# Why do they still use dpi in metric countries? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 1, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-still-use-dpi-in-metric-countries/216332 "2003-12-01T20:25:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-still-use-dpi-in-metric-countries/216332/21 "2003-12-02T14:36:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mort Furd \* > \*\*One of the things that most tickles me is the lack of understanding of the metric system in Germany - which is completely metric, except for when you buy meat from the butcher. There, is is still common to ask for things by the pound (pfund.) … \*\* True, but we use _metric_ pounds (i.e. 500 g) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Indefatigable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9d8465/32.png) [@Indefatigable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indefatigable)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-still-use-dpi-in-metric-countries/216332/22 "2003-12-02T15:07:32Z")
Oh yeah, Canadian grocery stores… most things in bulk are priced in a number of different units, but the predominant price shown on the sign is either per pound (fruit and vegetables) or per hundred grams (meats and cheeses). It just makes things look cheaper than if they were priced per kilogram. ---
**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:** [December 2, 2003, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-still-use-dpi-in-metric-countries/216332/23 "2003-12-02T15:26:26Z")
As **jjimm** says; it seems to be a rather common misconception that countries favouring metric weights and measures have somehow banned all usage or mention of any other system - there was a thread a little while back (which I can’t find) asking (IIRC) whether people in metric countries were allowed to use idiom that contained non-metric terms. ---
**Author:** ![Mort\_Furd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-still-use-dpi-in-metric-countries/216332/24 "2003-12-02T15:33:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eurograff \* > I found this a bit hard to believe. Are you meaning that most German people you know don’t understand what a kilometre is? How do they measure distance between cities, or the length of a road trip, then? What do I know that it’d be very hard to find a They grasp quite well what a kilometer is, and also what a kilogram is. They don’t grasp that the “kilo” in both words has anything to do with things. It is like the words are monolithic, and it never occurs to them to break them apart and examine the pieces. Thinking about it, this might be a cultural thing. German uses a great many smashed together words whose meaning isn’t neccessarily the sum of the pieces. Perhaps it is just a blind spot. I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![gouda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c77e96/32.png) [@gouda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gouda)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-still-use-dpi-in-metric-countries/216332/25 "2003-12-02T18:22:01Z")
Things are a bit wierd in India. Distances are measured in kilometers and metres, but the height of a person is almost always spoken of in feet and inches. Weight is always by grams and kilograms, but of late I’ve been hearing the weight of new-born children measured in pounds. My computer monitor is 17", but my tv is 74cm. and yes, 300dpi too ---
**Author:** ![mkl12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@mkl12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mkl12)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-still-use-dpi-in-metric-countries/216332/26 "2003-12-02T19:34:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mort Furd \* > **They grasp quite well what a kilometer is, and also what a kilogram is. They don’t grasp that the “kilo” in both words has anything to do with things.** I am German and I have known what “kilo” means since I was a little child. My parents told me, and it was explained in school. So how many Germans did you ask? I think most people here know it. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-still-use-dpi-in-metric-countries/216332/27 "2003-12-02T19:58:24Z")
**Mort Furd** is right IMO in that a significant number of Germans (usually the kind whose least favourite subjects at school were mathematics and sciences) either didn’t understand the system of SI prefixes or have forgotten it. That’s why e.g. articles warning teenagers about the dangers of climbing on railway wagons state the overhead line voltage as “15000 volts” and not as “15 kV”. Also people campaigning against mobile phone base stations play on this, expressing 0.1 W/m² as 10000 µW/m². I suspect that for these people (e.g. most journalists, it seems) 1 kg = 1000 g and 1 km = 1000 m are separate unconnected facts. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-still-use-dpi-in-metric-countries/216332/28 "2003-12-02T20:03:12Z")
Make that “expressing 0.1 W/m² as 100000 µW/m²” which BTW supports my experience that a post pontificating about other people’s ignorance will invariably contain an error that shows the poster up. Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-still-use-dpi-in-metric-countries/216332/29 "2003-12-02T21:01:57Z")
One time when I was in Canada, a Canadian colleague told me she was going to submit 420 kilometers as her mileage on her expense account. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2003, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-still-use-dpi-in-metric-countries/216332/30 "2003-12-02T22:18:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JohnGalt \* > One time when I was in Canada, a Canadian colleague told me she was going to submit 420 kilometers as her mileage on her expense account. That recalls an earlier thread: [Metric equivalent of ‘mileage’](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=220473). In fact, that may have been the one **Mangetout** had in mind? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2003, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-still-use-dpi-in-metric-countries/216332/31 "2003-12-03T02:13:17Z")
I suspect [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=222127) is the thread that mangetout mentioned. The thread is a little disjointed, but look for the post by Fretful Porpentine about 1/2-way down page 1. The issue was whether people in metric countries used common fractions or always refer to parts of wholes using decimal notation. As to Murt Furd’s German wife, I find a lot of the confusion about the metric system fstems from the slang habit of calling a “kilogram” a “kilo”. That shorthand really shreds the idea of “multiplier + unit”. I’ve had to answer questions that run along the lines of “Metric is confusing. I know a kilo is a unit of weight, so how come a kilometer is a unit of distance? How can weight be part of distance?” So if we can stamp out using “kilo” as shorthand for “kilogram” (I hereby nominate “klam” similiar to “klick” for kilometer), we’ll have it made. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-they-still-use-dpi-in-metric-countries/216332.md?page=1)