# What does "ten below" mean in Fahrenheit-using countries?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ten-below-mean-in-fahrenheit-using-countries/590377
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 26, 2011, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ten-below-mean-in-fahrenheit-using-countries/590377 "2011-07-26T13:08:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@BDoors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BDoors)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2011, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ten-below-mean-in-fahrenheit-using-countries/590377/1 "2011-07-26T13:08:19Z")
I did Google it but am not getting a definitive answer from the likes of Yahoo Answers et al (quelle surprise). So does “ten below”, for example, mean below freezing or below zero Fahrenheit? Obviously “ten below freezing” should mean 22F, but often people seem to just say “[_some number_] below”.
---
### Author:  [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2011, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ten-below-mean-in-fahrenheit-using-countries/590377/2 "2011-07-26T13:09:33Z")
Below zero, of course.
---
### Author:  [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2011, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ten-below-mean-in-fahrenheit-using-countries/590377/3 "2011-07-26T13:10:10Z")
> [@BDoors](#):
>
> I did Google it but am not getting a definitive answer from the likes of Yahoo Answers et al (quelle surprise). So does “ten below”, for example, mean below freezing or below zero Fahrenheit? Obviously “ten below freezing” should mean 22F, but often people seem to just say “[_some number_] below”.
Ten degrees below 0F.
---
### Author:  [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2011, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ten-below-mean-in-fahrenheit-using-countries/590377/4 "2011-07-26T13:19:08Z")
Below zero. If it’s between zero and 32 out there, you’d probably just say “It’s below freezing.”
---
### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2011, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ten-below-mean-in-fahrenheit-using-countries/590377/5 "2011-07-26T13:23:37Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#):
>
> Below zero. If it’s between zero and 32 out there, you’d probably just say “It’s below freezing.”
And if you wanted to say “ten below freezing,” you’d just say “22 degrees” or maybe just “20 degrees.” Heck, I guess some people might even say “20 above.”
As a direct answer, “10 below” in Fahrenheit is “23 below” in Celsius.
---
### Author:  [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2011, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ten-below-mean-in-fahrenheit-using-countries/590377/6 "2011-07-26T13:23:54Z")
You can find examples of the usage in Jack London’ [To Build a Fire](http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/To_Build_a_Fire):
> [@](#):
>
> As he turned to go on, he spat speculatively. There was a sharp, explosive crackle that startled him. He spat again. And again, in the air, before it could fall to the snow, the spittle crackled. He knew that at fifty below spittle crackled on the snow, but this spittle had crackled in the air. Undoubtedly it was colder than fifty below–how much colder he did not know . . .
>
> [a few paragraphs later] In reality, it was not merely colder than fifty below zero; it was colder than sixty below, than seventy below. It was seventy-five below zero.
---
### Author:  [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2011, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ten-below-mean-in-fahrenheit-using-countries/590377/7 "2011-07-26T13:25:27Z")
That means it’s February in Minnesota.
---
### Author:  [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2011, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ten-below-mean-in-fahrenheit-using-countries/590377/8 "2011-07-26T13:38:44Z")
Nobody refers to 22 degrees as ten below, nobody.
Ten below is -10 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s 10 degrees below zero (0).
---
### Author:  [@BDoors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BDoors)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2011, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ten-below-mean-in-fahrenheit-using-countries/590377/9 "2011-07-26T13:43:30Z")
> [@Koxinga](#):
>
> Below zero, of course.
OK. It didn’t seem that obvious to me because I speculated that perhaps, under a system in which the freezing point is not zero, it might be useful to give temperatures relative to freezing rather than leaving people to do the mental arithmetic of “shit, that’s twenty-five degrees below freezing” or whatever. I guess I’m just used to a system in which things are always relative to the freezing point.
---
### Author:  [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2011, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ten-below-mean-in-fahrenheit-using-countries/590377/10 "2011-07-26T13:51:29Z")
> [@BDoors](#):
>
> OK. It didn’t seem that obvious to me because I speculated that perhaps, under a system in which the freezing point is not zero, it might be useful to give temperatures relative to freezing rather than leaving people to do the mental arithmetic of “shit, that’s twenty-five degrees below freezing” or whatever. I guess I’m just used to a system in which things are always relative to the freezing point.
We don’t need to do any mental arithmetic. We’ve had this system our whole lives and it’s second nature to us. We know without consciously thinking about it that when the temperature is below 32 it’s below freezing, when it is significantly below 32 it is “wicked cold” and when it is below 0 it is “f-ing cold.” HTH
---
### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2011, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ten-below-mean-in-fahrenheit-using-countries/590377/11 "2011-07-26T13:54:40Z")
The construction “ten below” sounds uniquely North American to me. We wouldn’t say that in the UK, we’d say “minus ten” and mean -10C.
---
### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2011, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ten-below-mean-in-fahrenheit-using-countries/590377/12 "2011-07-26T14:07:49Z")
> [@jjimm](#):
>
> The construction “ten below” sounds uniquely North American to me. We wouldn’t say that in the UK, we’d say “minus ten” and mean -10C.
That’s just kooky-talk. Thank god we got shut of you whackos.
---
### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2011, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ten-below-mean-in-fahrenheit-using-countries/590377/13 "2011-07-26T14:16:58Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> That’s just kooky-talk. Thank god we got shut of you whackos.
Shut it, pilgrim.
---
### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2011, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ten-below-mean-in-fahrenheit-using-countries/590377/14 "2011-07-26T14:19:34Z")
> [@BDoors](#):
>
> OK. It didn’t seem that obvious to me because I speculated that perhaps, under a system in which the freezing point is not zero, it might be useful to give temperatures relative to freezing rather than leaving people to do the mental arithmetic of “shit, that’s twenty-five degrees below freezing” or whatever.
Temperature is such an ingrained part of our experience that we really don’t need any specific indicator of relativeness to freezing. We don’t need to figure out that 10 below is 25 degrees below freezing. 10 below is 10 below.
---
### Author:  [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2011, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ten-below-mean-in-fahrenheit-using-countries/590377/15 "2011-07-26T14:19:37Z")
> [@BDoors](#):
>
> OK. It didn’t seem that obvious to me because I speculated that perhaps, under a system in which the freezing point is not zero, it might be useful to give temperatures relative to freezing rather than leaving people to do the mental arithmetic of “shit, that’s twenty-five degrees below freezing” or whatever. I guess I’m just used to a system in which things are always relative to the freezing point.
North American - I’ve never heard anyone, even once, say “ten below” when they were talking about 22 degrees Fahrenheit. I also don’t know anyone who bothers doing any math to figure out how far below freezing “ten below” would work out to be. Thirty-two degrees, twenty-two degrees, and ten below don’t really relate to each other. They all occupy distinct points on our mental scale which goes something like:
Freezing
Cold
Really Cold
Really Fucking Cold
Zero
Below Zero
Ridiculously Cold
Witches’ Tits.
In general, I would say North Americans don’t really care what the actual thermometer says - we’re more interested in the what the weatherman says about windchill factor or the humidity, probably because those are more extreme numbers.
---
### Author:  [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2011, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ten-below-mean-in-fahrenheit-using-countries/590377/16 "2011-07-26T14:27:19Z")
If there’s any halfway logical complaint about Celsius, I figure it’s this: “zero” under that scale isn’t nearly as cold as most of us have experienced under normal weather conditions. But 0F probably is. If it’s zero degrees Fahrenheit, you know it’s f\_\_kn cold!
---
### Author:  [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ten-below-mean-in-fahrenheit-using-countries/590377/17 "2011-07-26T14:29:53Z")
> [@Koxinga](#):
>
> If it’s zero degrees Fahrenheit, you know it’s f\_\_kn cold!
Ah, or May in Minnesota.
I’ll stop now.
---
### Author:  [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2011, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ten-below-mean-in-fahrenheit-using-countries/590377/18 "2011-07-26T14:31:19Z")
Yeah, 32F isn’t all that cold in the winter, but 0F is. Things don’t really feel all that cold until they hit 20F.
---
### Author:  [@BDoors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BDoors)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2011, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ten-below-mean-in-fahrenheit-using-countries/590377/19 "2011-07-26T14:33:08Z")
Jeez, I wasn’t trying to attack the American way of life. Just explaining why, from the perspective of someone accustomed to a freezing-point-based system, it seemed a reasonable possibility that “ten below” meant “below freezing”.
---
### Author:  [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2011, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-ten-below-mean-in-fahrenheit-using-countries/590377/20 "2011-07-26T14:36:53Z")
I don’t think anyone took it that way? I sure didn’t.
Though I’m American, seeing as I’m living on a !@#%# humid subtropical island at the end of !!@@#$|\