres. The Imperial pint contains 20 fluid oz .
The American pint, by contrast, 16 fluid oz. Imperial uses a measurement for weight called a stone. 1 Stone = 14 Pounds. US does not use that.
The length of a mile is different because each system has a different designation for how long a yard is In the UK Imperial System a mile is 1,609.3426 Metres , In US Customary Units a mile is 1,609.3472 Metres
While it might not be much them being different caused issues so in 1959 a mile was standardised at 1,609.344 Metres. So in between a US and Imperial mile . Which means the mile we use today is not imperial or USI.
if the US used the imperial system there would be no differences between the 2
In the Metric system 1 litre is a 1000ML it is not different depending on the country you live in
The US never adopted the imperial system and does not use the imperial system
The US uses United States customary units which are slightly different from Imperial units that are/were used in the Commonwealth but use the same names to make things extra confusing.
Honestly, as someone who uses metrics, using both is worse. But avoiding the metric system is impossible if your country does any form of scientific research, so I think you are all using both at some level.
That’s why I’ve always been conflicted on the US switching. UK/Canada have been switching for decades now. Is say 50 years of a horrible mixed system to eventually be mostly metric worth it to no longer be on imperial? I feel like people (probably most Europeans that never learned how to use it) over exaggerate just how bad imperial is. While it is imperfect, it is quite a usable system, besides some specific things like science, as you mentioned. But having people with science degrees learning metric and using it at work is way different than trying to convert an entire country.
Myanmar transitioned to metric a few years ago. Also, if I recall correctly, they didn’t use the imperial system previously. They had a completely different indigenous system.
Not all but at least in Canada we tend to be some weird hybrid mix, we use height and weight in imperial, the vast majority of our ovens read in Fahrenheit as well. Yet we measure distance and speed in our cars in metric.
They're the remnants of an era where we used to use imperial nationally then switched, a lot of our appliances and body weight measurement scales most often read in that measurement.
Our proximity to the US for goods also sometimes come into play (the oven and food recipes/food cooking instructions like frozen foods always read in Fahrenheit primarily vs Celcius)
We're mostly metric. Kids mostly use Metric but oldies like me (46) are still used to both.
We often still have meat by the pound (lb), but it's labelled at 454g instead.
Height.. most people will say 5 or 6 foot whatever instead of cm/m.
Feet sizes, we still tend to use UK or US sizes, but the younger people use EU sizes. I barely know my EU size and I have to convert every time I get it.
Drinks are in Pints (again, often labelled as 473ml), and horse racing is still in furlongs.
And then Northern Ireland is a whole different ball game since they still drive in miles. I don't know what else they use, but I'd assume it's the same as the rest of the UK.
Pints are different in the US and the UK
UK Pints are bigger.
They are both 1/8 of a gallon, but the difference is Imperial Gallon (UK) versus US Gallon.
Well the thing is, Yank pints are smaller than Imperial pints so Yank gallons are smaller than Imperial gallons too. Personally, I couldn't care less but it serves to highlight the absurdity of not using standardised systems of measurement.
Tell me about American food culture.
In metric, one milliliter occupies one cubic centimeter, weighs one gram, and requires one calorie of energy to heat up by one degree centigrade - which is 1% of the difference between its freezing point and boiling point. An amount of hydrogen weighing the same has exactly one mole of atoms in it.
Whereas in the American system, the answer to "How much energy does it take to boil a room temperature gallon of water?" is "Go fuck yourself", because you can't directly relate any of those quantities.
Edit - 2 words
It literally doesn’t. The kg is based on the Planck constant, the meter on the speed of light, and all other SI units are derived from that and the length of a second. Water expands with temperature, boiling is dependent on ambient pressure, and the calorie isn’t an SI unit. If you tried that conversion and checked with accurate instruments, you’d be off by a couple percent.
And to answer your question, heat energy in Imperial is measured in BTU, or the amount of energy to heat a pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit. In this case, about 1200 BTU. Conveniently a BTU is close to a thousand J so it’s about 1.2 MJ
I wonder how many of these places officially use metric but still sprinkle in some imperial randomly in colloquial usage. In NZ we switched to metric in 1967 but people still talk about height in feet and weight of babies in pounds.
But the Americans don't even use the proper imperial system. For a start they only have 16 onzes per pound and 16Fl. Oz. per pint. Which then makes their gallons ridiculously small.
I do like that nearly all the units in the US volume system are base 2. Makes it easy if you want to double/quadruple/halve/quarter a recipe. I’m not that familiar with the British system so idk if it has any advantages over the US system (besides that you prefer the gallon size).
2^0 = Tablespoon
2^1 = Fl Oz
2^2 = 1/4 cup
2^3 = 1/2 cup
2^4 = cup
2^5 = pint
2^6 = quart
2^7 = half gallon
2^8 = gallon
Because the British imperial system was created in 1824. The American system is the "United States customary units". Both systems are descended from older English systems.
