# Calories and kilocalories **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 18, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calories-and-kilocalories/752556 "2016-04-18T15:01:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calories-and-kilocalories/752556/21 "2016-04-18T21:31:30Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > They also differ by context. You do not need to capitalize for me to what you’re talking about 99% of the time. Just like if I’m discussing precious metals, I don’t need to know that it’s troy ounces being discussed. Nah. 99% of the time is way way way underestimating it. If the subject is food, nutrition, and/or exercise, which is almost always is when the word “calorie” is used (capitalized or not) the unit actually being discussed is in fact “Calorie” a.k.a. “kcal.” It would be idiotic to be confused by that. Only someone who is completely ignorant of normal conventions and usage or intentionally being dense would not be actually meaning Calorie/kcal when using the word “calorie” and in that context using the word “calorie” to mean 1/1000th of a typical unit being discussed would be being beyond idiotic. If the subject is chemical reactions … well mostly joules would be used … but if “calories” was used in that context it be understood that 1000 of them added up to one kcal. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calories-and-kilocalories/752556/22 "2016-04-18T22:13:26Z")
I don’t think it’s quite so clear-cut, because for it to be clear at all, you have to first realize that there _are_ two different units. I’ve seen too many technically-minded people baffled by the ice-water diet, because they didn’t realize that. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2016, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calories-and-kilocalories/752556/23 "2016-04-18T22:54:33Z")
> [@iljitsch](#): > > Just because there’s a long history of doing something idiotic is no reason to keep doing it. It is said that if we designed a system of time measurement to be so confusing that few could understand it … then we’d have a system easier than the one we actually use. Luckily, I don’t think chemists really use the calorie anymore … so let the dietitians have it. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calories-and-kilocalories/752556/24 "2016-04-19T00:23:00Z")
> [@iljitsch](#): > > Right, because distances are not only listed in megameters, but those are shortened to Mm. > > A better example would be polish and Polish. But that’s still not a valid example, it’s just two words that are written the same and it just happens to be that one word is for a thing that’s capitalized and one isn’t, it’s not the capital that makes it two different words. > > It’s **kilo** calories. Period. No shortcuts. I agree megameters, while correct, are not commonly used. Mw and mw (megawatts and milliwats) would be better examples, since both are commonly used. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calories-and-kilocalories/752556/25 "2016-04-19T00:52:55Z")
For what it’s worth, solar physicists regularly use megameters, since the size of a lot of interesting features on the Sun are in that range. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calories-and-kilocalories/752556/26 "2016-04-19T02:04:46Z")
I like to think that all Democrats favor a democratic republic as much as Republicans. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calories-and-kilocalories/752556/27 "2016-04-19T02:48:52Z")
> [@Canadjun](#): > > I agree megameters, while correct, are not commonly used. Mw and mw (megawatts and milliwats) would be better examples, since both are commonly used. MW and mW. Watts are always capitalized. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calories-and-kilocalories/752556/28 "2016-04-19T03:48:16Z")
Since the questions in the OP seem mostly rhetorical, let’s move this to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calories-and-kilocalories/752556/29 "2016-04-19T06:30:06Z")
I think of calories as dealing with nutrition and kilocalories when dealing with physics, engineering, HVAC issues. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calories-and-kilocalories/752556/30 "2016-04-19T12:41:11Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Luckily, I don’t think chemists really use the calorie anymore … so let the dietitians have it. We do, actually, it’s got better conversions than the Joule. The Joule is the official unit but the calorie is one of those secondary units whose usage makes some calculations easier than if you use the official unit. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2016, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calories-and-kilocalories/752556/31 "2016-04-19T13:58:28Z")
> [@iljitsch](#): > > Just because there’s a long history of doing something idiotic is no reason to keep doing it. And just throwing out a long history of doing something all to maintain a foolish consistency is even more idiotic. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calories-and-kilocalories/752556.md?page=1)