Welcome to Debate Club! Please be aware that this is a space for respectful debate, and that your ideas will be challenged here. Please remember to critique the argument, not the author.
metric vs imperial
Options
Replies
-
Generally, either metric or Imperial is equally acceptable to me, even though very little in my everyday life in the US is measured using the metric system. It takes about 20 seconds for me to search the conversion value on the internet on electronic devices that I nearly always have access to, so it isn't exactly a large burden.
The practical metric knowledge that I have was from the military ("klicks" for land navigation, meters for weapons firing distances, ammo measured in millimeters, etc., it is good to be on the same sheet of music as NATO allies) and then later for translating fitness things (a 5k run is about 3.1 miles, an ounce of protein powder is roughly 28 grams, or that I currently weigh around 79 kgs)0 -
VintageFeline wrote: »I also think block comes from American cities being newer and built on a grid system. So a series of blocks. Hence using it as a reference.
Quite correct, but in different cities or even different Neighborhoods within a city, a block can be as short as 100 yards/meters or as long as 1/4 mile or half a kilometer, it can also vary between industrial, commercial and residential zones3 -
stanmann571 wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »I also think block comes from American cities being newer and built on a grid system. So a series of blocks. Hence using it as a reference.
Quite correct, but in different cities or even different Neighborhoods within a city, a block can be as short as 100 yards/meters or as long as 1/4 mile or half a kilometer, it can also vary between industrial, commercial and residential zones
Exactly. But then you have city blocks vs. suburban blocks, with 10 city blocks supposedly equaling appx. 1 mile.0 -
smithmssycatsmithiris30 wrote: »I am English, because I'm old, I think in pounds and stones but I accept metric because I also accept that it's a more accurate way of measuring and weighing. I also accept that the US use only lbs. I'm don't know if you have any names for very heavy weights - tonnes for instance? I also have no idea what measurements the US uses.
One thing that really confuses me is a block. How many feet is there in a block please?
Depends on the city. Where I live there are 8 blocks to a mile, but that's different in other cities. (I'm in Chicago which is based on a grid, and everyone knows what the blocks are even though there are streets between them. For example, Addison to Belmont is 4 blocks (or 3600 N to 3200 N), even though at some spots you might go through 5 or 6 street crossings. And, assuming you are on a street going due south, it's half a mile. It's nice for running as you know how far you are going very easily.)
We use tons, just spell it differently!0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »smithmssycatsmithiris30 wrote: »I am English, because I'm old, I think in pounds and stones but I accept metric because I also accept that it's a more accurate way of measuring and weighing. I also accept that the US use only lbs. I'm don't know if you have any names for very heavy weights - tonnes for instance? I also have no idea what measurements the US uses.
One thing that really confuses me is a block. How many feet is there in a block please?
Depends on the city. Where I live there are 8 blocks to a mile, but that's different in other cities. (I'm in Chicago which is based on a grid, and everyone knows what the blocks are even though there are streets between them. For example, Addison to Belmont is 4 blocks (or 3600 N to 3200 N), even though at some spots you might go through 5 or 6 street crossings. And, assuming you are on a street going due south, it's half a mile. It's nice for running as you know how far you are going very easily.)
We use tons, just spell it differently!
That sort of standardization is nice, but can be confusing to those who are from cities where any street crossing means a new block, although sometimes its hard to tell the difference between a street and an alley.
Usually it's the presence of a light, or two way traffic. Meaning, that if there is a light, it's probably a block, if there's no light, but two way traffic it may also be a block.
Chicago has the advantage of having suffered a relatively recent major disaster which enabled the city planners to restructure and reorganize.
0 -
Useless fact. Edinburgh (New Town) and Glasgow (City Centre) were the second and third European countries to be built on a grid. Well, partly, because old AF. It was adopted by America who took it next level because they obviously had a lot more new cities to build.3
-
smithmssycatsmithiris30 wrote: »I am English, because I'm old, I think in pounds and stones but I accept metric because I also accept that it's a more accurate way of measuring and weighing. I also accept that the US use only lbs. I'm don't know if you have any names for very heavy weights - tonnes for instance? I also have no idea what measurements the US uses.
One thing that really confuses me is a block. How many feet is there in a block please?
Internationally, there are essentially 3 tonnes.
Metric 1000 kilos
Imperial Standard
US Standard
And of course the additional confusion regarding what to call 1000 lbs.
1 -
"Half a ton" seems to work okay.0
-
smithmssycatsmithiris30 wrote: »I am English, because I'm old, I think in pounds and stones but I accept metric because I also accept that it's a more accurate way of measuring and weighing. I also accept that the US use only lbs. I'm don't know if you have any names for very heavy weights - tonnes for instance? I also have no idea what measurements the US uses.
One thing that really confuses me is a block. How many feet is there in a block please?
1 ton (US) = 2000 pounds.0 -
I grew up in Queens. According to my dad, a mile was equal to 20 blocks. I honestly have no idea where that came from, but when we moved to CA suburbia, the rule went out the window
0 -
I grew up in Queens. According to my dad, a mile was equal to 20 blocks. I honestly have no idea where that came from, but when we moved to CA suburbia, the rule went out the window
The street layout in my town looks like somebody vomited a plate of spaghetti onto a blank map and they decided to go with it. A block could be anything from a couple hundred feet to a half mile.1 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »"Half a ton" seems to work okay.
But what about 500lbs, what could we possibly call that????? ;02 -
I grew up in Queens. According to my dad, a mile was equal to 20 blocks. I honestly have no idea where that came from, but when we moved to CA suburbia, the rule went out the window
The street layout in my town looks like somebody vomited a plate of spaghetti onto a blank map and they decided to go with it. A block could be anything from a couple hundred feet to a half mile.
This is nearly everywhere in the UK because it's all so old, town planning pretty much wasn't a thing post Roman Britain and the Romans didn't get everywhere. Then there's those two Scottish exceptions I mentioned, very pioneering us Scots.0 -
Ah, thank you everyone. So a block , in a town or city, can really be any distance, within reason, depending on where.
Here, a ton is a Imperial weight, a tonne, a metric weight. So really I should always say tonne now.
I have read somewhere that the US mile is shorter than the English mile (Imp') and there is a difference too between the English and Scottish mile. However, having English, Scottish and with a drop or two of Irish blood, I'm not going to argue those points.
Again, many thanks & apologies to the OP for being off topic.0 -
@VintageFeline people in the UK don't say backyard or yard, they call it garden, right?0
-
Yes and we call a house of just one storey, a bungalow....Christine_72 wrote: »@VintageFeline people in the UK don't say backyard or yard, they call it garden, right?
When I visited my son and family in Australia they sort of - educated me.....
1 -
smithmssycatsmithiris30 wrote: »
Yes and we call a house of just one storey, a bungalow....Christine_72 wrote: »@VintageFeline people in the UK don't say backyard or yard, they call it garden, right?
When I visited my son and family in Australia they sort of - educated me.....
We call a single storey, a house, and a two storey, ummm a two storey or double storey lol Such simplistic language we has
0 -
I'm in Canada. It could vary by region, but we tend to call 1-storey houses bungalows, too. (At least in the parts of Montreal and Toronto where I grew up). This, whether or not they have basements.0
-
Lubbock, TX and Salt Lake City, UT are famously gridded new cities in the west of the U.S. It's not worth an airplane ticket to see. Google Earth can show you all you care to see.0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.7K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 394 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.3K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 945 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions