# Help me think in Kilometers. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 9, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-think-in-kilometers/492512 "2009-04-09T14:59:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-think-in-kilometers/492512/1 "2009-04-09T14:59:48Z")
When I imagine mile, I think “Four laps around the track outside the football field.” What similar method would I use to think about kilometer? Britts, I’m looking your way. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-think-in-kilometers/492512/2 "2009-04-09T15:02:33Z")
If a mile is four laps, then a kilometre is two and a half laps. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-think-in-kilometers/492512/3 "2009-04-09T15:02:49Z")
2 1/2 laps is close enough. Beat me to it. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-think-in-kilometers/492512/4 "2009-04-09T15:14:03Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > What similar method would I use to think about kilometer? > > Britts, I’m looking your way. 🙂 What are you looking at us for? 😉 (we use miles too) ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-think-in-kilometers/492512/5 "2009-04-09T15:19:17Z")
I always relate the two by remembering the highway speed limit signs of my youth: 55 mph is 88 kph, so a kilometer is approximately 5/8 of a mile. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-think-in-kilometers/492512/6 "2009-04-09T15:21:37Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > What are you looking at us for? 😉 > > (we use miles too) Holy crap! Are you serious? So your speed limit signs etc.. say miles instead of kilometers? I’m not sure how I could be so incredibly obtuse on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-think-in-kilometers/492512/7 "2009-04-09T15:24:40Z")
Yep, everything’s in miles. And we go to the shop for a pint of milk. Although that’s in litres too now. Victoria, Australia however is all in kilometres (can’t speak for the rest of the country). ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-think-in-kilometers/492512/8 "2009-04-09T15:34:22Z")
> [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](#): > > Yep, everything’s in miles. And we go to the shop for a pint of milk. Although that’s in litres too now. Actually that’s not quite accurate. We buy petrol in litres (which I think is a bit odd, because, as has been said, road measurements are in miles, so working out your petrol consumption involves both metric and imperial measurements.) Nearly all measurements are metric - ostensibly. Everyone still drinks pints of beer (but metric wine quantities). We’re officially metric, but the old ways hang on in some cases. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-think-in-kilometers/492512/9 "2009-04-09T15:37:25Z")
> [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](#): > > Victoria, Australia however is all in kilometres (can’t speak for the rest of the country). All of Australia uses kilometres. It makes the distances sound bigger. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-think-in-kilometers/492512/10 "2009-04-09T15:52:51Z")
1 hr of driving at 100km/h would be equal to 1 hr of driving at 60 mph. I hate reading those signs with distanc to next city. Like a sign that says 300 Miles --\> Chicago. I’m always thinking "Great! 3hrs out and…oh…miles…5hrs out) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-think-in-kilometers/492512/11 "2009-04-09T16:19:35Z")
> [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](#): > > Yep, everything’s in miles. And we go to the shop for a pint of milk. Although that’s in litres too now. Plastic milk containers might be dual-labelled as ‘568 ml/1 pint’, but milk is also still sold solely by the pint, in the old-fashioned glass bottles - along with alcohol measures, it’s a specific exemption in the EU legislation. ---
**Author:** ![Dublin11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Dublin11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dublin11)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-think-in-kilometers/492512/12 "2009-04-09T17:12:10Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > Holy crap! Are you serious? > > So your speed limit signs etc.. say miles instead of kilometers? > > I’m not sure how I could be so incredibly obtuse on the subject. Here’s something that’ll blow your mind then. Ireland used to have all the road signs in miles; both distance and speed limit signs. The name of the place on a distance sign was rendered in Irish and in English. Then the distance signs were all changed; they still had the two languages for the place name, but the distances to get there were rendered in both imperial and metric measurements. For this time, all the speed limit signs remained in mph. Now the distance and the speed limit signs are all in metric. Though until you bought a new car after the change you had to be pretty good at converting mph to kMph. The government even brought out a handy conversion table for you to stick to the dashboard of your car, as a reminder. Whoever had the contract for road signage in Ireland must be living in the Caymen Islands now, laughing his socks off. ---
**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-think-in-kilometers/492512/13 "2009-04-09T17:14:56Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > Actually that’s not quite accurate. We buy petrol in litres (which I think is a bit odd, because, as has been said, road measurements are in miles, so working out your petrol consumption involves both metric and imperial measurements.) What wasn’t accurate about what I said? I’m confused. I wasn’t talking about petrol. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-think-in-kilometers/492512/14 "2009-04-09T17:17:40Z")
In the 70s some major US highways began to bear signs such as **Minneapolis 100 KILOMETERS 62 MILES** I’ve found that very handy indeed over the years. ---
**Author:** ![Zany\_Zeolite\_Zipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zany\_Zeolite\_Zipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zany_Zeolite_Zipper)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-think-in-kilometers/492512/15 "2009-04-09T17:20:26Z")
> [@Dublin11](#): > > Here’s something that’ll blow your mind then. > Ireland used to have all the road signs in miles; both distance and speed limit signs. > The name of the place on a distance sign was rendered in Irish and in English. Then the distance signs were all changed; they still had the two languages for the place name, but the distances to get there were rendered in both imperial and metric measurements. For this time, all the speed limit signs remained in mph. > > Now the distance and the speed limit signs are all in metric. Though until you bought a new car after the change you had to be pretty good at converting mph to kMph. The government even brought out a handy conversion table for you to stick to the dashboard of your car, as a reminder. > > Whoever had the contract for road signage in Ireland must be living in the Caymen Islands now, laughing his socks off. Here in Canada, all cars come with both scales on the speedo. Don’t they do the same in Ireland/Europe? As for one kilometre, that is about five blocks, or about ten minutes walking. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-think-in-kilometers/492512/16 "2009-04-09T17:25:24Z")
> [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](#): > > What wasn’t accurate about what I said? I’m confused. I wasn’t talking about petrol. I thought you were inferring that we are still using imperial measurements. Sorry if I misunderstood. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-think-in-kilometers/492512/17 "2009-04-09T20:00:39Z")
I think of a kilometer as how far I can walk in 10 minutes. My normal walking pace is about 3.5 mph, but most people seem to walk a lot slower. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-think-in-kilometers/492512/18 "2009-04-09T21:19:08Z")
A mile makes sence, a KM dose not. A mile is a 15 minute walk. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-think-in-kilometers/492512/19 "2009-04-09T21:48:41Z")
> [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](#): > > What wasn’t accurate about what I said? What I said? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2009, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-think-in-kilometers/492512/20 "2009-04-09T21:50:35Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > A mile makes sence, a KM dose not. A mile is a 15 minute walk. Your post dose not make sence. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-think-in-kilometers/492512.md?page=2)