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
Replies
-
I use feet when talking height, no idea why as we changed to metric before i was born.... My kids use centimetres.
As for 0 degrees, the absolute coldest it gets here overnight in winter is around 3 C (37F), and that is almost unbearable. I can not even in my wildest dreams fathom what it would feel like to get into the Minus, I think i'd break
0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »Nony_Mouse wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »The only one where I have no idea and can't even estimate in my head is celsius. (I use a converter and don't expect people to cater to my inability here, for the record.) I know 0 is 32 and 100 is 212, but because it's not an easy multiplication I don't know, except apparently 30s C is quite hot and today where I live it was -20 C in the morning (which I don't approve of, -4 C (instead of F) is far more civilized!).
I was in South Africa in January one time and it was funny because often the temps at home and there looked the same (it was usually lower at home still, but close enough), except at home it was snowing and where I was I was getting sunburnt the second I got careless with sunscreen!
Yep, can't for the life of me do the temp conversion. That's what Google is for.
Weirdly, if someone asks my height, i always give it in feet and inches, even though I obviously know my height in centimetres.
Celsius to Fahrenheit - Multiply by 9, Divide by 5, then add 32.
Fahrenheit to Celsius - Subtract 32, Multiply by 5, then divide by 9
But I don't try to convert anymore. I simply think both ways and relate to whichever comes.
Good God
It's easier and quicker to open the conversion app and punch in the numbers 
Gawd bless the internet. I don't math at the best of times, certainly never if I have to remember something as complicated as that!1 -
Christine_72 wrote: »I use feet when talking height, no idea why as we changed to metric before i was born.... My kids use centimetres.
As for 0 degrees, the absolute coldest it gets here overnight in winter is around 3 C (37F), and that is almost unbearable. I can not even in my wildest dreams fathom what it would feel like to get into the Minus, I think i'd break
There's a few reasons I left Scotland and moved back to London a second time. Because it's always friggin' cold, even for this Scot. I know it's only a few hundred miles but it makes a mind boggling difference. Soft southerner and proud!
But I will say this, it is nice to get the "big coat" out now and again. Make it worth buying. I've worn it twice this year but I also don't get out much.0 -
VintageFeline wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »I use feet when talking height, no idea why as we changed to metric before i was born.... My kids use centimetres.
As for 0 degrees, the absolute coldest it gets here overnight in winter is around 3 C (37F), and that is almost unbearable. I can not even in my wildest dreams fathom what it would feel like to get into the Minus, I think i'd break
There's a few reasons I left Scotland and moved back to London a second time. Because it's always friggin' cold, even for this Scot. I know it's only a few hundred miles but it makes a mind boggling difference. Soft southerner and proud!
But I will say this, it is nice to get the "big coat" out now and again. Make it worth buying. I've worn it twice this year but I also don't get out much.
We often get news reports of the UK/American/Canadian winter weather happenings.
This here are the faces of Thousands of Aussies when your weather reports are on the tv
0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »I use feet when talking height, no idea why as we changed to metric before i was born.... My kids use centimetres.
As for 0 degrees, the absolute coldest it gets here overnight in winter is around 3 C (37F), and that is almost unbearable. I can not even in my wildest dreams fathom what it would feel like to get into the Minus, I think i'd break
There's a few reasons I left Scotland and moved back to London a second time. Because it's always friggin' cold, even for this Scot. I know it's only a few hundred miles but it makes a mind boggling difference. Soft southerner and proud!
But I will say this, it is nice to get the "big coat" out now and again. Make it worth buying. I've worn it twice this year but I also don't get out much.
We often get news reports of the UK/American/Canadian winter weather happenings.
This here are the faces of Thousands of Aussies when your weather reports are on the tv
Unless you live in Tassie!
I have a friend in the north of Scotland who had to go outside and knock all the icicles off the side of the house lest they impale someone.0 -
VintageFeline wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »I use feet when talking height, no idea why as we changed to metric before i was born.... My kids use centimetres.
As for 0 degrees, the absolute coldest it gets here overnight in winter is around 3 C (37F), and that is almost unbearable. I can not even in my wildest dreams fathom what it would feel like to get into the Minus, I think i'd break
There's a few reasons I left Scotland and moved back to London a second time. Because it's always friggin' cold, even for this Scot. I know it's only a few hundred miles but it makes a mind boggling difference. Soft southerner and proud!
But I will say this, it is nice to get the "big coat" out now and again. Make it worth buying. I've worn it twice this year but I also don't get out much.
We often get news reports of the UK/American/Canadian winter weather happenings.
This here are the faces of Thousands of Aussies when your weather reports are on the tv
Unless you live in Tassie!
I have a friend in the north of Scotland who had to go outside and knock all the icicles off the side of the house lest they impale someone.
