# Do you think in metric or imperial units **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 21, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-in-metric-or-imperial-units/582713 "2011-05-21T20:25:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-in-metric-or-imperial-units/582713/41 "2011-05-22T23:05:22Z")
Almost always Imperial units, except for temperature. I listen to German radio stations a lot, and I have to be able to think in Celsius to understand how much warmer much of Germany is than California these days. Otherwise…I think I’m like most people; it’s a function of where you are or what the item to be measured is. Gasoline, for example, is sold in gallons around these parts so it doesn’t make a lot of sense to think about it in liters on a daily basis. Wine on the other hand comes in 0.750l bottles, so I think of that in those terms. I do like the metric system and wish it would become commonplace here. For some reason I marvel at the fact that a cubic liter of water weighs one kilogram, and is 10X10X10cm–and that a cubic meter of water weighs one metric ton! ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-in-metric-or-imperial-units/582713/42 "2011-05-22T23:06:46Z")
For warm temps I think in F, for that is what I grew up with. For cold temps, I think in C, for by the time I got heavily into skiing and winter camping, Canada had gone metric. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-in-metric-or-imperial-units/582713/43 "2011-05-22T23:47:56Z")
Professionally, I use metric; at home, I am inches and ounces and ounces and Fahrenheit. I cannot function in either system in the wrong environment. ---
**Author:** ![Critical\_Mass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@Critical\_Mass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical_Mass)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-in-metric-or-imperial-units/582713/44 "2011-05-23T00:12:04Z")
> [@SciFiSam](#): > > British tabloids usually report ‘record highs’ in Fahrenheit and lows in Celsius, because it sounds better that way. It does mean that I think of that really cold winter day as being -7 and that really warm Summer’s day as being 84, which would be a bit of a wide range in temperatures. In my part of the world, a really cold winter day is -40. Which is, coincidentally, where the Centigrade and Fahrenheit scales converge. -40 C is the same as -40 F. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-in-metric-or-imperial-units/582713/45 "2011-05-23T00:18:48Z")
Other than soda bottles I think imperial. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-in-metric-or-imperial-units/582713/46 "2011-05-23T00:50:00Z")
Lots of types of measurements missing (force, anyone?). In any case, they’re all “it depends” for me, except for volume. Except now I regret overlooking small, liquid volumes which would make me “it depends” for every category. For me, measuring the trunk space of a car in liters is not intuitive; I’ll take cubic feet any day. Small liquid measures are almost always metric for me, though, except in the kitchen. I’d be almost 100% Fahrenheit if I didn’t travel in so many foreign countries or talk to so many foreigners. It’s pretty simple to switch modes, depending on whom I speaking to. Distance is the same. I think in my mind I’m always converting KM to miles so that I can understand it in an analogue fashion, but I don’t really care what the units are. For miniscule measurements, I prefer millimeters. For stuff around the house, it’s not even a measurement, but a specification. For example, I don’t care that the 3/4" NPT is a 3/4" NPT; it’s just the thing I need to get something done. The measurement is completely arbitrary. If you eliminated the measurement and called it “Type D” it would be accepted all over the world, because no one would care about the actual measurements and thread pitches and so on. That kind of reminds me of all of the silly “why aren’t we metric” threads. “Because it doesn’t fricking matter.” ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-in-metric-or-imperial-units/582713/47 "2011-05-23T12:41:05Z")
American living in Australia, I put it depends for all answers. It depends on who I’m talking to, but I’ve become ‘bilingual’ metric to imperial units in almost all things. If I’m talking to my American relatives, it’s feet, pounds, gallons and Fahrenheit. If I’m talking to Australians, it’s meters, kilos, Celsius and litres. The only real exception is height for people - but that’s because I can’t really envison centimetres. I know that I’m about 169cm but I can’t envison that. If someone says, oh that guy is about 5’6", I know instinctively how tall that is. It took a lot of years, but I can now sort of know how long a mile is AND how long a kilometre is instinctively (How far off are you? Bout 3km or almost 2m and I can think how far both are.) Driving did most of it, but also just living here. Now Fahrenheit is starting to go - I’m beginning to forget what say, 70 degrees “feels” like. Wonder what it will be like in another 10 years? Will I forget how imperial feels? I know the words and what they mean but will they have lost that arbitrary feeling of knowing about this much or this many? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-in-metric-or-imperial-units/582713/48 "2011-05-23T22:52:09Z")
I didn’t vote on temperature, for two reasons: a very mixed system is common here in the UK, but also, I don’t consider Celsius a meaningful part of the metric system. It’s an SI Unit, but not Metric. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-in-metric-or-imperial-units/582713/49 "2011-05-23T22:59:26Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Lots of types of measurements missing (force, anyone?). It would have been insane to list all the possible measurements,and I don’t think the average, non-engineer or physicist has much occasion to worry about newtons anyway. ---
