756
W Celsius (europe.pub)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/memes@lemmy.world
362 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 
An American using the inferior Fahrenheit system and a European using the superior Celsius system which is way easier
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 3 points 5 months ago (4 children)

If they'd just standardized on one unit per measurement and apply si prefixes it's still an imperial unit but easier to work with. Say a quart for volume, and a yard for distance, because they're close to liter and meter. But I guess a kiloyard and a deciquart is taking it too far.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 4 points 5 months ago (3 children)

    Yeah I think at that point it would be easier to just go metric.

    Most Americans actually seem to be five with metric and probably would not mind it too much if we just switched. The objections are basically: 1) it's too expensive to switch now (okay), or 2) it's part of our identity (doubt). I swear to God everything is a culture war with some people.

    More rational people, especially in STEM where it's already the standard, prefer it.

    In general though, I would argue that Americans know metric better then Europeans know US customary, for what that's worth

    It's mostly about what you're used to. Americans buy soda in liters, run 5km and do drugs by the gram. But we buy gasoline and milk in gallons and our recipes call for flour by volume. It's mostly inertia. At the end of the day you have to communicate with people around you so you use units they understand.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago

    Saying its too expensive to change is bullshit. Metric is common enough that most people who care about units at all end up having one set of tools for each system so they can use both as needed. This includes industry and machinists. It wouldn't actually cost anything to change at this point we could just stop designing new things in imperial units and in a couple decades we would barely need imperial tools anymore, except to work on old stuff. Some engineers are just as pig headed as anyone though, so they just keep using imperial even though they know both, use both, and still run into problems with imperial.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 1 point 5 months ago (1 child)

    But you don't switch in one go, so costs can be spread out over years. First you would do double labeling, roll that out slowly, and with time the customary units slowly fades out.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] 2 points 5 months ago

    Sure, I get that, and we already have dual labeling on a lot of stuff, maybe even most of the stuff. The problem there is that nobody actually reads the other labeling, so they are also not learning.

    They need to go back to what they were doing before: First decide that we're moving over so that mandates can be enforced.

    Second, do what you were saying, and do dual labeling during the transition--but make metric most the prominent.

    Third, educate kids in schools to use it (this already happens to a degree).

    Fourth, launch massive informational campaigns to teach people how and why to use metric.

    Fifth, step down the dual labeling gradually as more people are comfortable with the new units.

    I expect there to be a long tail of non-metric units in use (see UK), but if we can switch more things over that is still an improvement. Heck, I'll even take them just decimalizing and removing some smaller units (like lbs/oz).

    The history of metrication in the US is as frustrating as it is an interesting read. It can certainly be done and many countries have shown it can be done, but it takes commitment and support from the highest levels.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent