Question for those outside of the USA - Measurements

[Subatomic]

It basically comes down to how long the metric system has been used. The UK and other english speaking countries switched to SI units no too long ago (meaning a lot of people still grew up with the old system), so a lot of everyday measurements are still in pounds, inches etc.

In countries like Germany where the change happened very long ago, metrics are used almost exclusively, with some exceptions. As was mentioned above, we still use 'Zoll' (=inches) for some things which have an intenational standard that's in inches like TV & monitor sizes (though advertisements are required by law to also include the cm measurement). In some fields Zoll is still used as a customary unit, for example carpentry or construction. Funnily enough, a folding rule is called 'Zollstock' in German even though it usually only has a centimeter scale.
'Pfund' (=pound) is also used in cooking / baking, though this isn't equivalent to the imperial pound but over the years came to mean 500g.

 

[Danny Ocean]

I looked up the imperial ton and it is 2240 pounds ('cos that's a sensible number).

IIRC the superiority of the imperial system is that more numbers divide into them. Tens can only do 5's, 0's, 2's and 1's. 12s can do 2s, 6s, 4s, 3s, 12s, and 1s. So you can get smaller increments before resorting to decimals.

The downside is that it's confusing as hell for anyone raised on metric.

We use all the things.

Kilos?

Pounds?

Fuck that, stone.

...

14 pounds in a stone.

They're the same thing.

 

[MrFalconfly]

Well here in Denmark we mostly use metric units but feet and inches do pop up.

Computerscreens or TV-screens are measured in inches and so are car rims (like an 18" alloy rim). Boats are measured in feet (a 92 foot yacht). Everything else is metric (I for example am 1.92m or 192cm high and I weigh 92kg), including pieces of lumber (say a 25cm x 25cm).

Oh and then there's the horsepower which gets used everywhere (except Australia which uses kW).

 

[ClockworkPenguin]

I looked up the imperial ton and it is 2240 pounds ('cos that's a sensible number).

IIRC the superiority of the imperial system is that more numbers divide into them. Tens can only do 5's, 0's, 2's and 1's. 12s can do 2s, 6s, 4s, 3s, 12s, and 1s. So you can get smaller increments before resorting to decimals.

The downside is that it's confusing as hell for anyone raised on metric.

We use all the things.

Kilos?

Pounds?

Fuck that, stone.

...

14 pounds in a stone.

They're the same thing.

I would not have a problem with imperial if it were a truly base twelve system. As you say, there are advantages to that. However, Imperial isn't, its a mess. Weight is 16 ounces to a pound, then 14 pounds to a stone for example. Length is just confusing after feet and inches. 1760 yards to a mile, or 8 furlongs, which itself is 220 yards. Not to be confused with a nautical mile, which is 6080 feet.

Where do these numbers come from? I swear imperial was made up as it went along. Unlike metric, which was purposely designed from the start. 1000mm=1m, 1000m=1km. 1000mg= 1g, 1000g=1kg.

 

[kahlzun]

I'm an Aussie, and we use metres and Celsius pretty exclusively, however we still understand feet
(for example, Subway still sells 'foot long' subs over here, and it's not a terribly unusual way to describe a person's height (ie: he's 6 feet tall))

 

[kahlzun]

Tens can only do 5's, 0's, 2's and 1's. 12s can do 2s, 6s, 4s, 3s, 12s, and 1s. So you can get smaller increments before resorting to decimals.

tens make things easy

for example: How many centimetres in, say 197.43 kilometres?
197.43*1000 to get metres
197430 metres
197430*100 to get cm
19743000 cm

don't even need a calculator.

Now, how many inches in 197.43 miles?
197.43*5280=?
?*12=12?
Good luck working that one out without paper or a calculator.

 

[VeryOddGamer]

Finland uses the metric system.
It is sometimes pretty annoying when you're watching some documentary for example and in it, they use other forms of measurement, forcing you to convert the lengths/weights/whatevers in your mind.
And of course, we use celsius degrees for measuring heat. Or, more often, cold.

 

[Sight Unseen]

In Canada I find that when talking about people's height that they'll talk in feet and inches, with weight it's in pounds, but we do use kg for heavier things and grams for lighter things too.

We use kilometers and kilometers per hour almost exclusively, except among older people.

Temperatures are in Celcius (again, except older people)

Volumes are in Litres

and all of science is metric and all of engineering is a mix/match of both >_<

 

[maninahat]

We use all the things.

Kilos?

Pounds?

Fuck that, stone.

I'd say that is probably my third favourite unit of measurement. After fathoms and coulombs.

 

[Little Gray]

In Canada we use the metric system for everything but the construction industry which uses imperial.

The problem with tons and tonnes is that one is imperial and the other is metric and they aren't the same. A metric tonne is 1000kg. I looked up the imperial ton and it is 2240 pounds ('cos that's a sensible number).

Also, don't forget other units beloved of journalists: as long/tall as x double decker busses; As long/wide/area the size of x football/tennis pitches; and my personal favourite 'an area the size of wales'.

Its actually not that big of a deal because the difference between a ton and tonne is actually immaterial. 1 tonne is equal to 2200 pounds.

 

[Rblade]

if everyone would say what stuff was in millimeters and grams this world would be a better and way less confusing one.

I know an inch is roughly 25-30 mm and a foot is rougly 300. And a pound is about 0,5 kg but even if I can ballpark I always have to google it if I want to find out the exact figure.

It's pretty odd we cannot decide on these things in the time of the interwebs

as for the wood guy, 2 by 4 amounts to 50 by 100 milimeters

 

[Ushiromiya Battler]

Here in ol' Norway, we use Polar Bears as our standard unit of weight. It gets cumbersome.

Are they measured at the shoulder (all fours) or the head (bipedal)?

Depends on where in Norway it is

Where I live we use the amount of snow around the polar bear while it's on all four.

 

[Something Amyss]

I actually kind of agree

not that it makes the country "backward" but its an old system that is still around mainly because of peoples reluctance to change to a different systm (thata arguably easyer to understand)

I think you missed my point. The guy was saying the rest of the world is usually wrong for calling us backwards based on things like CREATIONISM. The idea that science is some giant conspiracy to hide the truth that God made the earth in seven literal days and Jesus rode dinoaurs.

EDIT: Incidentally, there is a strong tendency in America to use metric for science and science education. It's the primary reason I'm good with most metric terms and can convert between "yank" and "civilised society." The resistance to change is largely on the backs of the under educated, who would probably die if they had to learn a new ZIP code.

 

[Senare]

I have a question for Europeans:

What measurements does your wood come in for shopwork? Here in the States some of our standard cuts are 2x2 (inches, but it is actually 1.5x3.5. Its cut at 2x4, then dried and sanded), 4x4, etc.

What does lumber come in overseas?

From Sweden:

Wood come in inches (or "thumbs" which inches is known as here), possibly because the carpentry industry is so established already. Aviation and boat industry also use odd measurements to because they are international and have a history. For everything else we use SI. We also have our own definition of a mile, which is 10 km or 10000 meters. To me it is more useful (of course, having grown up here) than the 1,609 metre mile (which is always easier to substitute with kilometres) or that crazy "metric mile" of 1500 m (what is so metric about that? Powers of TEN people!).