# The US going 100% metric - do we all have to die? Plus: weird measurements around the world! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 31, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666 "2011-01-31T16:56:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666/41 "2011-01-31T20:11:04Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > It helped her put her head around the concept, for purposes of the discussion we were having. If I was asking her to walk a mile, no, it wouldn’t have helped her. > > (Mostly, I was just boggled by the idea of an adult woman who simply had no way to conceptualize a mile.) Oh, I understand. I guess what I’m really suggesting is that a lot of people don’t have a feel for “one mile” (or, for that matter, “one kilometer”) as a non-abstract distance in space rather than time. Many people simply don’t walk known distances as long as a mile, ever; this is why lengths are sometimes given in “blocks” and “football fields” even where fractions of a mile would be more appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666/42 "2011-01-31T20:20:42Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > So the cow-herders recognised the illogic of the way they do it in Paris and regularised the language? 😃 I would like to think that, but try to convince people in Paris that [folks looking like this](http://visitonsnosprovinces.niceboard.com/t73-la-desalpe-a-charmey) are smarter than them. ---
**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:** [January 31, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666/43 "2011-01-31T20:21:10Z")
> [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > The big selling point on metric is that it’s easier to convert between units, but how often in practical every day life do we really need to convert between miles and feet or gallons and ounces or whatever. That’s not actually the big selling point. The big selling point is that when performing calculations, you’re only ever dealing with one number, in base ten (e.g: 12.759 metres), rather than a measurement comprising a number of different components, possibly in assorted bases (eg:12 feet, 7 inches and three eighths) ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666/44 "2011-01-31T20:22:35Z")
> [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > …Around here, the temperature typically ranges between 0-100 over the course of a year and I have a very intuitive feel for temperature ranges therein, but I feel like the **resolution for Celcius just isn’t high enough** to be useful for describing weather. … I think if you look at the conversions below you’ll have to agree that Celcius has plenty of resolution to describe everyday weather conditions. Celsius…Fahrenheit 0 C …32.0 F 1 C …33.8 F 2 C …35.6 F 3 C …37.4 F 4 C …39.2 F 5 C …41.0 F 6 C …42.8 F 7 C …44.6 F 8 C …46.4 F 9 C …48.2 F 10 C …50.0 F 11 C …51.8 F 12 C …53.6 F 13 C …55.4 F 14 C …57.2 F 15 C …59.0 F 16 C …60.8 F 17 C …62.6 F 18 C …64.4 F 19 C …66.2 F 20 C …68.0 F 21 C …69.8 F 22 C …71.6 F 23 C …73.4 F 24 C …75.2 F 25 C …77.0 F 26 C …78.8 F 27 C …80.6 F 28 C …82.4 F 29 C …84.2 F 30 C …86.0 F ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666/45 "2011-01-31T20:30:17Z")
> [@](#): > > Are young Americans more comfortable with metric measures than earlier generations? I work in a lab (where of course all measurements are in metric units) with a staff mostly composed of people out of college. I never hear them mention metric units outside of the lab. Even in the lab, you’ll never hear “make that five centimeters thick”, only “2 inches”. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666/46 "2011-01-31T20:30:47Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > That’s not actually the big selling point. The big selling point is that when performing calculations, you’re only ever dealing with one number, in base ten (e.g: 12.759 metres), rather than a measurement comprising a number of different components, possibly in assorted bases (eg:12 feet, 7 inches and three eighths) One of the big selling points for me is that it’s so easy to convert from smaller units to bigger units. How many meters in a kilometer? 1000. How many centiliters in a liter? 100. How many milligrams in a gram? 1000. How many milligrams in a kilogram? 1million. etc. etc. Go ask the average guy on the street in the US: how many feet in a mile? How many pints in a gallon? How many ounces in a ton? See how many come up with the right answer. ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666/47 "2011-01-31T21:22:28Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > In the part of Switzerland I grew up in (farmland, the boonies, cow country) we said “soixante, septante, huitante, nonante”. In the rest of French-speaking Switzerland, people typically say “soixante, septante, quatre-vingts, nonante”. We, in French speaking Switzerland, are more advanced than the French, and we’re proud of it. 🆒 We still say “huitante” though no one gets panicky when I say “quatre-vingts”. And we understand when the French say “quatre-vingt-dix-huit”. We are bilingual 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666/48 "2011-01-31T21:26:35Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > 81 is quatre-vingt-un “four-twenty-one” … We have this in English too: “Four score and seven years ago …” > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > One wah is 4 square meters. [NITPICK]One wah is 2 meters. One _talang_ (square) wah is 4 square meters.[/NITPICK] One wah is 4 sok (i.e., 1 sok is 50 cm.) I _think_ sok originally was approx. distance from fingertip to elbow, and then adjusted to 50 cm exactly when metric system arrived. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666/49 "2011-01-31T21:27:55Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I don’t think even the most fervent of metric lovers would suggest destroying everything that was ever made using a different system. In the UK, plasterboard and other sheet materials are described in metric dimensions for sale, but their actual sizes are typically based on 6 by 8 foot boards, or portions thereof. …and in many otherwise all-metric countries, some things are described in non-metric units, e.g. television screens in inches. I don’t know why, it just _is_ like that. Other measurements: In Scandinavia, a _mil_ (the word is a cognate with the English _mile_) was a unit of length that varied from about 7.5km to a bit over 11km, depending on where you were. In Norway and Sweden this has been rounded off to 10 km and the term is still used. (In Denmark they never quite made the conversion.) Fuel efficiency in cars, for instance, is expressed as how much fuel the vehicle needs to drive one _mil_. A 500km journey might be described as “We drove fifty _mil._” ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666/50 "2011-01-31T21:37:06Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > They still use some of the old Thai land measurements here. Wah, rai and ngan are very common. > > One wah is 4 square meters. > One ngan is 400 square meters (or 100 wah). > One acre is about 2-1/2 rai; a hectare is 6-1/4 rai. Over here, as in most of the old Ottoman Empire, they still use [dunams](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunam)for land measurements. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666/51 "2011-01-31T21:43:32Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > That’s not actually the big selling point. The big selling point is that when performing calculations, you’re only ever dealing with one number, in base ten (e.g: 12.759 metres), rather than a measurement comprising a number of different components, possibly in assorted bases (eg:12 feet, 7 inches and three eighths) Fair enough. However, I still feel like my point stands because when I give my height, I’m not performing these kinds of calculations. That is, the difference that I see is that metric is superior when performing calculations and conversions, but that standard is superior when dealing with just the measurements themselves and conversions and calculations aren’t necessary. I make this distinction because I think it directly draws from the methods in which they were defined because metric was specifically created with those ideas in mind, where standard was based around finding units that were useful for what people were regularly measuring. > [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > One of the big selling points for me is that it’s so easy to convert from smaller units to bigger units. How many meters in a kilometer? 1000. How many centiliters in a liter? 100. How many milligrams in a gram? 1000. How many milligrams in a kilogram? 1million. etc. etc. > > Go ask the average guy on the street in the US: how many feet in a mile? How many pints in a gallon? How many ounces in a ton? See how many come up with the right answer. And this is one of those “selling points” that endlessly frustrates me. Sure, many people can’t tell you how many feet are in a mile, but in an everyday circumstance, how often do you really need to know that? Other than a fourth grade math/science test, never. Sure, if I tell you that the store down the stree 6.9 km, you can tell me it’s 6900 meters, or if I told you that same distance was 4.3 miles I couldn’t tell you how many feet it is without doing math… but how is that information the least bit useful when I’m just trying to send you to the store to buy some milk? That’s the crux of the point I’m trying to make here. In an everyday situation, where you’re buying/using a certain amount of something, travelling a certain distance, or whatever, you’re not converting units, I relate the value of the unit more in out useful it is in its size relative to that which its measuring, and how intuitive it is to understand that unit. I think in some applications, standard has a distinct advantage here, particularly with distance, where metric has no real answer to the foot which is useful in situations where I feel centimeters are too small and meters are too large, like a person’s height. I think a decimeter would probably serve that purpose reasonably well, but I’ve never seen it used. In other applications, I think there’s realtively no advantage in either direction, like with weight. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666/52 "2011-01-31T21:47:37Z")
The metric system has been legal in the U.S. since 1866 and the legal standard (customary units are defined in terms of metric units) since 1893. Cite- [http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/laws/](http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/laws/) I taught high school science for 26.5 y and I agree the reason U.S. citizens don’t like the system is because they have no idea of the unit sizes. I used to hand out cards to the students and have them write the distance from the school to their houses in mi and km, estimates only, no calculating allowed. I’d list them on the board- some might say 5 mi = 2 km and others would say something like 5 mi = 200 km. Comparisons between lbs and kg were just as varied. I believe people would generally get over it if we’d just go ahead and switch. Most of my students were fine with liters but had no clue what a quart was. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666/53 "2011-01-31T21:50:34Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > rather than a measurement comprising a number of different components, possibly in assorted bases (eg:12 feet, 7 inches and three eighths) There’s no actual reason that measurements should be in assorted bases. I have in my home right now two foot/inch based rulers that are decimalized instead of fractionalized. One is a 50ft landscape tape measure, that has feet/inches on one side and feet only on the other side, broken up in tenths/hundredths. Very convenient when you have to multiply to get total area/volume. Another is a small metal ruler that has inches and tenths/fiftieths of inches, used by machinists. Not to say that these things are common, but they exist, and if we needed decimilized measurements to get by, we could have them without destroying our collective comfort with our system of measure. ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666/54 "2011-01-31T21:58:27Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I think if you look at the conversions below you’ll have to agree that Celcius has plenty of resolution to describe everyday weather conditions. > > Celsius…Fahrenheit > 0 C …32.0 F > … > 30 C …86.0 F I can’t really agree there. I can typically tell the difference between as few as a couple degrees. Maybe not so much at more extreme temperatures, but around room temperature, I can tell you probably with +/- 1 degree accuracy the temperature between roughly 65-80. Even at more extreme temperatures, I can probably do so with 2-3 degree accuracy. I also think that having zero within the range of typical temperatures for where a huge number of people live also makes it less useful for every day weather. Why would one want to work with negative numbers on a daily basis in the winter just to know how cold it is? I could possibly see it being reasonably on par if that weren’t the case, particularly since most people probably aren’t as sensitive to temperature as I am, but that I think hurts it for every day usage. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666/55 "2011-01-31T22:01:59Z")
.. .. > [@](#): > > "It all started back in 1966, when they changed to decimal currency, and overnight me over-draft doubled. > > I was just getting used to this when they brought in kilograms instead of pounds, and me sheep cut less than half the wool they did the last season. > > Then they brought in millimetres and we haven’t had a decent fall of rain since. So what do they do next? They bring in a thing called Celsius and the temperature is bloody nearly boiling at 32 when it used to be freezing. > > As if it wasn’t enough, they had to change from acres to hectares and I ended up with a bloody hobby farm rather than the decent block of land I used to. I bought a small car to beat the fuel crisis, but they changed from gallons to litres and I’m using four times as much fuel as before. > > So one day I sat down and had a think. I reckoned that with daylight saving, I was working seven extra hours a week for nothing. So I decided to sell out, but when I went to the agent’s hands, I find they’ve changed from miles to kilometres and now I find I’m to far out of town for anybody to buy the bloody place anyway." ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666/56 "2011-01-31T22:08:45Z")
As usual _[the Family Circus](http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/701/familycircus1729.jpg)_ has already covered this ---
**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:** [January 31, 2011, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666/57 "2011-01-31T22:15:35Z")
> [@Blaster\_Master](#): > > And this is one of those “selling points” that endlessly frustrates me. Sure, many people can’t tell you how many feet are in a mile, but in an everyday circumstance, how often do you really need to know that? Other than a fourth grade math/science test, never. One example: comparing price per weight for various brands and sizes in the supermarket for items marked in pounds and ounces. How much is an item with 1 lb 3 oz at $2.99 in cents per ounce? Or per pound? It’s an extra step to work out that the weight is 19 oz, or 1.1875 lb, and then do the division. It’s much easier with the weight in g or kg. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666/58 "2011-01-31T22:16:19Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I can mentally do weights, and distance [though I am sort of hazy on hectares] but I have trouble with temperature. I know that 0=freezing and 100=boiling, so that is 32 and 212 … but I can’t convert without google … +1 > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > A very rough estimate that I always use is take the Celsius, add 15, double it, and there’s Fahrenheit. nice! > [@jjimm](#): > > When it’s zero it’s freezing, > when it’s 10 it’s not, > when it’s 20 it’s warm, > when it’s 30 it’s hot. Excellent! > [@Giles](#): > > The other important Celsius reference point is 37, which is the normal temperature of the human body. More goodness! > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > There was a girl whom I briefly dated, just after I got out of college, who had, as I gathered it, lived a very sheltered life. She had not learned how to drive, and we once had this very odd discussion. > > Me: “It’s about a mile away.” > Melanie: “How far is a mile?” > Me: “Ummmm…5280 feet?” > Melanie: “Seriously…I mean, I know what the word means, but I can’t picture how far it is.” > Me: “OK…let’s see. Can you imagine riding in a car on the highway?” (Note that I said “riding”; I knew she’d never driven) > Melanie: “Yes, I can.” > Me: “Now, the distance that a car goes in a minute on the highway is about a mile. So, if it drives for 10 minutes, it goes 10 miles, 60 minutes is 60 miles, and so on.” > Melanie (brightly): “Oh! I get it now!” > > Nice girl, but odd. Reminds me of a gal I know who is not stupid, she just has a shamefully bad education. We were driving one day looking for an address and I referred to the odd and even numbers being on different sides of the street. She asked me how in the world I could figure it out so fast…which startled me. We sort of went back and forth about it and it finally became clear that she did not have an innate understanding of the fact that the only relevant digit is the last one - she thought those of us who could instantly recognize that 17497 was an odd number were doing complex math equations in our heads, vs. isolating the “7”. I was stunned. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666/59 "2011-01-31T22:25:26Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > As usual _[the Family Circus](http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/701/familycircus1729.jpg)_ has already covered this Wait…that’s not being sold as the genuine article, is it? That’s been altered! ---
**Author:** ![Otara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Otara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otara)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666/60 "2011-01-31T22:27:57Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > One example: comparing price per weight for various brands and sizes in the supermarket for items marked in pounds and ounces. How much is an item with 1 lb 3 oz at $2.99 in cents per ounce? Or per pound? It’s an extra step to work out that the weight is 19 oz, or 1.1875 lb, and then do the division. It’s much easier with the weight in g or kg. But most people struggle with converting 545g of apples at $2.99/kg as well, so its not that much help to them in practical terms, even if a step is saved in theory. People just guesstimate instead. Otara [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-us-going-100-metric-do-we-all-have-to-die-plus-weird-measurements-around-the-world/569666.md?page=4)