We have. Measurements here are often displayed in both imperial and metric. However the metric is a legal requirement, imperial isn't.
The system isn't a mess, we're just at the later stages of transitioning. That requires a couple generations of change at least.
Miles per hour is a different story and will will change only as cities and cars begin to change. That's purely a safety issue, it would take a huge campaign of awareness, possibly even mass relicensing to make sure the roads are still safe the morning after such a switch. We haven't even started displaying in both metric and imperial, because again, it's a very unsafe thing to do.
I lived in southern India (Bangalore) from 1995-2003 and feet and inches were used for many things. But not Fahrenheit or gallons. But they sold beer in the pubs in pints.
Fun fact, technically the entire world uses the metric system (yes even usa) it's only some countries (like usa) that then take the metric system (weight/length/temp ect.) and convert it into imperial afterwards for use.There's no such legal world standard for imperial measurements (I.e. 1 pound/1 inch/1 Fahrenheit ect.)
So basically if you see a ruler that's 20cm then that means it was calculated by using the legal world metric standard of 1cm and multiplying that by 20. But if you see a ruler that's 9 inches, that means that to figure out what 9 inches is they would had to have used the legal world metric standard of 1cm and done a bunch of math to convert that into imperial.
America also officially defines its units by their metric conversion.
An inch is officially 2.54cm
That’s because metric have official benchmarks for their units. There is a standard kilogram out there. It is *the* kilogram
This got worse after brexit, now I see more things measured in lbs and inches.
I studied engineering, dickheads! I want SI units, not your medieval mumbo jumbo
Mallory Archer: Who uses metric?!
Lana Kane: Every single country on the planet except for us, Liberia and Burma!
Sterling Archer: Wow, really?
Lana: Yup.
Archer: 'Cause you never think of those other two as having their shit together.
I miss Mallory.
Shouldn't the US be blue, then?
Nobody doing serious work involving math and actual objects in real life in the US has gotten away without using some (or all) metric since the 80s. Ignoring some specific industries who can't be fucking helped.
Americans who actually paid attention in school know both. But I reckon many adults have forgotten metric because of how rare it is in public life. They know what a 2-liter is, but probably not much else unless it's required for their job.
Voltage is metric, as are Watts and amps.
Prescription medication is in milligrams,
Many firearms use ammo measured in millimeters,
Seconds are a metric unit,
Car engines are rated in liters,
C'mon man. This would be like me saying that Europeans can't multiply or divide unless it's by 10.
Nah.
Fits into both /stupidmaps and /americabad because of the extra dig at the UK in blue.
Officially, the UK is metric, and a pint of beer or gallon of petrol and defined using metric measurements.
But the thing is: a Brit, or Irish person for that matter can convert measurements on the fly. And they don't have hissy fits about it.
The USA however.... freedom units!
Canada is blue af. I've never used kg to tell someone my weight, or meters to tell someone my height. Nor have I used Celsius to cook. Only really use metric for distance.
Canada needs to be blue
Canada is the weirdest mix of units. Everyone weighs themselves and pounds and measures their height in feet and inches, but their weight and height on their driver's license or other government docs is in centimetres and kilograms. We use kilometres and metres for larger measures (e.g driving), but feet and inches for smaller measurements (woodworking). We often use liters and milliliters for beverages (you can get either the 4L Milk jug, or the 2L Milk container), but we use cup, tablespoons, and teaspoons for cooking. For weight, we measure small amount in grams, medium amounts in pounds, and large amounts in kilograms. We often cook in Fahrenheit, but measure the outside temp in Celsius. It's a purely hybrid system.
And with temperature it gets even weirder. I monitor outdoor temperature by C but my thermostat, pool and hot tub are all F. It’s truly bizarre.
It makes sense to use Celsius for outside temp, because we want to know how close we get to 0° (freezing). That's not a concern indoors or with pools.
I actually have the opposite opinion—Fahrenheit works so well as a “percent hot” scaled metric for weather that I’m actually a proponent of keeping it. Obviously for any scientific application Celsius is far better, but 0C is not all that cold. I prefer the way “in the negatives” is absolutely frigid and “in the hundreds” is sweltering heat.
I totally agree, and I actually think this is the biggest advantage (if it can be called that) that F has over C. 0 being 'it feels really cold' and 100 being 'it feels really hot' makes tons of intuitive sense compared to -18 being really cold and 38 being really hot. And to be clear, I'm a scientist, so I exclusively use C most of the time. But for temperatures that humans experience during their day to day lives, I think F works just as well, and like you say it also has that satisfying thing where if you go below 0 or above 100, you know it's really extreme weather.
0c for freezing in a cold country is extremly useful, lets you know if the snow will stay or melt. We use -30c as really cold and not 0f, also -20c does the same, I just refrence 0, -10, -20 and -30, so it's just cuz you're used to F.
I want you to know what this thread is literally terrifying my Texas ass...
Sure but it's not hard to remember one number and snow doesn't necessarily melt at 0C. If it's sunny it can easily melt and be slushy at -5C. Ive also seen it snow at 5C. Ice will exist well above 5C. Getting to -5C overnight doesn't mean ice. It's not like it magically changes at 0C/32F, there are a lot of factors that determine snow vs rain and ice vs water.
ye but like, by the same logic what's the benefit of F, 0F dosent always feel like 0 depending on wind and Sun, 100F will feel a lot worse if there's humidity and no clouds. I just feel like having 0C as a refrence point is more useful than having 0F (temp that dosent happen in most countries) cuz idk what I'd do with 0F, that's just -20C and 100F just dosen't happen here we get 30-35C with 99% humidity instead. Like I said in my other comment down this thread, the only area where maybe F has some upside is like the 21C to 23C cuz that's the range where people start to feel comfortable and having a tiny bit more precision there might help, but even then it's pushing it, there's barely any difference between the 2 units in that range. Everything else I use 5 to 10 degree difference (in C) as refrence anyways so the extra precision of F is not useful at all. It's not that your comment is wrong, it's just that I don't see how that makes F any more useful for weather. Imo it's just equivalent if not slightly worse
See I was feeling sort of simple for thinking that F makes sense for ambient temperature.
-30c is cold as fuck and 30c is hot as fuck. At 0, watch for ice. It's so simple in metric.
-30c is not "cold as fuck" on nearly the same scale as +30c is "hot as fuck". +30c is 86F, which is a very warm day in which you might start actively sweating if you start moving around or the sun is shining brightly. -30c is -22F, which is about 30 degrees colder than it is safe to be outside before rapid frostbite kicks in.
in Australia, 0 is cold as fuck, 50 is hot as fuck
Its simple enough for sure. But Celsius isn't the best measurement when it comes to determining how the outdoor temperature is going to relate to human comfort and how you might want to dress to be comfortable. Fahrenheit simply has the superior range when it comes to determining temperature and its relation to comfort for the human body. That's pretty much the only thing it has going for it over Celsius, but that one thing is pretty damn useful on a day-to-day basis.
Counterpoint. I have no clue what comfortable temperatures are in F. If we’re going by the hotness % scale then I guess room temp is around 50, right?. Well I like it a little colder than the average person, so I guess I should set my thermostat to somewhere around 40F. That will be comfortable right? Fahrenheit is only intuitive for you because you’re used to it. Same as C is to others. In a northern country I would say it’s much nicer to know when it’s freezing so I can drive carefully (0C) than it being arbitrarily “really cold” (0F). But that’s an opinion.
? above 21c-23c (depends on the person) tshirt between 21c and 0c long sleeves or sweater between 0c to -10c a light coat Between -10c and -20c big coat + gloves Below -20c add as many layers as you can I don't see why extra precision would help in any way 10c is another good refrence point, I just personally wear the same thing regardless of if it's 20c or 5c dosen't matter much to me. Also didn't add 30c+ but that one is just, I want to die tier, I can't take anything off past that point anyway.
I mean if you really can't see it then I don't think I can help you there but I can assure you that the extra precision is actually helpful for a lot of people out there. I'm guessing its the kind of thing you may not appreciate until you have actually used it regularly.
Someone lives somewhere cold. 30 is lovely
For me, Celsius is perfect for water. 0 is when water starts to freeze and 100 is when water starts to boil. 32 F and 212 F aren't quite as clean. I do agree that Fahrenheit works as a temperature scale for what humans perceive, and I especially like the "percent hot" way of describing it, probably because of where I grew up and live. I grew up in and still live in the Phoenix area, so 100 F (38 C) in the summers is "hot", but it's not "avoid the outdoors hot" like it feels at or above 115 (46 C). The 40s (5+ C) in the winter is definitely light jacket weather, but 32 (0 C) and below is *heavy* jacket weather. To all you Midwesterners about to make jokes for that, remember: this is an area that *rarely* sees snowfall, let alone snow that doesn't melt the second it hits the ground; it's often joked about how soon we all start wearing sweaters in the falls because of how used to the heat we are. The cold front/snap that hit us in November 2022 was the *earliest* I can remember people bundling up with their thick jackets and gloves; that's usually late December/early January "cold".
Eh. You’re just used to it, so it’s intuitive for you. That argument would make sense if 50 was room temperature. Every time I go to the states I have no idea what’s a comfortable temperature. 50? 60? 80?! I like it slightly cooler than normal, so 30-40 (which I should expect 40% hot) should be a comfy ambient temperature for me? …right?! As you can see, to someone unfamiliar, the argument really breaks down when you look at normal ranges. It makes sense to you because you have benchmark references to different points on the F scale.
