My understanding is that in Arabic it is more of a “set phrase” without the same “this is part of the liturgy” connotations as the English equivalent.
Like how “goodbye” is a contraction of “God be with you” but no one really thinks of that meaning when saying it.
It goes “as-salaamu alaykum” [peace be upon you], and the standard response is “wa alaykumu s-salaam” [and upon you be peace / and also with you]
True.
As long as we are talking about the metric system, that reminds me of the scene in Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom where everybody gathers in the basement dressed in robes for a spooky candlelit ritual, including liturgy and other ceremonial stuff, in which they pledge themselves to the service of science…
This recalls a fond memory: my (atheist) dad used to end phone calls to me with, “Peace be with you, daughter.” I was an adult before it occurred to me to answer, “And also with you, Father.” He found that hilarious, and it became our standard farewell.
The Taylor Swift thread reminded me that Americans use metric AUX jacks.
Lol, that’s true.
1/4" phone jack has entered the conversation
(Although that size jack is indeed a throwback, so maybe it’s appropriate that it’s named in non-metric units.)
I used an amp list night, and connected a laptop with a 3.5mm jack and a speaker with a ¼ inch jack.
There’s a lot of these threads about the different weights and measures, but IME you get used to it really fast. It’s like a different currency; within a day or two you’re complaining that 10 Baht is extortionate for a loaf of bread.
America: come join everyone else in the metric hot tub! It’s 4 cubic metres (2 x 2 x 1) of soothing 40C water 
Another unit I have seen — I swear I am not making this up — is the kilopound per square inch
Typically abbreviated as ‘ksi’. Used by structural engineers, often enough.
ksi (thousand pound per square inch) is a common unit in stress analysis in the United States as most structural metals, compactified earth, concrete, and fiber-reinforced composites have allowable strengths that fall into the range of 10 to 200 ksi. It’s a very sensible unit that avoids having to carry a bunch of zeros that screw up significant figures or 10x factors, although you have to remember to apply accelerations in consistent terms (i.e. factors of 386.4 in/sec2 per 1 ‘gee’ of Earth surface acceleration), or else input material density in units consistent with ‘gee’ increments of acceleration. SI dispenses with this nonsense by putting stress and pressure in units of pascals, force in newtons, and accelerations in m/sec2 (or occasionally cm/sec2 if using a CGS system).
Stranger
Yes, I admit it! I am a member of the United States Metric Association – you may not have known that there is such a thing. All they can do, of course, is promote the further use of the metric system, and as their budget allows, send out educational materials. Anyhow, I just got their November/December newsletter, and the last piece was a letter they got regarding the ‘official status’ of the metric system in the US:
"USMA member Stanley Max asks, “If the metric system is the official measurement system in the
United States — of course, I hope that’s true — with one succinct reference, what is the law or
regulation or ruling that indisputably establishes that contention?”
To which USMA President Don Hillger replied:
The fact that all US measures are now based on the metric system, due to the Mendenhall Order
(1893), means we really are on the metric system, just stuck with units that are now tied to metric
standards because the inch–pound units no longer have an independent scientific basis other than the metric system. The Wikipedia article on the Mendenhall Order (Mendenhall Order - Wikipedia) uses the word “official”, but I doubt that is in the wording of the Mendenhall Order. It is the metric unit definitions/standards that have been the official basis of American units for so many years now, even if the metric system is not the US official measurement system.
The fact that the US passed a Metric Conversion Act in 1975 may qualify metric as being our
“official” measurement system, but again the word “official” is not used that I know. However, an
amendment to the Metric Conversion Act in 1988 makes the metric system the “preferred” system of measurement, so that is as close as it comes."
May I present you with the Arpent? Still used in Quebec for measuring sizes of farmland. Also used in some southern US states. Of course - there are several varieties of Arpent - and it could refer to units of length as well as units of area.
A Quebec farm ad: Farm for sale in Saint-Léonard-d’Aston, Centre-du-Québec, 40, Rang des Martin, 21916981 - Centris.ca
Cool—the word arpent is a survival from Gaulish, via Latin.
That’s because back in the 17th century, the need for accurate and consistent land measurements became a necessity. Thanks to Edmund Gunter, the surveyor’s chain (literally a chain) @ 66 feet long with 100 links equal to four perches or rods became the standard unit.
10 Chains in length made a Furlong, and 10 square Chains an Acre so a square Mile contains 640 square Acres. It’s interesting that it was almost metric, and that was 400 years ago.
An inch = 2.54 cm or 25.4 mm. I think one could easily adjust to calling 2”x4”s 5 cm x 10 cm
Closer to a 4 cm x 9 cm.
Stranger
True, but 5 cm x 10 cm is more accurate than 2" x 4". 
For those unaware, a 2" x 4" at the lumber yard is closer to 1.5" x 3.5" by the time you buy it.
In that case I’d just call them “5 and dimes”.
In Europe we have no trouble measuring stuff in metric AND buying our timber and piping in inches.
Using metric to measure one dimension is not really all that different from other units.
When you start to do conversions in engineering/physics SI really shines.
1 Pa = 1N/1m2
1l of water ~ 1kg ~ 1dm3
gravity ~ 10m/s2
I cannot imagine doing electrical stuff in imperial units;)
1W = 1 J/s
1J is 1N/1m
the pressure at 10m depth is 1 bar(10x10^5 Pa)
I can go on and on. Any kind of engineering is a nightmare of conversion in imperial, you cannot make sense of the world. Everything requires a calculator.