Idle curiosity about stones and scales
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Slightly off-topic, but why does my American daughter-in-law call them Kg - pronounced "Kaygee" instead of "kilos"?
I'm trying to get used to metric but I know my goal weight is 8 stone - because that's what I was 50 years ago when I was a student. That translates to about 51 Kg but for easy reference I'm thinking in terms of 50 Kg.
I use a spreadsheet for easy conversion for MFP. (and I refuse to write the date backwards).
And, the fresh milk in my fridge is in 1 pint and 2 pint bottles but the longlife milk in the cupboard is in 500 ml and 1 litre cartons. Some days are really confusing!1 -
Mine shows stones and lbs, but has settings for kgs too.0
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lesdarts180 wrote: »Slightly off-topic, but why does my American daughter-in-law call them Kg - pronounced "Kaygee" instead of "kilos"?
I'm trying to get used to metric but I know my goal weight is 8 stone - because that's what I was 50 years ago when I was a student. That translates to about 51 Kg but for easy reference I'm thinking in terms of 50 Kg.
I use a spreadsheet for easy conversion for MFP. (and I refuse to write the date backwards).
And, the fresh milk in my fridge is in 1 pint and 2 pint bottles but the longlife milk in the cupboard is in 500 ml and 1 litre cartons. Some days are really confusing!
I don't know, but rest assured it's not "an American thing" -- it's a "your DIL" thing. I've never heard anybody refer to kilograms as kaygees. I don't hear kilos very often, either, as abbreviated versions of words tend to crop up more for words you use a lot, and most people in the U.S. don't use kilograms a lot. But when I hear people in the U.S. shorten kilograms, it's always kilos, never kaygees.3 -
Kaygees is common in Australia as short hand for kilograms, we also just say kilos.
Same way for 'kays' is used for kms. eg We were doing 100 'kays" (100 km/hr) or it is 10 'kays' (10 km away).
Anyone under 40 is all metric, baby weights in pounds does still persist a bit.
If you are a scientist, metric is the only way to go, except if you are NASA , then you spend over 100 million on a orbiter and then sling it into space and miss your target because you insist on imperial and are working with the rest of the world that does metric and convert wrong.
Edited to add that although the UK is not in red, they confuse everyone else by unofficially persisting, especially with the stones business.4 -
lesdarts180 wrote: »Slightly off-topic, but why does my American daughter-in-law call them Kg - pronounced "Kaygee" instead of "kilos"?
I'm trying to get used to metric but I know my goal weight is 8 stone - because that's what I was 50 years ago when I was a student. That translates to about 51 Kg but for easy reference I'm thinking in terms of 50 Kg.
I use a spreadsheet for easy conversion for MFP. (and I refuse to write the date backwards).
And, the fresh milk in my fridge is in 1 pint and 2 pint bottles but the longlife milk in the cupboard is in 500 ml and 1 litre cartons. Some days are really confusing!
Because the weight is in grams (the gees in Kaygees) Kilo is the 1,000 metric prefix So 1Kg (Kaygees) is 1 kilograms = 1,000 grams
MG is a Megagram therefore 1,000,000 grams is 1,000Kg
mg is milligrams therefor 1/1,000 of a gram equals 0,001g
Therefore Kg is is more precise as opposed to a Kilo as a kilo could also refer to for instance
km (kilometer), kJ (kiloJoule) of kW (kiloWatt) Though most people will use kilo as a shorthand for Kg
The metric system really is a lot easier to use than any imperial old fashioned system as it is consistent and logical Wikipedia has a really good article about it.
PS I also refuse to the American halfway reverse date notation Either you go all the way in reverse (ISO yyyy-mm-dd) or standard world (dd-mm-yyyy)0 -
lesdarts180 wrote: »Slightly off-topic, but why does my American daughter-in-law call them Kg - pronounced "Kaygee" instead of "kilos"?
I say it that way in my head because I'm reading the abbreviation. I also refer to pounds as "libs" when I see the "lb." abbreviation.
I like it that metric abbreviations don't require periods after them when used mid-sentence. Imperial measurement abbreviations are supposed to have them, which is annoying when typing on my phone so I often leave them off.
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My scales will show stones and lbs, lbs only, or kgs... I always prefer to measure my own weight in stones & lbs as thats what I grew up doing (despite England supposedly being fully metric), but at work (I'm a dialysis nurse) when we weigh our patients its always gotta be in kg. When my daughter was born last year the midwife told me the weight in kg and I had to convert it into lb and oz to kinda get perspective as I'm so used to hearing baby weights in imperial measurements... it's such a mish mash of measurements here we measure distances in miles, beer in pints still and then other groceries etc in grammes...0
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lynn_glenmont wrote: »lesdarts180 wrote: »Slightly off-topic, but why does my American daughter-in-law call them Kg - pronounced "Kaygee" instead of "kilos"?
I'm trying to get used to metric but I know my goal weight is 8 stone - because that's what I was 50 years ago when I was a student. That translates to about 51 Kg but for easy reference I'm thinking in terms of 50 Kg.
I use a spreadsheet for easy conversion for MFP. (and I refuse to write the date backwards).
And, the fresh milk in my fridge is in 1 pint and 2 pint bottles but the longlife milk in the cupboard is in 500 ml and 1 litre cartons. Some days are really confusing!
I don't know, but rest assured it's not "an American thing" -- it's a "your DIL" thing. I've never heard anybody refer to kilograms as kaygees. I don't hear kilos very often, either, as abbreviated versions of words tend to crop up more for words you use a lot, and most people in the U.S. don't use kilograms a lot. But when I hear people in the U.S. shorten kilograms, it's always kilos, never kaygees.
as JMF said, no it isnt an american thing or a your DIL thing - is quite common in some places.
I am in Australia and I agree with JMF - common to hear both Kaygees and kilos - and kays for kilometres and mills for milliliters
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paperpudding wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »lesdarts180 wrote: »Slightly off-topic, but why does my American daughter-in-law call them Kg - pronounced "Kaygee" instead of "kilos"?
I'm trying to get used to metric but I know my goal weight is 8 stone - because that's what I was 50 years ago when I was a student. That translates to about 51 Kg but for easy reference I'm thinking in terms of 50 Kg.
I use a spreadsheet for easy conversion for MFP. (and I refuse to write the date backwards).
And, the fresh milk in my fridge is in 1 pint and 2 pint bottles but the longlife milk in the cupboard is in 500 ml and 1 litre cartons. Some days are really confusing!
I don't know, but rest assured it's not "an American thing" -- it's a "your DIL" thing. I've never heard anybody refer to kilograms as kaygees. I don't hear kilos very often, either, as abbreviated versions of words tend to crop up more for words you use a lot, and most people in the U.S. don't use kilograms a lot. But when I hear people in the U.S. shorten kilograms, it's always kilos, never kaygees.
as JMF said, no it isnt an american thing or a your DIL thing - is quite common in some places.
I am in Australia and I agree with JMF - common to hear both Kaygees and kilos - and kays for kilometres and mills for milliliters
Maybe lesdart is mistaken and her DIL is Australian, not American.0 -
paperpudding wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »lesdarts180 wrote: »Slightly off-topic, but why does my American daughter-in-law call them Kg - pronounced "Kaygee" instead of "kilos"?
I'm trying to get used to metric but I know my goal weight is 8 stone - because that's what I was 50 years ago when I was a student. That translates to about 51 Kg but for easy reference I'm thinking in terms of 50 Kg.
I use a spreadsheet for easy conversion for MFP. (and I refuse to write the date backwards).
And, the fresh milk in my fridge is in 1 pint and 2 pint bottles but the longlife milk in the cupboard is in 500 ml and 1 litre cartons. Some days are really confusing!
I don't know, but rest assured it's not "an American thing" -- it's a "your DIL" thing. I've never heard anybody refer to kilograms as kaygees. I don't hear kilos very often, either, as abbreviated versions of words tend to crop up more for words you use a lot, and most people in the U.S. don't use kilograms a lot. But when I hear people in the U.S. shorten kilograms, it's always kilos, never kaygees.
as JMF said, no it isnt an american thing or a your DIL thing - is quite common in some places.