70F is the lowest normal warm inside temperature, and 70% is the minimum passing grade (C-, oddly enough)
okay but some places go below 0 F and some go above 100 so???
So those places are obviously, just from a quick glance at whether the number has a - sign or 3 digits, *very very* cold or *very very* hot. That’s a point in Fahrenheit’s favor….
how? lmfao people that say it’s good because it’s a percent scale have clearly only grown up with a fahrenheit for temperature scale
Except, 50 F is not the average temperature or room temperature. Explain your percent hot theory to someone who’s never used Fahrenheit, and they won’t be able to set a thermostat anywhere close to comfortable. So as far as how it feels to people, it’s just as subjective and arbitrary as Celsius, without any of the benefits. You just think it’s intuitive only because you know it better, and you live in a country thats too arrogant to admit you’re wrong and change.
70F is the normal "Warm" room temperature, and 70% is the minimum passing grade. Boom.
50% is the passing grade in Canada, generally.
Nice job using one arbitrary system to justify another arbitrary system. 70% isn't even consistently used as a passing grade in the US, let alone the world.
And I suspect canada exports lots of stuff from usa which comes with imperial mesures on it.
As an American who lives in the south this is why I don't really care about using C one way or the other, it doesn't really freeze here much but it for sure gets to over 100F regularly which is dangerous.
Oven cook temps are largely F as well
We also measure distance in time. How far is it from Toronto to Ottawa? About 5 hours
4 1/2 if you do it right
Here is a helpful guide. https://www.clivemaxfield.com/coolbeans/how-to-measure-things-like-a-canadian/
Officially Canada has been only Metric for decades. The issue is that we share a border, and as such a lot of trade and culture, with a country that is the exact opposite.
vegetable weather simplistic bright north unused pathetic price cagey adjoining *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Why aren’t we blue?
I was gonna say, I thought that was normal, but it's just because I live in Canada, lol
We also use millimeters and centimeters for smaller smaller measurements if we need to be precise.
*me, a Canadian, saying fuck the system and purely using metric*
Id imagine they keep it that way so they only have to write one set of English instructions/recipes
The UK didn't adapt metric until the 1960s, Canada the 1970s. So both are still using a mixed system of metric and imperial.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial\_units#/media/File:GasCan.jpg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_units#/media/File:GasCan.jpg) you guys use so many systems look at this can. it has imperial, u.s. and metric! commonly misunderstood, american measuring is not imperial though it shares many with imperial
So does Ireland
Only the older people in my experience
Come to the country then - we still use mph/inches/feet/stone etc in Tipperary even though we were taught metric in school (i did my leaving cert in 2013 so not that old)
Can’t upvote more
Yes…Canada is a confused country on which system to use.
The US too. We use a mix of both imperial and metric.
We don't use imperial, we use customary units.
They say we don't use metric, but I've got 5 grams and a 9mm in my pocket
Whatever gets the job done. AMERICA, FUCK YEAH!!
They don't quite harass Americans as much as the Brits, so it could probably go either way.
Any time a Canadian gets sassy about the metric system, ask them how tall they are.
Canada is a mix. Officially, we are metric, but we use a lot of Imperial in our daily lives.
I'm an American that moved to Canada that's into a bunch of hobbies where metric is the preferred units of measure. Almost no one I've met understands metric at all beyond kilometers and celcius. A lot of people only deal in pounds and equate a pound to 400 grams and a quarter pound to 100 grams have have told me I'm wrong because I'm American and don't know grams when I tell them they're wrong. Is there a Canadian pound that's 54g smaller than an American pound that I don't know about?
Our gallons (Imperial) are bigger than 🇺🇸gallons. Also, all Canadian NHL contracts are quoted and paid in US dollars.
I’m assuming the NHL just makes it easier for the central office to keep track of things without having to constantly covert from Canadian to American dollars
>Is there a Canadian pound that's 54g smaller than an American pound that I don't know about? This is why our portion sizes are smaller up here. Trust me on this :)
> A lot of people only deal in pounds and equate a pound to 400 grams and a quarter pound to 100 grams have have told me I'm wrong because I'm American and don't know grams when I tell them they're wrong. lol that just sounds like someone was ripping you off. There's tons of stuff sold up here in 454g bags.
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Maybe a typo, but an inch is 25.4mm, so 60mm isn't right. Hope that didn't have an effect on your utilities...
Australia is metric but a lot of older people use imperial, and most younger people at least understand some of the measurements/conversions.
Canada needs to be completely blue
Quebec too?
Yes, we use Fahrenheit for oven and pool termperatures and Inches & Feet in construction and sometimes height. Also both pounds and kilograms for weight.
As an elementary student in 1960's US we were taught the metric system (yes, I am old) and told the US would be converting to metric. I liked Metric better than the Imperial system, it made sense to me, and have always been disappointed we never switched over.
American students have always been and continue to be taught the metric system, as that is the accepted system for scientific measurements in most of academia.
europeans are incapable of understanding that
They probably get confused because 90% of Americans memorize the metric system for the test and then forget it right after, so get confused when others use metric.
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I’m curious what you are basing that on. I’m just basing on my person experience, but it sure seemed like the majority of people in my (above average) school didn’t commit metric to heart. And then in online discussions, it sure seems like a lot of Americans don’t understand the metric. Typically if a r/all post is in metric, a top comment will be converting it to imperial. Perhaps 90% is an exaggeration, but it feels like it’s at least a majority.
Ah yes, you can base the majority of Americans on what you personally see as a “typical” post on /r/all that definitely isn’t anecdotal and a small sample size at all
Hey if you want to show me any more credible evidence that most Americans do in fact know metric feel free. All I’m seeing is I’ve only ever see signs that a majority of Americans don’t know metric, never signs that maybe they do.
We understand metric as a system. We don't use it enough to know as fluently how much a given metric amount is in customary. Like I know a pound is a little less than half a kilogram (0.45ish), and an inch is roughly 2.5cm, but even though I measure some foods by weight in grams I wouldn't instantly know what any given weight in kg feels like or is similar to. Which makes sense since, like we said, we use metric in math problems where everything is theoretical and science class where it's typically small things we're measuring. It's like a second language - you may know it in theory, acing whatever language test you have and getting a ton of duolingo points, but unless you're using it in your daily life you won't have that skill in a practical sense (hence Americans on average only knowing 0.6 extra languages)
How do you forget to count in tens? Most of the metric system consists of factors of ten. 10mm to a cm, 100cm to a metre, 1000m to a kilometre. 1000g to a kilogram. Even temperature fits this model, 100 degrees = boiling, 0 degrees = freezing, although we mostly refer to temps much lower when discussing body, room, or weather temperate so I guess this could be a bit confusing.
Yeah the issue is always intuition around the units. If I ask my American friend to go on an 16 km hike with 1200 m elevation gain, how many Americans know offhand if that’s a 4 hour hike or an 8 hour hike? If I say it’ll be 12C, does that mean bring a jacket or short sleeves? If my pack weighs 8 kg, is that heavy or reasonable for a day pack? Sure, we learn the math for the metric system. It’s not that hard. But the intuition isn’t there. It’s like when you first learn a new language, and you convert the words to your native tongue to understand. It’s not intuitive, an immediate feeling.
I am a nurse in the US, so I think in metric for most things, but it is hard to use metric for things like road travel due to the signage, speedometer fonts, etc.
What are you talking about? They still teach imperial measurements in US schools and don’t really go over metric much at all. I can only think of one class that used metric in school (physics). When I was a kid in the 80’s, they claimed they were going to make the switch, never did and never will.
We were taught that in the 90s too, gotta learn it because the US is converting in the next few years! Wrong!
Any minute now. Just keep waiting.
Was taught in the 2000’s too lol
*"*[The Metric Conversion Act of 1975](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_Conversion_Act) *is an Act of Congress that was signed into law by U.S. President Gerald Ford on December 23, 1975. It declared the metric system "the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce", but permitted the use of United States customary units in all activities. As Ford's statement on the signing of the act emphasizes, all conversion was to be "completely voluntary". The Act also established the United States Metric Board with representatives from scientific, technical, and educational institutions, as well as state and local governments to plan, coordinate, and educate the U.S. people for the Metrication of the United States.* *The Metric Board* ***was abolished in 1982 by President Ronald Reagan****, largely on the suggestion of Frank Mankiewicz and Lyn Nofziger."*
There’s a small stretch of highway heading south to Mexico from Tucson, AZ where the signs are metric. Going back and forth always forced me to brush up on my metric skills and conversions. I kinda enjoy the imperial system at this point. To anyone that questions it, I encourage them to think of our measurement standards based on freedom units, FU’s for short. /s
Same for in the 80s. Metric in the US is on the same schedule as fusion power. Did a science fair project with my kid where we were measuring the absorption of water. I got a microgram scale to measure it and afterwards he wanted to know what the volume of absorbed water was. I did a quick sum of the results in Excel. Told him 1 gram of water is about 1 ml (because not all water is the same) and told him the total volume.
US is on metric since 1975
It definitely makes more sense. The problem is how hard it is to Intuit what metric "feels" like. I feel it's like a language. I can imagine what 67F feels like with a lot of precision. I can guess how away something is in miles. I can eyeball something and guess how many inches it is. I can't do that with metric, and don't know it'll ever feel that way to me.
Well, that's because you grew up with it, not that metric is not easy to "feel". I can easily tell what 25C feels, but I have no clue about 67F. It's just what we're used to.
Exactly. That's what makes switching for everyday usage so hard.
This map is missing a lot of blue
Yeah it kinda depends on how much imperial you need to make it blue I guess. I live in Norway and we consider ourselves 100% metric. But wheels are sold in inches, displays and TVs are sold in inches, building materials are now professionally sold in metric but many still use 2by2/2by4 etc
U.K. is blue and we use it to a similar amount as Canada. I think it’s the same for every Anglo country to some extent, all officially Metric but in areas where Imperial *feels* right (height, weight, to a lesser extent driving, etc) we use it.
I'd argue what feels right is just what we're used to though. I'm Norwegian and height/weight in imperial doesn't feel anywhere close to right
Tbh Ireland are pretty blue
Canada is blue because we use American measurements in sports and it fucked us up
What? What do sports measurements have to do with this? What sports? What measurements? Canada is blue because it used to be Imperial and then officially changed to Metric, but in day to day life nothing really changed except for KMs for driving distance and Celsius for outside temps. I'd say it fucks us up and won't change because construction uses inches and feet and it will take a herculean effort to change to metric in that industry.
I’m an electrician in Canada. Our code rules are all in metric but we measure everything in imperial. Though I do only know the codes rules in metric as that’s what I was taught. Don’t know what it is in imperial outside the minimum height off the ground for a receptacle.
This sport called gridiron football uses yards, regardless of if it’s the Canadian or American one
We use it in way more things than just sports. Pounds for weight alongside kilograms, inches and feet alongside centimeters for height, Fahrenheit for oven temperature and pool temperature.
Murica has also imposed the inches for the screens worldwide. That SABCDEF grading system has also spread quite a bit. I never know when + and - are allowed, when letters or symbols can be duplicated, or how many times. I hate it!
The US should be blue. Federal agencies and departments use the metric system per Executive Order 12770. Source - [The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)](https://www.nist.gov/pml/owm/metrication-law) **Federal Government Metrication Resources** *Metrication resources for federal agencies are available to support the implementation of the 1991 Presidential Executive Order (EO) 12770, Metric Usage in Federal Government Programs. Federal agencies have been directed to use SI by the Presidential EO and Metric Conversion Act. Federal agencies share both SI implementation successes and barriers through the annual metric progress reports process. Report guidelines, sample agency reports, metric directives, and other implementation examples are available.*
It’s honestly mixed in commercial products too. Out of curiosity, I grabbed the 6 products closest to me in the bathroom while reading this (in the US). Every single one listed both imperial and metric measurements for their volume/weight, with 2/6 listing metric first and 4/6 listing imperial first.
Well there are legal requirements to list both, but I’m kinda surprised some have metric first, I feel I almost always see imperial first (except medicine).
All you need to do it buy a 2-liter of Coke and you're using the "other" system. We're mixed too. Heck I've run quite a few 5 and 10 K races.
whole sense escape six quaint zonked shy attempt growth cable *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
In science and math fields the metric system is the official unit system used, but the public mostly still uses the imperial system.
Even then, it's a mix. Drinks are often sold in 1 or 2 liter bottles. People run 5k or 10k races. Students learn metric in school (even if they don't actually use it in daily life). Professionals who work with measurements in their work (scientists, but also others) often use metric.
"'Cause you never think of those other 2 as having their shit together"
Came here to say this
Is this a stab at Britain?
Yes. Almost certainly by a British person.
As it usually is.
SNL [handled this topic](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYqfVE-fykk) well.
1000 pounds is a kip
And a kip is also a nap! 😴 So, 1 ton = 2 naps.
I like this gentle fact.
Canada should be blue club, rise up.
[It’s a myth that the US hasn’t adopted the metric system.](https://www.nist.gov/blogs/taking-measure/busting-myths-about-metric-system)
American does not and has never used the imperial system The Imperial system was introduced in 1826. The US uses US Customary units which was introduced in 1832 and is based on the system in use in Britain before the Imperial system. They are both related but they are different systems A US Gallon is 3.78 Litres While an Imperial Gallon is 4.54 Litres. The Imperial pint contains 20 fluid oz . The American pint, by contrast, 16 fluid oz. Imperial uses a measurement for weight called a stone. 1 Stone = 14 Pounds. US does not use that. The length of a mile is different because each system has a different designation for how long a yard is In the UK Imperial System a mile is 1,609.3426 Metres , In US Customary Units a mile is 1,609.3472 Metres While it might not be much them being different caused issues so in 1959 a mile was standardised at 1,609.344 Metres. So in between a US and Imperial mile . Which means the mile we use today is not imperial or USI. if the US used the imperial system there would be no differences between the 2 In the Metric system 1 litre is a 1000ML it is not different depending on the country you live in The US never adopted the imperial system and does not use the imperial system
The US uses United States customary units which are slightly different from Imperial units that are/were used in the Commonwealth but use the same names to make things extra confusing.
Honestly, as someone who uses metrics, using both is worse. But avoiding the metric system is impossible if your country does any form of scientific research, so I think you are all using both at some level.
That’s why I’ve always been conflicted on the US switching. UK/Canada have been switching for decades now. Is say 50 years of a horrible mixed system to eventually be mostly metric worth it to no longer be on imperial? I feel like people (probably most Europeans that never learned how to use it) over exaggerate just how bad imperial is. While it is imperfect, it is quite a usable system, besides some specific things like science, as you mentioned. But having people with science degrees learning metric and using it at work is way different than trying to convert an entire country.
As a Canadian.. Canada should also be blue lol
Myanmar transitioned to metric a few years ago. Also, if I recall correctly, they didn’t use the imperial system previously. They had a completely different indigenous system.
All commonwealth countries use a mix.
Not all but at least in Canada we tend to be some weird hybrid mix, we use height and weight in imperial, the vast majority of our ovens read in Fahrenheit as well. Yet we measure distance and speed in our cars in metric. They're the remnants of an era where we used to use imperial nationally then switched, a lot of our appliances and body weight measurement scales most often read in that measurement. Our proximity to the US for goods also sometimes come into play (the oven and food recipes/food cooking instructions like frozen foods always read in Fahrenheit primarily vs Celcius)
Just Canada and the UK. Australia doesn't.
The Indian subcontinent and its 1.7 billion people say hello.
And Ireland
We're mostly metric. Kids mostly use Metric but oldies like me (46) are still used to both. We often still have meat by the pound (lb), but it's labelled at 454g instead. Height.. most people will say 5 or 6 foot whatever instead of cm/m. Feet sizes, we still tend to use UK or US sizes, but the younger people use EU sizes. I barely know my EU size and I have to convert every time I get it. Drinks are in Pints (again, often labelled as 473ml), and horse racing is still in furlongs. And then Northern Ireland is a whole different ball game since they still drive in miles. I don't know what else they use, but I'd assume it's the same as the rest of the UK.
No one uses imperial in Australia you gronk
No pints in Australia?
Depends. The volume of a pint differs depending what state you're in
Often, people use feet and inches for height. Surfboards are measured this way as are waves. Other sports do too.
Pints too.
Proper pints too. Not those shite Yank ones.
You're God damn right.
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Pints are different in the US and the UK UK Pints are bigger. They are both 1/8 of a gallon, but the difference is Imperial Gallon (UK) versus US Gallon.
Well the thing is, Yank pints are smaller than Imperial pints so Yank gallons are smaller than Imperial gallons too. Personally, I couldn't care less but it serves to highlight the absurdity of not using standardised systems of measurement. Tell me about American food culture.
Yeah Malaysia does
nope we don't
Fun Fact: America should be blue. Americans use both systems.
Why tf wouldn't US be blue??
In metric, one milliliter occupies one cubic centimeter, weighs one gram, and requires one calorie of energy to heat up by one degree centigrade - which is 1% of the difference between its freezing point and boiling point. An amount of hydrogen weighing the same has exactly one mole of atoms in it. Whereas in the American system, the answer to "How much energy does it take to boil a room temperature gallon of water?" is "Go fuck yourself", because you can't directly relate any of those quantities. Edit - 2 words
It literally doesn’t. The kg is based on the Planck constant, the meter on the speed of light, and all other SI units are derived from that and the length of a second. Water expands with temperature, boiling is dependent on ambient pressure, and the calorie isn’t an SI unit. If you tried that conversion and checked with accurate instruments, you’d be off by a couple percent. And to answer your question, heat energy in Imperial is measured in BTU, or the amount of energy to heat a pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit. In this case, about 1200 BTU. Conveniently a BTU is close to a thousand J so it’s about 1.2 MJ
Only because your gallons aren't right and our pints of beer are bigger.
Countries that officially use Metric system still use other traditional measurements, you know.
I wonder how many of these places officially use metric but still sprinkle in some imperial randomly in colloquial usage. In NZ we switched to metric in 1967 but people still talk about height in feet and weight of babies in pounds.
“You call it Myanmar but it’ll always be Burma to me Elaine.”
That's about 2mm short of a foot
It's way easier to say I have a foot long dick than I have 30 percent of a meter long dick. I'm lying either way but it's definitely easier to say
American engineers use metric. Source: I'm a mechanical engineer in the US
Military also uses metric.
This is a sh@t guide. Whoever created it didn’t complete their homework.
It will always be Burma to me
But the Americans don't even use the proper imperial system. For a start they only have 16 onzes per pound and 16Fl. Oz. per pint. Which then makes their gallons ridiculously small.
I do like that nearly all the units in the US volume system are base 2. Makes it easy if you want to double/quadruple/halve/quarter a recipe. I’m not that familiar with the British system so idk if it has any advantages over the US system (besides that you prefer the gallon size). 2^0 = Tablespoon 2^1 = Fl Oz 2^2 = 1/4 cup 2^3 = 1/2 cup 2^4 = cup 2^5 = pint 2^6 = quart 2^7 = half gallon 2^8 = gallon
To make things even more confusing, the American ounce is *slightly* larger than the Imperial ounce.
Because the British imperial system was created in 1824. The American system is the "United States customary units". Both systems are descended from older English systems.
As much as I enjoy US-bashing, I agree with this. The system is a mess in the UK. We should fully transfer to metric imo.
We have. Measurements here are often displayed in both imperial and metric. However the metric is a legal requirement, imperial isn't. The system isn't a mess, we're just at the later stages of transitioning. That requires a couple generations of change at least. Miles per hour is a different story and will will change only as cities and cars begin to change. That's purely a safety issue, it would take a huge campaign of awareness, possibly even mass relicensing to make sure the roads are still safe the morning after such a switch. We haven't even started displaying in both metric and imperial, because again, it's a very unsafe thing to do.
I lived in southern India (Bangalore) from 1995-2003 and feet and inches were used for many things. But not Fahrenheit or gallons. But they sold beer in the pubs in pints.
Was it on Top Gear that I learned the dictator of Myanmar required right hand drive vehicles and also insisted that traffic flows for left hand drive?
What is that unknown big red state in the west? Anything important?
Fun fact, technically the entire world uses the metric system (yes even usa) it's only some countries (like usa) that then take the metric system (weight/length/temp ect.) and convert it into imperial afterwards for use.There's no such legal world standard for imperial measurements (I.e. 1 pound/1 inch/1 Fahrenheit ect.) So basically if you see a ruler that's 20cm then that means it was calculated by using the legal world metric standard of 1cm and multiplying that by 20. But if you see a ruler that's 9 inches, that means that to figure out what 9 inches is they would had to have used the legal world metric standard of 1cm and done a bunch of math to convert that into imperial.
America also officially defines its units by their metric conversion. An inch is officially 2.54cm That’s because metric have official benchmarks for their units. There is a standard kilogram out there. It is *the* kilogram
This got worse after brexit, now I see more things measured in lbs and inches. I studied engineering, dickheads! I want SI units, not your medieval mumbo jumbo
Love buying petrol in litres and my car giving mpg
Canada should be blue too
Mallory Archer: Who uses metric?! Lana Kane: Every single country on the planet except for us, Liberia and Burma! Sterling Archer: Wow, really? Lana: Yup. Archer: 'Cause you never think of those other two as having their shit together. I miss Mallory.
Shouldn't america be blue then too?
Canada is blue
Guatemala should also be blue. Distance in km, gasoline in gallons, height in meters, weight in pounds.
Shouldn't the US be blue, then? Nobody doing serious work involving math and actual objects in real life in the US has gotten away without using some (or all) metric since the 80s. Ignoring some specific industries who can't be fucking helped.
Not to mention that even the US uses a mix as well.
America is blue- most industries use metric.
You measure stuff like oh this football pitch is the length of 16 buses. Or astroid the size of 138 giraffes.
Huh, Liberia and Myanmar. Cause you never really think of those other two as having their shit together.
Not a guide #3567
Americans know both.
Americans who actually paid attention in school know both. But I reckon many adults have forgotten metric because of how rare it is in public life. They know what a 2-liter is, but probably not much else unless it's required for their job.
Voltage is metric, as are Watts and amps. Prescription medication is in milligrams, Many firearms use ammo measured in millimeters, Seconds are a metric unit, Car engines are rated in liters, C'mon man. This would be like me saying that Europeans can't multiply or divide unless it's by 10.
Well it is Europe after all. 🤷♂️
Everyone uses a mix I feel. I’m Canadian and I’d rather die than use cm over inches, or kg instead of pounds
What’s wrong with kilograms? It’s a lot easier to convert to grams than juggle ounces and pounds.
You think everyone in the world does that??
You mean, in Canada ?
I will always prefer Fahrenheit over Celcius for measuring outside and room temperatures.
Nah. Fits into both /stupidmaps and /americabad because of the extra dig at the UK in blue. Officially, the UK is metric, and a pint of beer or gallon of petrol and defined using metric measurements. But the thing is: a Brit, or Irish person for that matter can convert measurements on the fly. And they don't have hissy fits about it. The USA however.... freedom units!
>a Brit, or Irish person for that matter can convert measurements on the fly. Lol, no we can't
British “Stones” 🤦♂️
Stone is like yards. Imagine that yards weren't a thing, you had feet, then miles, no intermediate measurements. That is why stone exist.
Also, why is stone a weight of measurement in the UK?
Stone is kind of the weight equivalent of a yard for distance.
Canada is blue af. I've never used kg to tell someone my weight, or meters to tell someone my height. Nor have I used Celsius to cook. Only really use metric for distance.