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What are Americans missing out on? (self.AskReddit)

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[–]84626433832795028841 80ポイント81ポイント  (65子コメント)

We use metric where it counts: for science. We use imperial for everything else because it's convenient.

[–]nasi_lemak 130ポイント131ポイント  (42子コメント)

How is imperial more convenient than metric? Or did you mean it's more convenient because the system is already ingrained in every day life in the first place and it is easier to conform?

[–]dyinghistorian 4ポイント5ポイント  (8子コメント)

Imperial not convenient bc fractions obviously. It's just ingrained I guess. Learned it first in elementary school. If someone tells me that an item is 6 ft. away I can visualize that distance better than if that same person told me an item was 10 meters away. I can tell you 12 in. in a foot, 3 foot in a yd. but I can't tell you where I should move the decimal point when using the metric system.

[–]luke37 2ポイント3ポイント  (7子コメント)

Imperial not convenient bc fractions obviously.

Depends on what you're measuring.

2-1 oz = tablespoon
20 oz = oz
21 oz = 1/4 cup
22 oz = 1/2 cup
23 oz = cup
24 oz = pint
25 oz = quart
26 oz = 1/2 gallon
27 oz = gallon

And less granularity among commonly used units in weight, but

24 oz = lb

Hence "A pint's a pound, the world around."

[–]AllGloryToSatan 3ポイント4ポイント  (6子コメント)

What you said isn't as simple as

10 mm to 1 cm

10 cm to 1 dcim

10 dcim to 1 m

10 m to 1 dcam

10 dcam to 1 hm

10 hm to 1 km

[–]luke37 1ポイント2ポイント  (1子コメント)

If I'm using volume, I'm more than likely cooking.

If I'm cooking, and I want to change quantities, it's going to be by a scale of 2, not 10.

[–]coldmtndew -3ポイント-2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Yes because you're used to it. Stop acting all superior like all of the other European assholes on this site.

[–]KilledTheCar -2ポイント-1ポイント  (2子コメント)

And when was the last time you used a decimeter, decameter, or a hectameter? It's a hell of a lot easier to remember three numbers: 12 (inches in a foot), 3 (feet in a yard) and 5,280 (feet in a mile).

[–]pumped_it_guy 0ポイント1ポイント  (1子コメント)

That's the best thing, you don't have to use them. Just say 30m and everyone knows what you mean. It's even easier than remembering those arbitrary numbers (like srsly 5,280 wtf)

[–]KilledTheCar -2ポイント-1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Eh, blame the English for making them up and forcing us to use them.

[–]Sup-r_phun_tym 37ポイント38ポイント  (25子コメント)

Feet can be divided by 1,2,3,4, and 6. Which is kinda nice. A yard is 3 feet, pretty damn close to a meter so it's easy to convert. A mile is basically a bigger, better, way more badass kilometer. Celsius is less exact than Fahrenheit. Weight is a joke because fuck weight, all I do is pick something up and think "this is heavy/not heavy". Fuck metric tons, that's only half as awesome as a normal ton.

Jokes aside...

Both have benefits but I've never quite got the whole metric is superior mindset. They're just different.

I'm used to imperial so when I think/use metric everything feels awkwardly too short or too long.

[–]Drewt00 75ポイント76ポイント  (2子コメント)

This was the most American thing I've read all day.

[–]saxonjf -3ポイント-2ポイント  (1子コメント)

As an American myself, I think it's the best think I've read all day.

[–]Sup-r_phun_tym 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

Imperial distance is really easy, it's weight that is totally fucked! Everyone that wants to bad mouth imperial distance clearly has no clue how face ripping, head sweating, mind fuckingly difficult our weight measurement is.

I can distance my way to Mars but I can't weight my way anywhere. I'm instantly lost if you use anything other than oz. or lbs. tons are chill though.

[–]Dazzyreil 11ポイント12ポイント  (0子コメント)

At the end of the day they are both the same, numbers. I do prefer the metric system though especially with distance because everything is factor 10.

10mm = 1cm
10cm = 1 decimeter
10 decimeter= 1 meter etc etc

So conversion is really easy because you just add/remove a few zero's or move the ./,
125cm=1.25m where 1.3ft=15.6"

[–]CasualEveryday 10ポイント11ポイント  (5子コメント)

Celsius isn't any less exact, it's just larger increments and is generally listed in half degrees. MM aren't more exact than inches, just because they're smaller. You can always just use smaller decimals of any measurement to increase it's accuracy. I'm American, and prefer Fahrenheit because the range is more relevant to human living conditions, but no metric is more exact than another.

[–]Kunstfr 4ポイント5ポイント  (4子コメント)

I understand the argument about temperatures, in both cases it's not very important, everyone uses what he's used to.

But metric system is so much easier than imperial. It's not so much about precision, but simplicity. Imperial only needs a few conversions? Metric doesn't need any. I want to know how many kilometers are in 32186135 µm? Easy, 0,032186135 km.

[–]CasualEveryday 0ポイント1ポイント  (3子コメント)

I use metric and imperial interchangeably, and for distance/weight/volume metric is awesome. The one beef I have with it is familiarity for people around me. If I say something is 10 feet, you know how far that is, if I say its 270cm, I get blank stares.

[–]Kunstfr 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Yeah you have to be used to it. But at least you should try at some point to introduce the system metric more, I mean it's great. Not that I care much, except that I don't understand imperial measurements I read on the Internet, like 10 feet.

[–]Ghosty141 1ポイント2ポイント  (1子コメント)

European here, for me I always think in human height/reference objects. 180cm/1.8m is the average human height, 12 meters is the average height of a house here, and so on. So 5m is like half a house, or a bit more than 3 humans, 2.7m is 1.5 humans.

[–]klarken1 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

My dad is exactly 2 meters tall, so I use him as a ruler. Not physically of course, I just imagine a bunch of dads standing on top of each other to easily measure distances.

[–]snapper1971 33ポイント34ポイント  (7子コメント)

Because Base Ten is just so complicated to multiply and divide by...

Yours is the same redundant argument that the imperialists use in the UK. US imperial isn't even proper imperial measurements - they're a different size, so every measurement in US needs converting anyway.

The metric system, adopted officially in '77 by the US, makes life and business much easier for everyone. A metre is a metre wherever you are. Hopefully, in time, the common sense of metric will be adopted across the board across the pond.

[–]_ak 5ポイント6ポイント  (1子コメント)

Fun fact: US gallons are derived from British wine gallons, while Imperial gallons are derived from (but not identical to) British beer gallons. Historically, there also used to be a distinction between ale and beer volume measurement (ale was unhopped, beer was hopped), but that was more relevant for other measures like butts and hogheads.

[–]becks0815 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Thx for this info. Makes sense :)

[–]Sup-r_phun_tym 2ポイント3ポイント  (2子コメント)

You're right! Don't get me wrong. Dividing/expanding a unit by 100 makes total sense. But when we want to use a word like "convenient" doesn't it lose all its meaning? Convenience is what we're accustomed to. For anyone, anywhere.

Distance isn't complicated. 12 inches to a foot, 5280 to a mile. Not rocket science. 1+2=3

I guess my question is how often you actually change the measurement from centimeters to meters/kilometers. My guess is when it tips past? Same difference.

That's why we only use it for science. The divisiveness.

[–]jkmhawk 4ポイント5ポイント  (0子コメント)

exactly. If you're using miles, you don't care about feet or yards.

[–]Rand0m_Viking -3ポイント-2ポイント  (0子コメント)

I'd argue it's more convenient. Most things in metric are the defining unit with universal prefixes to make them bigger or smaller. With a knowledge of the prefixes and a single point of reference you can extrapolate which you couldn't do in imperial. So while it's simple for you, I knew inches and feet but if you asked me how many in a mile I'd have had no idea. Vs if I asked you what a kilometer was and you knew the prefixes and a single value you could figure it out.

Plus IIRC at least for weight the imperial unit is pegged to the metric one. So for that at least you're just adding an extra step and complicating things.