**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:** [May 23, 2011, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-in-metric-or-imperial-units/582713/50 "2011-05-23T23:17:38Z")
I answered “it depends” on most of them, since by habit I’m mostly American units, but it sometimes seems like the American system was deliberately designed to hamper scientific thought, so when I’m thinking scientifically, it’s almost entirely metric. The exception is temperature. Shortly after I moved out here, I got one of those digital indoor/outdoor thermometers, and deliberately set it to Celsius, since I figured I needed more familiarity with it. By now, Celsius temperatures are second nature to me, and I have to stop to think about Fahrenheit. What’s really funny is that I mostly hang out with international students, and they’ve all made the opposite transition, so there’s always confusion when anyone mentions a temperature. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-in-metric-or-imperial-units/582713/51 "2011-05-23T23:21:21Z")
I voted “it depends” for everything, because as a physician, I’m used to using metric for parameters involving medicine, whether I’m measuring weight, temperature, or the size of a mass. But in the rest of my life, I’m pretty much still thinking in imperial units like fahrenheit, miles, gallons, and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-in-metric-or-imperial-units/582713/52 "2011-05-23T23:26:05Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > As an American Scientist, I ended up voting for “it depends” for each category. When I am in the lab or discussing data I always think in metric. 10 ml of something brings up a specific image of volume as does growing something at 37C. > > Outside of the lab- English all the way. Tell me you need a pint of milk, I got it. Tell me you need 400 mls of milk, and I’m not sure what to do! This for the same reason, except I think of wine in mls (750 ml bottles), my rabbits in grams (that’s how the vet’s office weighs them), and probably a few other exceptions. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-in-metric-or-imperial-units/582713/53 "2011-05-24T13:45:17Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > This for the same reason, except I think of wine in mls (750 ml bottles)[.] Yeah, booze in general has me kind of confused in the United States (and I’m a native). Beer is no problem (half-barrel, quarter-barrel, pint, real pint, 12 oz., etc), but I don’t know all of the street names for hard liquor sizes. I want a 500 ml bottle of Bombay Sapphire, or the 750 ml bottle of Don Julio. I’d them them “half” or “three quarters,” but that’s not right. So I just ask for the size in ml and suffer the stares of the cashier. ---
**Author:** ![Philliam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/philliam/32/3011_2.png) [@Philliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philliam)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2011, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-in-metric-or-imperial-units/582713/54 "2011-05-24T16:54:03Z")
> [@SeldomSeen](#): > > I’m with **TBG**. Born raised and live in the U.S., and I use the customary units. Having worked in land surveying as a young man, I’ve also become used to thinking in some useful, if arcane measurements also…Leagues, sections, chains, rods, links etc. If necessary, I can make fairly quick (if rough) mental conversions to metric for the most common measurements. Except for temperature conversions…the farenheit-to-celcius thing always gets me. Lessee…is it T_5/9+32, no wait…32-(T_9/5)…no…oh hell, double the F and subtract 32…no, wait… > > Nevermind, I’ll just google “celcius-to-farenheit conversion” and plug it in…dammit it’s too hot! or too bloody cold, never mind what the thermometer says! Having much the same background as SeldomSeen, I’ll add that when I did Hydrographic Surveys horizontal and vertical measurements were in feet/meters and depths were in fathoms. Quick quiz for non-surveyors: why is ‘1 chain’ 66 feet long? ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-in-metric-or-imperial-units/582713/55 "2011-05-25T01:25:34Z")
Kiwi who started school in pre-metric times (only just). Solidly metric in everything these days… except people’s heights. _sigh_ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-in-metric-or-imperial-units/582713/56 "2011-05-25T01:28:35Z")
> [@Philliam](#): > > Quick quiz for non-surveyors: why is ‘1 chain’ 66 feet long? It’s 22 yards… or 1/1th of a furlong… and an acre is a rectangle whose sides are one chain by one furlong… and they’re that shape to avoid turning the plough team too often… But I’m not sure that actually answers your question. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tabby\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tabby\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabby_Cat)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-in-metric-or-imperial-units/582713/57 "2011-05-25T02:05:18Z")
… what? _confused_ In Singapore, we’re almost completely metric, having only been founded forty years ago, and under the British. Two measurements stick out, though. Pints for beer, and square feet for floor area of an apartment. Not feet. Never inches. Always square feet. My apartment is 431 square feet in size. I know that’s about 40 square meters, but that’s not how most people think of size. Also, the price of an apartment is always calculated “per square foot”. I don’t even know what the price of my place is in “per square meter”. Odd, but that’s how it is. _shrug_ ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-in-metric-or-imperial-units/582713/58 "2011-05-25T03:55:56Z")
I think metric except for; - A person’s height and weight - Measuring small areas, like rooms ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2011, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-in-metric-or-imperial-units/582713/59 "2011-05-26T13:25:51Z")
Brit that grew up with a metric/imperial mix (seriously, I remember when TV weather reports gave temperatures in both units) so I’m all over the shop. As my Parents like to say, “we use both, we use Metric when it is cold - zero degrees! - and Imperial when it is warm - one hundred degrees!”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-in-metric-or-imperial-units/582713.md?page=2)