I am in Australia and I agree with JMF - common to hear both Kaygees and kilos - and kays for kilometres and mills for milliliters
The kaygees must be more common along the Eastern Sea Board as I only know one person in SA that says it that way, but she is Indian.0 -
I am in SA - I have heard both.0
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I didn't know you were in SA too! I get used to every Aussie online being from Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane!0
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Yep, sure am. Out in the sticks, in Whyalla.
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Kaygees is common in Australia as short hand for kilograms, we also just say kilos.
Same way for 'kays' is used for kms. eg We were doing 100 'kays" (100 km/hr) or it is 10 'kays' (10 km away).
Anyone under 40 is all metric, baby weights in pounds does still persist a bit.
If you are a scientist, metric is the only way to go, except if you are NASA , then you spend over 100 million on a orbiter and then sling it into space and miss your target because you insist on imperial and are working with the rest of the world that does metric and convert wrong.
Edited to add that although the UK is not in red, they confuse everyone else by unofficially persisting, especially with the stones business.
In New Zealand we call them kaygees and kilos too. K’s for kilometres.
My pet peeve, my iPhone wants to auto correct kilometre to kilometer - why do the Americans try to dictate the spelling when they don’t use them!!?!?!!??!!4 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »
Maybe lesdart is mistaken and her DIL is Australian, not American.
My DIL is definitely American - I can tell the difference and she and my son have visited her parents several times since they got married. However, they met in Africa - both working in Malawi. She is a graduate with a science degree, she may have learnt to use metric measures while studying and built on this while in Malawi.
I like Lolinloggens explanation - the "gee" helps to distinguish Kg from Km. I do use "kays" for Km and "mills" for ml.
It is hard to lose that instinctive use of imperial measures - I can't tell you how many hours I spent learning those complicated units as a small child in the '50's, and most of my contemporaries still use them so I have to convert back when talking with anyone over 400 -
ContraryMaryMary wrote: »Kaygees is common in Australia as short hand for kilograms, we also just say kilos.
Same way for 'kays' is used for kms. eg We were doing 100 'kays" (100 km/hr) or it is 10 'kays' (10 km away).
Anyone under 40 is all metric, baby weights in pounds does still persist a bit.
If you are a scientist, metric is the only way to go, except if you are NASA , then you spend over 100 million on a orbiter and then sling it into space and miss your target because you insist on imperial and are working with the rest of the world that does metric and convert wrong.
Edited to add that although the UK is not in red, they confuse everyone else by unofficially persisting, especially with the stones business.
In New Zealand we call them kaygees and kilos too. K’s for kilometres.
My pet peeve, my iPhone wants to auto correct kilometre to kilometer - why do the Americans try to dictate the spelling when they don’t use them!!?!?!!??!!
More to the point, why do Americans insist on using imperial? It is a measuring system that makes no logical sense.1 -
I don't think in stones, but my scale has a switch for all 3 common units: kg, lb, and st.0
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It’s liquid measurements where I really struggle. Often see people here having the target to drink a set number of ounces of water and I can’t convert that at all. Although people in the UK still refer to pints of milk, for water it tends to be litres. I definitely have to google conversions here although I think there are 8 pints in a gallon so get that a gallon is a lot of liquid! And 16 ounces to a pound but for liquid ounces - no idea!1
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I have Weight Watcher scales and they can give weight in stones/lbs and kgs with a flick of a button - I'm in the UK, I think in all three but mostly I refer to myself as being 9 stone to anyone who would ask IRL.0
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lesdarts180 wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »
Maybe lesdart is mistaken and her DIL is Australian, not American.
My DIL is definitely American - I can tell the difference and she and my son have visited her parents several times since they got married. However, they met in Africa - both working in Malawi. She is a graduate with a science degree, she may have learnt to use metric measures while studying and built on this while in Malawi.
I like Lolinloggens explanation - the "gee" helps to distinguish Kg from Km. I do use "kays" for Km and "mills" for ml.
It is hard to lose that instinctive use of imperial measures - I can't tell you how many hours I spent learning those complicated units as a small child in the '50's, and most of my contemporaries still use them so I have to convert back when talking with anyone over 40
That makes sense. As Lynn said, it's definitely not a particularly American thing.0
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