[–]Tixylix 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

1977? You are off by about a century:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_the_United_States#19th_century

[–]coldmtndew -1ポイント0ポイント  (0子コメント)

Okay you use your system and we'll use our why are you so anal about it?

[–]becks0815 2ポイント3ポイント  (2子コメント)

But converting between different units is pretty difficult in the imperial system. Assume you want to know how many miles 5786 feet are. You cant do this without a pocket calculator.

Converting 5786 meter to kilometer is easy. Just move the decimal point 3 digits to the left and you are done. 5786m = 5.786 km.

This is easy and convenient.

[–]Sup-r_phun_tym 0ポイント1ポイント  (1子コメント)

Conversion is the only benefit. Where the heck did you get 57?

[–]becks0815 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Random number. No matter what values you use, it's always the same. Metric conversions are easy and can be validated very easily, imperial is a problem.

And imperial becomes a even more interesting problem when it is not defined on a global level. Just look at the gallon in GB and US, and I believe there are more.

[–]kcmyk 4ポイント5ポイント  (1子コメント)

I get that you're used to the imperial system, but the sufixes of the metric system and adding a digits isnt hard.

[–]coldmtndew 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Yes obviously but we're not taught in it primarily so we don't think of things in metric units.

[–]Smogshaik 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

The rest of the world is used to communicating with other countries so we know how many people use metric. Exactly that is the upside to using metric. Everyone's doing it.

[–]Quarkster [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

Standardization is better. I was once sent to get x cubic feet of catalyst from a warehouse, but when we got there the bags were in metric and the only other container we had was a four gallon bucket.

Fuck that.

[–]VoyJr 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

it seems like that they say its "convenient" just as an excuse to keep using it, in reality metric is much, much more convenient. I thought they would've grown out of using feet and fields to count things

[–]UptownShenanigans 0ポイント1ポイント  (3子コメント)

Is that bad? I mean seriously why change the convention in our country when it has no problems within its borders?

We use metric in science because it's the internationally recognized standard. Granted it makes science easier because how how scalable it is but that's why we use it in that sphere.

Telling us to use Celsius simply because everyone else does is like saying we shouldn't speak English because not everyone else does.

[–]pumped_it_guy 0ポイント1ポイント  (2子コメント)

Why is everyone learning english when there's no problem within their borders? Because it was set as the common language. Just the way metric is the common measurement. English didn't even have real advantages while the measurement does. I hope it's not too inconvenient for Americans if they sometimes have to conform.

[–]coldmtndew 0ポイント1ポイント  (1子コメント)

When you have a larger military then the rest of the world you tend to stop caring about the opinions of the sheep.

[–]pumped_it_guy 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

At least the sheep have superior measurement and healthcare, I guess

[–]ButtsexEurope -1ポイント0ポイント  (1子コメント)

Imperial is nicer for temperature. It's more exact. 25 and 23 degrees doesn't seem like that big of a difference but 77 degrees and 73.4 degrees are a very noticeable difference in temperature outside. It's the difference between a tank top and a short sleeve shirt.

Also, miles per gallon makes a lot more sense than kilometers per liter. A liter is TINY! And a kilometer is bigger than a mile. So you're not going to get very impressive mileage (kilometerage?) out of a gas tank.

[–]nasi_lemak 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

I didn't say that using the metric system is better but I'm sorry I cannot agree with your reasons. Temperature wise Celsius is definitely more exact. well technically Kelvin is best but celcius is proportional to it. Also a litre is 1000cm3. It is way easier to picture the volume. And a kilometre is definitely shorter in distance than a mile.

[–]RestrictedAccount 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Convenient?

[–]lyssav 5ポイント6ポイント  (9子コメント)

how could it possibly be more convenient? everything is a fraction or made up nothingness

[–]84626433832795028841 7ポイント8ポイント  (3子コメント)

0F is really cold, 100F is really hot.

A foot is about how long a tall man's foot is.

Miles and pounds are just force of habit really.

[–]tehftw 5ポイント6ポイント  (2子コメント)

Everything is just a force of habit.

-10 C is winter cold, +40 C is summer hot.

Foot's length - how often is it useful? 30 cm is A4 paper height for something comparable, and also actually without variance.

[–]wombat1 [スコア非表示]  (0子コメント)

They don't know what A4 is

[–]84626433832795028841 -2ポイント-1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Foot lengths are good for pacing out stuff. Like if I wanted to know the area of my room I could pace out the wall lengths, since my feet are about a foot long.

[–]elmassivo 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Whoa whoa whoa. Don't bad mouth fractions now. Fractions are awesome.

[–]Blindweaponsfumbler -4ポイント-3ポイント  (1子コメント)

At least for temoerture freedom unites use numbers which make sense in terms of how something feels to a human.

[–]lyssav 7ポイント8ポイント  (0子コメント)

you only think it relates to how it feels because you're used to relating Fahrenheit to how you feel. To me Celsius is the same way.

[–]urmomsballs -2ポイント-1ポイント  (1子コメント)

Think about making a book shelf. Would it be easier to measure in inches or cm/m?

[–]lyssav 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

When you're building things you generally use mm, for example you would say I want my bookshelf to be 600 by 200. And of course it is easier for me because I was raised in it. The only time I like imperial is for human height.

[–]imicit 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Mostly because of our heights and baseball. No one wants to say they are only 2.1 meters and hitting 110 meter home runs. It's not exceptional enough.

[–]Roast_Biff 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Metric is taking over for automotive stuff too. Engine displacement is in liters instead of cubic inches, most repair manuals specify socket sizes in millimeters instead of inches.

[–]ebullientpostulates 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

We use metric where it counts: for science drugs.

[–]Pendulous_balls -5ポイント-4ポイント  (7子コメント)

My dick is 10.5 cm.

I'm 175.4 cm tall.

I can max 120.202 kilograms on flat bench.

It's a temperate 50• Celsius.

I live 3.129 kilometers from work.

Wouldn't you rather say: 4 inches, "Five Nine", 265 lbs, hot as balls, 2 miles, etc.

Metric is terrible for everyday conversions. It's good only for scientific and drug related purposes. I'd much rather talk in terms of convenience, most especially in temperature.

[–]NerdENerd 9ポイント10ポイント  (0子コメント)

It's because of your 4 inch cock. There rest of us have no problem with metric.

[–]Philofelinist 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

No, we would not rather say that.

However, we have the metric system but use feet for human height.

[–]Friendly_Freddie 5ポイント6ポイント  (4子コメント)

What the fuck? You're literally saying Metric is inconvenient because if you convert neat Imperial values into Metric they're messy? This is an incredibly fucking stupid arguement. Metric divides and converts better, and tends to have more intuitive milestones.

[–]Pendulous_balls 0ポイント1ポイント  (2子コメント)

Calm down their friend. I thought the 4 inch dick remark would let readers know what I was being facetious when I wrote this. Guess it didn't scan.

[–]Friendly_Freddie 2ポイント3ポイント  (1子コメント)

Metric is terrible for everyday conversions. It's good only for scientific and drug related purposes. I'd much rather talk in terms of convenience, most especially in temperature.

That really makes it sound genuine, especially when the dick thing is the only example that even seems vaguely out of place.

[–]Pendulous_balls -1ポイント0ポイント  (0子コメント)

The temp conversion is also like 120 degrees F and I talk about drugs so idk lol

[–]FFermata -1ポイント0ポイント  (0子コメント)

Metric is base 10, which is divisible by 2 and 5. Which is great for science conversion but not everyday use.

Imperial is based on what is important for the general use. Cooking? Use Volume which is in units of halfs or 2's. Distance? Based on 12's which are divisible by 2,3,4, and 6. Temperature? Bigger scale which allows a generalization of degrees. Going from 25°C to 30°C is a pretty big jump, 75°F to 80°F isn't that big of a deal of you get it wrong.

Is Metric useful? Of course it is! Both systems are good for what they are designed for, but for the layman Imperial units divide by nicer non-decimal numbers and require less precision. (Admittedly weight does suck though.)