1. Luftballon
Banned
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Imperial or Metric?
- Thread starter bulbasaur
- Start date
Karkat Vantas
Virile God-Snake Tower of Masculinity
brb, using this quote out of context everywhere
I was taught that an inch was roughly two and a half centimeters (2.56, I think). I was under the impression everyone learned it that way? How odd.
And measuring height in metric is a pain in the ass. Bluh.
Lord of the Fireflies
Back in black.
Whirlpool
extemporaneous living
2.54 centimeters = 1 inch.
But the weird bases of the imperial system are mostly for more exact measurements (i.e. a third of a foot is four inches, whereas a third of a meter is ~.33 meters).
Also: the metric system is technically the United States' official system (and has been for 150 years or so), but the government couldn't get everybody to switch.
Incidentally the Sumerians used a base-60 number system (which is where we get our time conversions).
But the weird bases of the imperial system are mostly for more exact measurements (i.e. a third of a foot is four inches, whereas a third of a meter is ~.33 meters).
Also: the metric system is technically the United States' official system (and has been for 150 years or so), but the government couldn't get everybody to switch.
Incidentally the Sumerians used a base-60 number system (which is where we get our time conversions).
Michi
Mystical Furball
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- any
That's just it; I, as well as many other Americans, have trouble learning and using a system different from the one that's been engraved in my mind my whole life. Then there's the fact I find it much easier to state weight in pounds, height in feet and inches, distance in miles or yards, and so on.
And if we want to be really specific, it's 30.48 centimeters to a foot and 2.54 centimeters to one inch. Many people use centimeters to think of shorter measurements. Math and science classes generally require centimeters to be used for everything, and some more advanced classes in mathematics and chemistry use the metric system entirely. But for those we generally are given the conversions beforehand so as to not be confused by the new system, since most of us are so used to the Imperial system.
@Whirlpool: As far as I'm aware, any status of the metric system as the USA's "official" system doesn't matter. Its not just that some or most people couldn't or wouldn't switch, it's that nearly everyone (I'm guessing >90%) uses Imperial and has used it their whole lives because that's what elementary schools and preschools teach them. Most of us in my area learned about the metric system in 7th grade for us advanced students, 8th grade for the average student. From what I gather, that's the norm throughout Illinois and many other states as well.
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Worst Username Ever
(laughs)
Crazy Linoone
broke ASB
Used to use metric for everything, but it's sort of hard now that I'm in the US and everything. And now the only metric unit I use is temperature, but only because I never had to learn and use it in school...
This very much. Even if it's the "official" system, the government never tried to get people to switch. All we need is something that gets preschools and elementary schools to teach metric along side imperial, or just have pure metric.
This very much. Even if it's the "official" system, the government never tried to get people to switch. All we need is something that gets preschools and elementary schools to teach metric along side imperial, or just have pure metric.
Dannichu
Tragically unbeyachted.
I remember when there was a bit of a fuss when the UK government forced everyone to go metric, and there was a grocer who agued that it was a bit unfair that he wasn't allowed to sell things in imperial measurements anymore when McDonald's was still selling quarter pounder burgers. Fair point, really.
bulbasaur
Not quite e^(-(x-μ)²/(2σ²)) / (σ√(2π))
Can't they put measurements in metric and imperial? I mean, the McDonald's here puts it as "Quarter Pounder" and in the fine print says " 113 gram beef patty". Here the stores advertise their prices per pound, and print the price per kilogram so small I'd need a magnifying glass to read it. Of course, that's to be expected since the price in pounds seems less.
Saith
New member
Imperial is actually 1728x harder than metric, trust.
Nope!
Long story short, they've been working towards changing the units used in the US for decades now. I remember turning up some litter out in the woods a while back that had only metric units on it and getting a rant out of my mom about the time they were really pushing for people to go metric (sometime in the eighties, I think). If you're interested. Incidentally, I was taught both systems simultaneously in my school.
Metric is by far the superior system, but a lot of people in the US seem to have a hate-on for it. Maybe because they associate it with science class and how much they hate science class or something. Since I do science stuff, I use the metric system a lot, but since that's the only context in which I use it, I don't really "think" metric. I can visualize an inch and a yard perfectly well, but if I get a measurement in centimeters I have to convert it to feet before I have any clue how big the thing is, for example. I try to use meters and so forth when writing, just because I would be so happy if I never had to go look up how many feet are in a mile ever again because we'd be using kilometers, but usually I just slip back into imperial units because they're familiar and how I "see" distances and so forth.
Zhorken
groove out!
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- they or she
I was going to say I pretty much entirely use metric, but now that I think about it, that's not really true. People are often measured in pounds and feet around here, so I think of distances in kilometers and sizes of things in feet, and I don't really grasp kilograms at all. All mom's recipes (thus my recipes) are still written in weird units. Other than that, I use Celsius for temperature all the way, but that's the only other thing I ever need to measure (aside from time, but, well.) I've been trying to force myself to start thinking in metres and kilograms, but it's not working very well.
OH WAIT I can happily say that I never have occasion to use any kind of ounce. Fuck ounces. I never, ever, understand ounces and people are like "it's not hard there are just two kinds" but two kinds of one unit is exactly what baffles me.
OH WAIT I can happily say that I never have occasion to use any kind of ounce. Fuck ounces. I never, ever, understand ounces and people are like "it's not hard there are just two kinds" but two kinds of one unit is exactly what baffles me.
Arylett Charnoa
Barely existent.
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Imperial. Honestly? Neither is easier to me. I don't understand any metric measurement worth a damn, I can't grasp how metric is any easier than imperial. Or vice versa for that matter. I can barely even grasp imperial in the first place. I don't understand any measurement in imperial other than height and weight, and even then, I have a horribly vague understanding of that too and usually tend to mess up at visualizing.
I'm just balls with measurements all around, so it doesn't really matter to me which one is used. I'd just prefer if everyone went: "That's a lot." or "That's a little." or "That's about the size of [insert object here]" But I know that'd be unviable.
I'm just balls with measurements all around, so it doesn't really matter to me which one is used. I'd just prefer if everyone went: "That's a lot." or "That's a little." or "That's about the size of [insert object here]" But I know that'd be unviable.
Murkrow
Says "also" and "or something" a lot
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Solution: make them lower the price to 25 pence.
Dannichu
Tragically unbeyachted.
When I was little, I actually thought that was why they were called that XD (mostly because I thought weight-pounds were called "lubbs")
Sort of related: I have an irrational amount of hatred for the selling of 99 Flakes for more than 99p. Beacause, really.
Completely unrelated: I was searching the interwebs to find the origin of the 99 Flake and stumbled upon this (and the follow-up here), died laughing and felt the need to share.
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H-land
Seapony Tears and Provolone
I've grown up in the States, so I'm more used to the Imperial system but I'm trying to get used to metric. I've got some sort of a grasp on what feels like what in Celsius, but I'm not so great with speeds in KPH. And honestly, I'm awful at judging distances or weights in either system, though I have more trouble understanding people when they give their heights and weights in metric units. (Biggest curveball, though: Stones. Seriously, stop it. Stop all the stones.)