# Metric system as used in Canada **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 22, 2004, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system-as-used-in-canada/265542 "2004-09-22T19:20:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system-as-used-in-canada/265542/21 "2004-09-23T13:32:52Z")
Nitpick: the US does not use Imperial measure. The US uses the “US Customary System of Units”, in which gallons and other related units of volume are different. The US gallon is ~3.8 litres; the Imperial gallon is ~4.5 litres. This led to endless fun when both Canada and the US spoke of “miles per gallon”. I just wish Canada would FINISH converting to the metric system. I hate this two-system mishmash we have now. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system-as-used-in-canada/265542/22 "2004-09-23T13:45:10Z")
I had to go on a business trip to Montreal recently. I ran into [a problem](http://www.sirblah.com/photo/view.php?album=Montreal&mode=&pic=IMG_2103.JPG&picindex=6). :smack: ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system-as-used-in-canada/265542/23 "2004-09-23T13:46:59Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > Incorrect. For example, every altimeter on every commercial (and military?) aircraft in the world uses good old-fashioned _feet_. The reason, according to what I’ve read, is that this use just stuck, probably because the numbers were mentally appealing in this application (if you use meters, you divide the feet number roughly by three, reducing the normal range to about 10,000 m or less). I dunno. I just went flying with the Belgian air force and the altimeter was calibrated in meters, and all heights discussed were always given in meters. And every communication I get from Transport Canada about ICAO stuff is always in metres AND feet. The use of feet is probably a question of convenience for North Americans, but I was seriously under the impression that circuit heights and runway lengths were given in metres in Europe. Aren’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system-as-used-in-canada/265542/24 "2004-09-23T14:17:03Z")
**Hal Briston** , 21 degrees is room temperature. Just remember that. 🙂 (There’s a company in Toronto _named_ 21 Degrees Heating And Cooling…) ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system-as-used-in-canada/265542/25 "2004-09-23T15:38:00Z")
> [@Hal Briston](#): > > I had to go on a business trip to Montreal recently. I ran into [a problem](http://www.sirblah.com/photo/view.php?album=Montreal&mode=&pic=IMG_2103.JPG&picindex=6). :smack: Yeah, it’s spelled Celsius. Living in NY I have to refer to the converter program on my Palm pilot in order to know what the weather is, and some days I’m _writing_ the weather! ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system-as-used-in-canada/265542/26 "2004-09-23T17:00:16Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > Yeah, it’s spelled Celsius. What’re you talking about? That’s how I have it spelled. Photoshop? _What_ Photoshop? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Orbifold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/779978/32.png) [@Orbifold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orbifold)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system-as-used-in-canada/265542/27 "2004-09-23T17:00:37Z")
Celcius to Fahrenheit is _not_ difficult, people. “Double it and add 30” is close enough if you just want to know whether to wear a jacket. ---
**Author:** ![gfloyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d2c977/32.png) [@gfloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gfloyd)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2004, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system-as-used-in-canada/265542/28 "2004-09-23T18:16:34Z")
My parents stare at me when I have to ask how many cups are in a quart. They think it’s a failing in my education. I look back at them and tell them that if my procedures (I’m a chemist) called for ounces of adamantanone in pints of toluene, I might be able to cut without asking stupid questions. Metrify the world, it isn’t that hard. It’s a lovely day outside, about 25 or so. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system-as-used-in-canada/265542/29 "2004-09-24T02:17:01Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > Incorrect. For example, every altimeter on every commercial (and military?) aircraft in the world uses good old-fashioned _feet_. The reason, according to what I’ve read, is that this use just stuck, probably because the numbers were mentally appealing in this application (if you use meters, you divide the feet number roughly by three, reducing the normal range to about 10,000 m or less). No they’re not… Even FAA publications are starting to use meters and hectopascals along with the US measurements. So when I’m getting ready to fly I have to worry about whether the airspeed is in miles or knots (like we _need_ another unit of measure! :rolleyes: ), the air pressure is in inches of mercury or hectopascals, whether the distances I’m being given are in statute miles, nautical miles, or kilometers. If I’m told the temperature is “21” I have to inquire about the season as well to know if it’s Celcius or Farenheit (different airports use either scale, and there frequently is not a lot of rhyme or reason to who does what around here). Thank Og we all divide the circle into 360 degrees and the day into 24 hours - at least that much is consistent across borders. This is why, when I bought my flight computer, the conversion functions were an extremely important factor in my decision. My current little gizmo can accept measurements in a mishmash of systems, reconcile the numbers, digest the calculations, and render an answer in whatever system I require. I am soooooo happy with it 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system-as-used-in-canada/265542/30 "2004-09-24T03:37:05Z")
I saw first hand the problems (and waste) caused by the introduction of metric measurement as the “official” units in medicine. In addition to the huge costs of notifying _every_ MD, repeatedly, about the changes (including chart after chart of conversions), there were real, and negative, effects on patient care. Years of intuition and familiarity were lost (things like rule-of-thumb formulas and critical cut points). Mistakes were made (critical values were unappreciated and/or misinterpreted and/or mistreated). For what? The large majority of the (best) medical literature (whether original articles or textbooks and reviews) originates in the USA. It did not, and still does not, use metric. Oh sure, I can calculate osmolality more readily. Woo-hoo! ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system-as-used-in-canada/265542/31 "2004-09-24T05:00:39Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > Incorrect notions and refutations: > > **The rest of the world is metric; only the US (Canada, Britain, etc.) isn’t.** > > This is wrong in two parts. First there is the incorrect notion that the US, etc., are insufficiently metric. Any cite for that? I don’t think there is a manufacturer, high-tech or otherwise, who is losing business because it refuses to use metric where it should. The metric system is not standard in the US; I don’t see how you can dispute this fact. Whether US manufacturers are losing business as a result is a separate and more debatable question. > [@](#): > > The second incorrect notion is that the “rest of the world” uses only metric. In Japan, _jyou_ (the size of a tatami mat, a convenient measure of room size), _tsubo_ (another measure of area, about 3.3 m[sup]2[/sup]), _gou_ and _shou_ (measures of volume used for Japanese sake and shouchuu) are used. “Uses metric” doesn’t mean all archaic units are completely eliminated. Japan is a metric country. There are a few archaic units used in specialized fields because of convenience, but that’s true in any country - “cup,” “tablespoon,” etc will not disappear from recipe books in any country any time soon. Almost everything - weather forecasts (pressure and temperature), traffic laws (speed and distance), screw sizes and measuring devices available in hardware stores, bathroom scales, etc - are in metric. > [@](#): > > My opinion is that the metric system is great for _small_ measurements but has been a relative failure on the macro side. … there really isn’t an advantage at all, and often there is a disadvantage, since those units were originally created for specific purposes. For example, I find it much easier to conceive of people’s heights in feet and inches. Most people are 4’+, 5’+, or 6’+ --three convenient layers, and the inches fill in the details. Going by 10s in centimeters is not as easy or intuitive. That’s because that’s what you are used to. I find it horribly inconvenient that feet/inches are not decimal units. I grew up in Japan, and expressing people’s heights in centimeters is perfectly intuitive to me - I’m 174cm which is more or less average for a Japanese man. 165cm would be fairly short, over 180cm would be pretty tall, etc. > [@](#): > > At any rate, there is no reason why we can’t go on mixing systems. Both imperial and metric have their advantages. I haven’t seen a single advantage for imperial which doesn’t boil down to “because I’m used to it” or “because that’s what we’ve been using and we don’t want to change.” ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system-as-used-in-canada/265542/32 "2004-09-24T15:50:38Z")
> [@Orbifold](#): > > Celcius to Fahrenheit is _not_ difficult, people. “Double it and add 30” is close enough if you just want to know whether to wear a jacket. If you lived anywhere it snowed, you’d know how wrong that statement is 😉 As for the medical field, every doctor I know in the U.S. is fully versed in metric, and does everything in metric, from baby weights to injections. Of course, every doctor I know is under 40, so they probably learned metric from the day they entered med school. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system-as-used-in-canada/265542/33 "2004-09-24T16:03:24Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > So when I’m getting ready to fly I have to worry about whether the airspeed is in miles or knots (like we need another unit of measure! ), the air pressure is in inches of mercury or hectopascals, whether the distances I’m being given are in statute miles, nautical miles, or kilometers. If I’m told the temperature is “21” I have to inquire about the season as well to know if it’s Celcius or Farenheit (different airports use either scale, and there frequently is not a lot of rhyme or reason to who does what around here). Thank Og we all divide the circle into 360 degrees and the day into 24 hours - at least that much is consistent across borders. And that’s why the measurement mishmash is the worst of all worlds. LET’S FINISH THE \*^%%& CONVERSION! ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2004, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system-as-used-in-canada/265542/34 "2004-09-24T16:32:03Z")
I grew up with Imperial measures and Fahrenheit temperature readings. Somewhere around Grade 8, Canada started going metric, and we had to learn about all this newfangled measurement. I never got it, really. I can picture how long a foot or a mile is, but I don’t know how long a foot is in centimeters, nor could I estimate how many km it is to somewhere 27 miles away. If someone is 160 cm tall, I have no idea whether they’re a midget or a giant. The only difference we noticed when everybody started using metric is that at the store, now you got less stuff for the same price, or sometimes higher, like milk and sugar. People were going around doing math to figure out what the temperature was. Last time I was there, 6 years ago, they were still giving the temperature in both Fahrenheit and celsius on the radio. Are they still doing it? I can see how if you grew up with metric, it wouldn’t be a problem for you, it’d be your norm. Well, here I am in the States, where everything is measured just like it was when I learned the old way. At least there is some remnant of my childhood that is still valid! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system-as-used-in-canada/265542.md?page=1)