Metric system vs customary or U.S units

[Riley 13,064]

I'm curious what you use xD I exclusively use the metric system but I know both because I need too for where I live😂

Edited October 4, 2018 by Riley

[F.W 5,734]

In UK at the moment because of the fascists in the EU,we have a mix of metric and imperial,we sell in kilos,yet measure in yards and miles,apart from on TV where they speak in kilometres...hopefully once we leave the EU we can go back to good old pounds and ounces.

[WantonLee 861]

I don't know for how long Germany used the metric system (to lazy to look it up), but there was a time where of cause we had the more "natural" measurments like Fuß/Fuss (Feet), Zoll (Inch) and Meile (Mile), along with several other units (I remember the Elle, which is the length of a forearme, hence Elle (from the elbow (German: EllenBogen) to the wrist)), Pfund (pound) is still somewhat a valid unit, but mostly because it is exactely half a Kilogramm now. Flour and sugar is sold that way. For liquits I don't know any other unit then liter currently. Oh , wait, the "Maß" of cause, beer at the Octoberfest is sold in mug called a Maßkrug. A Maß is currently one liter, but I think it once was a bit more then a liter (before Germany became metric).

So, I grew up metric and until I stumbled upon the ongoing.. conflict in those countries using imperial units (mostly the US), I never realized that something like measurment-units can be grounds for a conflict. I am very happy with the metric system, as it makes calculations so much more easy. Just imagine getting one and a half "Elle" of cloth... the differences could be quite severe, depeding on where or whom you wanted to buy it from. 😉

For the names however... well,  "kilometer" is not exactly a sexy word. The few German songs I remember having measurment units in the text usually use the older units like "Meile", because those words just sound better. And I am fine with that as well.

Oh, one note of interest: as I understand it, American soldieres use the word "click" for kilometer, if I'm not mistaken. While not such a beautiful word as Mile, it's at least a solid try.

 

P.S.: what about Fahrenheit and Celcius? THAT could be grounds for a nice, heated (pun intended) debate as well! 😛

[Scot_Lover 1,877]

Metric, we've had it so long now, I can't remember the old antiquated system. It's so much simpler, so much easier.

Everything is km, kg, litres and Celcius, all nice round numbers, all in multiples of 1, 10 or 100.

Water freezes at 0c and boils at 100c, what more do you need to know?

 

 

 

[bpb 788]

Since I live in the US I pretty much use the English system.
I set my car's thermometer to read in Celsius just to get use to how that system feels without converting.  I have pretty much reach that point.

[speedy3471 10,655]

On 10/4/2018 at 4:18 PM, Scot_Lover said:

Metric, we've had it so long now, I can't remember the old antiquated system. It's so much simpler, so much easier.

Everything is km, kg, litres and Celcius, all nice round numbers, all in multiples of 1, 10 or 100.

Water freezes at 0c and boils at 100c, what more do you need to know?

 

 

 

I totally agree with you. In Canada we use the metric system. When the prairies were mapped out the surveyors used miles instead of km. So a square section of land is 1 mile x 1 mile. The gravel roads are set up in similar fashion. Roads that run east and west are 2 miles apart. And Roads that run north and south are a mile apart 

[nopjans 1,178]

I live in the US, so I use imperial units. That said, I think metric is more elegant and superior in most respects. 

[bpb 788]

9 hours ago, speedy3471 said:

I totally agree with you. In Canada we use the metric system. When the prairies were mapped out the surveyors used miles instead of km. So a square section of land is 1 mile x 1 mile. The gravel roads are set up in similar fashion. Roads that run east and west are 2 miles apart. And Roads that run north and south are a mile apart 

Once land has been survey one is stuck with the units that it was surveyed in.a

I have heard that some of the land in Texas was laid out in the old Spanish Vara system.
If you buy this land it is still going to be measured by the Vara.

 

[likesToLick 10,216]

On 10/5/2018 at 7:48 AM, Scot_Lover said:

Metric, we've had it so long now, I can't remember the old antiquated system. It's so much simpler, so much easier.

Everything is km, kg, litres and Celcius, all nice round numbers, all in multiples of 1, 10 or 100.

A couple of funnies:

When we converted to metric in Australia, food labeling was changed from calories to kiloJoules,  yet these are both metric units.

Also,  my electricity bill is charged in "kiloWatt hours",  and my gas bill is charged in "MegaJoules",  even though these both measure the same thing (energy) and they are both metric units.   (1 kWh = 3.6MJ)  Both bills come from the same company,  and clearly from the same computer centre, yet they still do this. Weird.

[speedy3471 10,655]

7 hours ago, bpb said:

Once land has been survey one is stuck with the units that it was surveyed in.a

I have heard that some of the land in Texas was laid out in the old Spanish Vara system.
If you buy this land it is still going to be measured by the Vara.

 

No way. I had no idea. Iam not even sure what a vara is lol. I know what an acre is lol

[bpb 788]

18 hours ago, speedy3471 said:

No way. I had no idea. Iam not even sure what a vara is lol. I know what an acre is lol

Oh, I am sorry.  The Vara is an old Spanish measure of length.  I had to look it up on Google to even see how to spell it for my entry above.

[Alfresco 11,631]

I am very mixed up.   If I am actually measuring something - e.g. to make something then I use metres and mm.   Yet I will still say that I'm 6 foot 2 inches tall and I don't know exactly what I am in metric without converting.   I also estimate distances in feet - e.g. if someone was reversing a car up to something I'd say they had 3 feet to go.   Larger distances are definitely miles, but that's because that's what is on all our road signs and the speedometer of the car has mph in larger digits.  I can work with km, but tend to use miles.

For weight it is definitely kg for me.

For temperature definitely celcius.

For liquid it is mostly litres.

So I guess I am mostly metric except for distance and speed.

[speedy3471 10,655]

On 10/8/2018 at 2:21 AM, bpb said:

Oh, I am sorry.  The Vara is an old Spanish measure of length.  I had to look it up on Google to even see how to spell it for my entry above.

No worries. I learned something new today lol

[Sexismygod 1,782]

I have to use imperial units at times but I prefer metric and always use it when I have the option.

And yeah, there are a lot of old, weird measuring systems.  I don't measure distance in thumbs or leagues or any of that, either.

[2prnot2p 1,066]

When I was in elementary school, the teachers made us learn the metric system.  They all told us, "We're going to be switching to this eventually so you must learn it."  Well,  here we are 50 years later and the USA is still not using it!  All that work for nothing  LOL! 😆

The metric system makes more sense as it's based on 10's.  Plus, almost the whole world uses it.  Was it the expense that stopped us from switching?  I really have no idea.  Anyone know? 

[Riley 13,064]

5 hours ago, 2prnot2p said:

When I was in elementary school, the teachers made us learn the metric system.  They all told us, "We're going to be switching to this eventually so you must learn it."  Well,  here we are 50 years later and the USA is still not using it!  All that work for nothing  LOL! 😆

The metric system makes more sense as it's based on 10's.  Plus, almost the whole world uses it.  Was it the expense that stopped us from switching?  I really have no idea.  Anyone know? 

It is the expense, it would cost several million dollars to change every single sign to metric. 

[2prnot2p 1,066]

1 hour ago, Riley said:

It is the expense, it would cost several million dollars to change every single sign to metric. 

That's a tiny amount for the US economy.  I heard that it was re-tooling all industries to metric size, such as automobiles, etc.,  and would mean all new designs of millions of products.  I forget where I read or heard that.  Signs for traffic and other signs would be a drop in the bucket of total expenses, I'm sure.

[Riley 13,064]

On 10/30/2018 at 4:03 PM, 2prnot2p said:

That's a tiny amount for the US economy.  I heard that it was re-tooling all industries to metric size, such as automobiles, etc.,  and would mean all new designs of millions of products.  I forget where I read or heard that.  Signs for traffic and other signs would be a drop in the bucket of total expenses, I'm sure.

I just found a whole article on the issue 😂😂 I was pretty wrong🤷

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.timeinc.net/time/3633514/why-wont-america-go-metric

[2prnot2p 1,066]

55 minutes ago, Riley said:

I just found a whole article on the issue 😂😂 I was pretty wrong🤷

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.timeinc.net/time/3633514/why-wont-america-go-metric

Good research, Riley.  I noticed a long time ago that all the liquor and wine here in the US are in ml.  A full-size bottle is 750 ml.  However, all of our beer and soda are still in ounces.  Also, the speedometers on US cars are in MPH and KPH.  So, we use both.  I have a pal in England and he knows both systems, so I don't have to type everything in metric, like our cold temperatures.  He's 45, so he knows both systems.  I suppose the younger people are only familiar with metric?

One thing I disagreed with in the article.  It mentioned how union workers were against the switch to metric as it would make it easier for US jobs to move to other nations.  But, the fact is that more manufacturing jobs have been lost to automation than to outsourcing.  For example, all cars are now painted with robotic arms.  No more human painters.  And, that's only one example.  Robotics and electronic programmable machines have killed scores of jobs.

[Sexismygod 1,782]

Being an American, it saddens me to see such vacuous reasoning for sticking with archaic systems.  "We should not follow ..."?  What a load of rubbish.

The simple truth is that everything would be easier without ounces, cups, Fahrenheit, and all those other nonsense units.  Manufacturing would use a universal language, we'd all know how far and how fast we're going, etc.  Measurement systems should be simple and understandable, something the imperial system isn't.  Hell, the imperial system used in America isn't even the same imperial system used in Britain.  They modified it to make it unique.

I have lived with both systems and metric is easier in every sense ... and I live in England and yes, I DO go to the grocers for a kilo of spuds.  I'll never understand why people want to use pounds and ounces.  But hey, we all make our own choices.  I just think counting in tens is the easiest way to do it.

[WantonLee 861]

Again, I can only repeat myself:

The metric system lacks a certain... style.

Miles, yards, inches, pounds, pints... those words have a tone to them that the metric system just can't provide.

And I say that only knowing the metric system!

 

Two interesting sidenotes:

In Germany (not sure about other countries) in the late 19th centure when the conversion to the metric system was about to happen, someone had the brilliant idea to standardize the various (and variing) weight-units known as "pound" as being 500 grams, or half a kilo.

The packages of butter here are all 250 grams, or half a pound. You can get a pound of potatoes as well, If you don't mind it being half a kilo. 😉 Flour and sugar are also still sold as a pound (although it says "500 grams" on the package), but I think I mentioned that earlier.

I like that nod to the old system, although the unit has no real relation to the old original one(s).

 

Also, what my dictionary tells me is in English a "folding ruler" or "folding yardstick" is in Germany a two meter long "Zollstock", or... Inch-stick.

Yes, everyone refers to them as "Zollstock", even though most people have no idea what a "Zoll" is - it's just the common word for it, and no one thinks about the actual meaning.

So, dear Brits, if they should force the metric system upon you, at least insist on having the good old names to be used for certain units! Although I think it would be very much of a strech to refer to a kilometer as a mile.... or rather it would be a shrink. o_0

 

Oh, and by the way: always remember that the hight at which planes are flying is still measured in feet.... everywhere, all around the world!

[WantonLee 861]

Lets just be glad that - at least as far as zero / 0 os concerned - both imperial and metric have someting in common (as zero is zero, no matter what).

Temperaturs on the other hand... well... :

[steve25805 126,023]

In the UK we are hybrid.

This is because as far back as my own school days in the 70s we have been educated in metric, yet outside of school everyone I knew used the old imperial system. So I understand a little of both, but tend to use different ones in different circumstances.

For very small distances I tend to think in millimetres and centimetres, but for larger ones in feet, yards and miles.

And yet I measure my height in feet and inches because when growing up my parents measured my height in that way.

Alcohol consumption I measure in pints but soft drink purchases in litres.

I measure my weight in pounds and stones - I think stones are uniquely British and equal to 14 pounds. Yet small quantities of purchased goods - eg bags of sugar - I think of in terms of kilos.

I know that Mount Everest is just over 29,000 feet high. No clue what it is in metres without working it out or looking it up.

I understand Fahrenheit. I know how hot 80F is and how fucking cold 20F is, and that 32F is the freezing point of water.

Yet when it comes to temperature I mostly think in Celsius. Weather forecasters in the UK have for many years given temperatures in Celsius. Yet when tabloids publish headlines about heatwaves they usually use Fahrenheit, perhaps reflecting their older readerships.

I like many Brits are typically confused and tend to pick and mix from both systems. Though as a general rule much younger people - I am 53 - veer more towards metric whilst older ones stick solidly to imperial.