# How do you feel about the metric system? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 19, 2015, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115 "2015-02-19T19:08:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/221 "2015-02-26T19:23:09Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Don’t forget the Guinea unit of account (after the coin was dropped) - worth 21 shillings, it was. 😃 > > This one caused me no end of confusion reading English history & historical fiction. Guineas as a unit is still used in horse auctions. The buyer pays in guineas ie £1.05, and the seller gets the same number of pounds. The auctioneer takes the difference as commission. Edit: strange feeling of deja-vu when I posted the above. Turns out I posted the same thing a week ago on this very thread! ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/222 "2015-02-26T20:03:24Z")
> [@polar\_bear](#): > > This baffles me (as European) as well, since in daily use, we always speak about the amount of km per litre. We use liters per ten km. Although the car display shows liters per 100km, but since I’m quite able to divide by ten in my head, that’s not really an issue 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/223 "2015-02-26T20:09:24Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I measured a two-by-four as about 37mm by 88mm. A “metric two-by-four” is 48x98mm. ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/224 "2015-03-13T16:00:02Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > A tablespoon of Dijon mustard? I’ll squirt some in, okay that’s about right…and it works. Please don’t take my tablespoon away. > [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > Do they use the metric equivalent of an English measure or just bite the bullet and round the amounts of ingredients up or down to the most convenient metric measure where the least significant digit is a 5 or 0 (zero). Either way, I’m guessing “1 large egg” is the same in both systems. > > What are the metric measuring spoons and cups? 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 250, 500, and 1000 mL? Standard metric teaspoon = 5 ml British ‘Imperial’ teaspoon = 5.91939 ml US ‘customary’ teaspoon = 4.92892 ml Standard metric tablespoon = 15 ml British ‘Imperial’ tablespoon = 17.7582 ml US ‘customary’ tablespoon = 14.7868 ml standard Metric cup = not really a thing, some crazy US-influenced countries use it as shorthand for a quarter-litre British ‘Imperial’ cup = no such thing, that’s what half-pints are for US ‘customary’ cup = for some reason it’s needed because half-pints just won’t do and it’s 236.588 ml Note the weird mind-meld between the americans and the metric-ans on the proper size of spoons, with the Brits ploughing their own crazy furrow. Whereas the Brits and Metric-ans agree that cups are crazy nonsense which only Americans and their neo-colonies could love. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115.md?page=11)