True! Always forget about the poor Tasmanian's down there.0 -
Christine_72 wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »VintageFeline wrote: »Christine_72 wrote: »I use feet when talking height, no idea why as we changed to metric before i was born.... My kids use centimetres.
As for 0 degrees, the absolute coldest it gets here overnight in winter is around 3 C (37F), and that is almost unbearable. I can not even in my wildest dreams fathom what it would feel like to get into the Minus, I think i'd break
There's a few reasons I left Scotland and moved back to London a second time. Because it's always friggin' cold, even for this Scot. I know it's only a few hundred miles but it makes a mind boggling difference. Soft southerner and proud!
But I will say this, it is nice to get the "big coat" out now and again. Make it worth buying. I've worn it twice this year but I also don't get out much.
We often get news reports of the UK/American/Canadian winter weather happenings.
This here are the faces of Thousands of Aussies when your weather reports are on the tv
Unless you live in Tassie!
I have a friend in the north of Scotland who had to go outside and knock all the icicles off the side of the house lest they impale someone.
True! Always forget about the poor Tasmanian's down there.
I keep telling you that Australia should just give Tasmania to NZ. We would appreciate it.1 -
Yeah, let's call 14 pounds a stone and then start dividing, adding and subtracting by increments of 14. Just, like, because. And then inflict it on the rest of the world, on the internet at least.
This thread seems to be a perfect example of why understanding basic math should be encouraged. Learning conversions would be one way to do that.0 -
Yeah, let's call 14 pounds a stone and then start dividing, adding and subtracting by increments of 14. Just, like, because. And then inflict it on the rest of the world, on the internet at least.
So by that thinking feet which have 12 inches should also be subject to the same scorn. Or Fahrenheit because they insist on not having freezing as 0 and boiling as 100 which is much more sensible. Or perhaps fluid ounces, gallons for fuel, cups for solids. I could go on and on. I prefer metric but stones and pounds are no more illogical than my list.
And inflict? I'm sorry you're so sensitive to cultural differences that hangovers from the pre-metric past. And I say this as a metric person largely.7 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »Just stopping in to say using the metric system is a whole lot easier. I like it a lot better. I wish the US would convert to all metric like we were warned about back in the 70s and 80s. Back then as a kid I was scared. Now I say bring it on LOL
I still (inconsistently) like feet/inches and lbs for human measurements, just because they mean something to me without having to think about it, but I am glad we have grams on foods and think ounces are annoying (I was going to abbreviate but didn't want the Australians to think I was being hostile!). If I had 3.5 oz of potatoes, that wouldn't mean much to me, but 100 g I can visualize and understand (granted, because I've used a food scale and become used to it). More significantly, it is just a more sensible system (overall, despite my attachment to some aspects of imperial).
This discussion is making me think of Trollope's Pallisers series, because of the one character who is so into the importance of decimalizing the money.
That's the thing for me. If somebody says they're 5'5" or 6'8", I can visualize how tall they are in my head. If they give their measurement in cm, my mind shows a blank space with "no image found" until I work the conversion. Kg isn't too bad because I just multiply it by two and add a bit to get me somewhere in the ballpark of their weight in pounds. I think stone/stones are a weird measurement, but I know a stone is 14 pounds so I can live with that easily enough.
For distances, I know what 5K and 10K are from doing runs and therefore know that a kilometer is equal to around 0.6 of a mile - so if you tell me something is 40 km down the road, it's pretty meaningless until I work the conversion and say to myself "ah, so about 24 miles".
I can estimate 4 ounces of meat pretty well, but 100g is going to require me to convert it into ounces to make a decent guesstimate. Milliliters? Nah, tell me how many fluid ounces are up in there because ml don't compute - it's not a measurement I really use even sometimes.
On the flip side, I can eyeball a bolt/nut on my dirt bike or UTV and make a pretty good estimate as to whether I'm going to need an 8mm, 10mm or 12mm socket/wrench. But if you ask me to move something 87mm to the right across my workbench, I'm going to be whipping my smartphone out and figuring out how far that is in inches.
I'm all over the place with this stuff.3 -
I'm all over the place with this stuff.
Same here.
Height & weight I think in Imperial. I know there are 2.2 KG in a pound and can do that in my head.
Temps I think in C around freezing and F above 10C/50F. But I can do the conversion from C to F in my head. Double it, less 10% plus 32.
Tried to use my Garmin watch for distance golfing and it gave me meters. Who would use meters in golf? Like using meters in football, not going to happen anywhere.
Have no idea on ounces but can guess grams pretty good with food. Tablespoons and cups make no sense to me.
Driving, I think in KM. Watching car shows I think in MPH. So top Gear always confused me.
But I still think in Imperial MPG when calculating fuel mileage. L/100km seems backwards to me, but I know 10 is decent and 20, not so good.
1 -
VintageFeline wrote: »Yeah, let's call 14 pounds a stone and then start dividing, adding and subtracting by increments of 14. Just, like, because. And then inflict it on the rest of the world, on the internet at least.
So by that thinking feet which have 12 inches should also be subject to the same scorn. Or Fahrenheit because they insist on not having freezing as 0 and boiling as 100 which is much more sensible. Or perhaps fluid ounces, gallons for fuel, cups for solids. I could go on and on. I prefer metric but stones and pounds are no more illogical than my list.
And inflict? I'm sorry you're so sensitive to cultural differences that hangovers from the pre-metric past. And I say this as a metric person largely.
Seriously. What's the big deal about a stone being 14 pounds? And I'm from the US. It's no more than a foot being 12 inches or cup being 8 ounces or any other measurement equivalency we grow up knowing. It's just as random.
Saying it's inflicted? Dramatic much?3 -
Nony_Mouse wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »The only one where I have no idea and can't even estimate in my head is celsius. (I use a converter and don't expect people to cater to my inability here, for the record.) I know 0 is 32 and 100 is 212, but because it's not an easy multiplication I don't know, except apparently 30s C is quite hot and today where I live it was -20 C in the morning (which I don't approve of, -4 C (instead of F) is far more civilized!).
I was in South Africa in January one time and it was funny because often the temps at home and there looked the same (it was usually lower at home still, but close enough), except at home it was snowing and where I was I was getting sunburnt the second I got careless with sunscreen!
Yep, can't for the life of me do the temp conversion. That's what Google is for.
Weirdly, if someone asks my height, i always give it in feet and inches, even though I obviously know my height in centimetres.
Celsius to Fahrenheit - Multiply by 9, Divide by 5, then add 32.
Fahrenheit to Celsius - Subtract 32, Multiply by 5, then divide by 9
But I don't try to convert anymore. I simply think both ways and relate to whichever comes.
or multiple temp in F by .37 and you'll get pretty dang close0 -
GottaBurnEm, you should get this scale!
More drama? Why should I? I live in the US, we don't use stones, but it's naught to me when someone on the boards uses them, it's easy enough for me to do some quick head math or to google them. I don't see the issue. This is an international forum.
Seriously people #notallamericans
On the other side of the issue, I rather like them, I have to say. I'm a tiny number of them.2 -
So is the debate that people should use imperial measurements only or people should understand that more than imperial measurements are in use?
I think people can use whatever measurement they prefer.
I enjoy communicating with people from around the world and undertand that what is normal to me is not necessarily normal to them. I can easily convert things to what I understand because there are sites that do that for you. Or I would ask politely for clarification from the poster if I was not sure.
Weight given in lbs and stones will always annoy me though- you clearly do use lbs so just put it all in lbs!
MFP itself is a culture, with something of its own language. In MFP-speak, perhaps the following is a common way of asking politely for clarification:JeromeBarry1 wrote: »Whether in stone or lb it's difficult to imagine anyone being alive at that weight. How old are you?
(Just kidding.)0 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »
GottaBurnEm, you should get this scale!
More drama? Why should I? I live in the US, we don't use stones, but it's naught to me when someone on the boards uses them, it's easy enough for me to do some quick head math or to google them. I don't see the issue. This is an international forum.
Seriously people #notallamericans
On the other side of the issue, I rather like them, I have to say. I'm a tiny number of them.
I would win if measuring my weight in stones but I'd seem like a short little bugger if I measured my height in hands. UK friends, do they use hands to measure anything other than horses?0 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »
GottaBurnEm, you should get this scale!
More drama? Why should I? I live in the US, we don't use stones, but it's naught to me when someone on the boards uses them, it's easy enough for me to do some quick head math or to google them. I don't see the issue. This is an international forum.
Seriously people #notallamericans
On the other side of the issue, I rather like them, I have to say. I'm a tiny number of them.
I would win if measuring my weight in stones but I'd seem like a short little bugger if I measured my height in hands. UK friends, do they use hands to measure anything other than horses?
LOL. No, no hands.1 -
Saw this today on Twitter. Epic.
7 -
Every day is a learning day.1
-
All this confusion and antagonism and hostility could be entirely avoided if people simply made sure to always list units used.2
-
All this confusion and antagonism and hostility could be entirely avoided if people simply made sure to always list units used.
or if responders used common sense before responding - seems ridiculously obvious to me that someone saying they weighed 73 meant they did so in kg
Just like if someone said their height as 163 ,they meant in cm
Sure, i understand people might need to do conversion to get it in their measurement language (like metric users do in reverse) - but to not realise it was metric and really think the person meant 73 lb or 73 stone or 163 feet ??????
5 -
Every scientist or engineer learns very quickly that you always, ALWAYS state units to avoid confusion. Always. Clarity in communication is important. It avoids situations like the pages-long discussion prior to this.
1 -
Well, simple common sense would too.....
this is a chat forum, not a scientific paper.3
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.6K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.3K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.5K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 431 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.6K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.8K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions