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How to measure things like a Canadian
(lemmy.nz)
how to measure things, like a canadian.
In that case, Imperial, if the chart is to be believed.
JFC I though America had it fucked up sideways
you just see here the remnants of murican influence
I use metric far more than this chart indicates. While I might say something in a recipe calls for a cup, if I need to be specific, it's 250ml. Even height and weight I ususally know them in both metric and imperial. I was starting elementary school when the metric changeover began which made shopping confusing but eventually retail mostly caught up. I do agree with the travel distances though. Time is a much more common measurement: it will take 10min or 1/2 hour or 15 hours is more likely measurement than x km because it is specific to mode of travel: walk, bike, car, transit, plane.
I love trying new recipes, and I absolutely hate when it's a US recipe, and it'll include such wonderful measurements as "1 cup, 2 spoons" or "1.5 packed cups".
I never understand why Imperial shows up so much in these posts.
Does... the chart help at all??
While I set my oven to 180 and measure out how many grams of flour to use, I pause to see my pool temperature is 28. On my way back I stepped on a bathroom scale that read 80kg and I thought back to secondary school weigh ins where I was in the under 60 bracket.
No, the chart doesn't help. As I said, I don't understand how Imperial shows up so much on them.
Using Imperial for construction is true because we buy/sell to the US. But that's really it, maybe one day we'll weigh things in stone and cook using gas mark.
I've yet to encounter humans weighed in kg. My scale is lbs, and so is the one at my doctor's office.
Of course I know him; he’s me!
This is somehow worse than Americans using just imperial. Congrats Canada that's no small feat.
No no, they use United States customary units.
They're similar and some units are the same. But not all. Some only have the same name.
European variant:
[ is it displays? ] -yes-> [ inches ]
↓ no
[ is it screws? ] -yes-> [ inches ]
↓ no
[ metric ]
I always buy screws in millimeters in europe. Pipes are occasionally in inches, depending what kind of pipe.
Never seen screws in inches in europe (though I'm sure they exist, just don't see them being common), but you're missing wheels, pipes, hoses and fittings, socket wrench drivers, screwdriver bits, clothes (sometimes) and perhaps more
No? We use metric for all of these?
You use metric for displays?
I'm in France, and my TV is 55' and my monitor is 27'. I wouldn't be able to tell you the equivalent is centimeters off the top of my head.
Well, screws are more complicated. We mostly use M sizes which are metric. But when it comes to plumbing and compressed air thread sizes you get into imperial terretory fast.
[ is it displays? ] -yes-> [ inches ]
↓ no
[ is it screws? ] -yes-> [ inches ]
↓ no
[ is it tires? ] -yes-> [ inches ]
↓ no
[is if flight altitude? ] -yes-> [ feet ]
↓ no
[ metric ]
FTFY
[ is it tires? ] -yes-> [ inches ]
both for car and light truck tires. inches for wheel diameter, millimeters for tread width,
Even in the US we use metric tire sizing apart from a select few offload tires, which is annoying because its not even actual dimensions but more of a ratio or percentage of the overall width of the tire (in addition to the wheel size being in inches as you mentioned).
Also, floppy disks.
Road bike tires? Metric. Mtb tires? Imperial. Car tire inner diameter? Imperial. Car tire width? Metric.
Car tire height? Neither. Fun fact.
I agree on the tires, but at least in Germany, we measure flight altitude in meters.
And if you don't know for sure you can always default to a "Saarlands"
Tires are in inches, screws really aren't. Who wants 3/8 key?
Bicycle tires are both; 28inch 37x622 for example.
We’d need several versions of this in the UK with a decision tree required to select the relevant decision tree. It would need to take age and where you were brought up into account.
I think that the most complicated is distance. For me it is imperial for a person’s height, metric for short distances that I measure, imperial for short distances that I estimate (that one’s weird), miles for ground travel distances and time for air travel distances.
Also with a secret third option for measuring temperatures when cooking. Your cookies will be baked for 12 minutes at Gas Mark 4 and you will like it.
It would need to take age and where you were brought up into account.
And which sports you've been involved with, and how nationalistic your parents were when you grew up, and whether you've had chronic health issues, and whether your oven runs on natural gas, and whether you visit mainland Europe often.
It's a bit out of date, and definitely varies by individual, but broadly, yes.
Like I'll weigh myself in kg and give height in cm but most people won't understand it outside a medical context.
And most cooking is in grams or Celsius, except my oven, which is F.
You must be younger, because this diagram is spot on for me
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This is not funny, it's a fucking problem. I'm a metric purist and have an unreasonable negative emotional response when others are not.
American, can you quantity your negative emotions in a 4 point precision float of 9/11s so I can follow along?
I'm an American, I'm comfortable working in metric and normal.
Shhh, don't let them know that we use it for food packaging and drugs.
Why limit youreelf to only 1 or 2 ways of measuring things?
12 miles away? 12 kilometers away? Boring.
126,720 hot dogs away is much more whimsical and fun.
but are those normal, bun-length, or 'foot long' hot dogs?
What time did I post this comment?
9:04pm local...or... -2hands of daylight!
Canadians are surprisingly confusing with their measurements when they're so easy to understand about most other things.
Doubly colonized. Very porous border with supplies all engineered in ‘freedum units’.
Some industries have been extra slow to convert, usually due to supply chain dependencies. Also generations have to die before giving up key habits drilled into them as kids. I distinctly remember grandparents talking about mass in stones, yet canadian-born.
Settler states can sometimes ~~be stuck in~~ preserve old ways while imperial centers move on. Metis fiddlers sent a delegation to Scotland (? or thereabouts) to reteach them forgotten reels from a few hundred years ago.
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Thank you, I'm tired of people saying only the US still uses imperial units.
UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, ... and more still use them.
And the whole aviation industry is using feet for altitude and the whole world is using inches for screen sizes.
Feet for altitude, nautical miles for distance traveled, knots for speed, statute miles for visibility, centigrade for temperature and dewpoint, pounds of weight and gallons or quarts for volume.
The U.S. has been on the metric standard since the late 1800s like every other western country (including Canada). It's populace uses the adjusted imperial units because the U.S. government didn't historically have the power to campaign for a change.
Speed I'm bilingual in, I'm old enough to remember when we changed from miles to km and watching the road signs gradually get replaced. Manitoba also runs a grid pattern on roads throughout a lot of the southern province, having at least a gravel/dirt road nearly every mile, so you kinda grow up with that burned into your brain.
Temp wise, C all the way. Fahrenheit totally screws me up. I know 70 is around room temp but beyond that I need to convert it for my simple brain to understand.
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this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2026
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