- Joined
- Tuesday May 22, 2012
- Location
- Cumbria, England
The entire planet uses metric except for the US, because reasons.
The entire planet uses metric except for the US, because reasons.
At least they stick to imperial! In the UK, imperial and metric are used together in one place, eg in a pub - imperial for pints, metric for wine/spirits.
There are many instances of both being used here as well especially food items and storage containers. Any system works until you mix it with others.
And I much prefer cubic inches for engine displacement.
The US pint is 473ml. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PintI'm a personal fan of Imperial measurements.
In mainland Europe they sell beer in units of 250ml/500ml etc, whilst in the UK/USA beer is sold is the pint which is 568ml. With the latter being larger, it is clearly the superior form.
Milk as well, buying it in units of litres just seems f*cked up.
A litre of water occupies 1000 cm3, weighs a kilogram, freezes at 0 and boils at 100. Simple.
But those things are meaningless to me, Imperial has been firmly implanted in my brain. Knowing a pint or quart is automatic, without thought. If someone says it's 63 degrees f outside, I know exactly how that feels.
It is what you're used to. I have no clue what 63 degrees f feels like, I honestly don't know if I'd need a coat for that or sunscreen and a hat.
Just a light jacket.
There's been talk of changing since the '70's, it just didn't happen. It is slowly changing on it's own because of imports and exports, and it is taught in schools.
What about the clock? It should be based on 10 also.
Errrm.. no...
You were lucky you didn't go three years earlier when 1 pound was 20 shillings, each of which was made up of 12 pence.I was fortunate in that when I was in 7th grade there was a U.S. Gov't push to teach metric which lasted one year ironically. Regardless, they taught my grade and I still recall the "cheater" method, e. g., 2.54 cm= 1 in., 1.6 km = 1 mi., 0.405 hectare = 1 acre., etc.
The imperial system is archaic and requires in depth knowledge for sure. One rod = 16.5 ft., two pecks = 1 bushel, etc. Metric is more exact. Now if you really want to screw with your mind, just try to work on an old British auto or motorcycle!!
When I was in the U.K. in '73 I found it ironic all the road signs were in miles. Of course, the silly fools were driving on the wrong side of the road as well.