They are well aware, just as they and most others are well aware that in most situations when Americans or America are referenced the context is that of USA.
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Why the heck does America still use outdated measurement and date units?
- Thread starter garirry
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Yeah it probably is. But when you use pictures like this and call football "handegg" you just annoy people and make them more resilient instead of whatever goal you hope to accomplish. unless that goal is to make Americans care less about soccer and feel alienated from it. If that's the case then yeah keep posting stuff like this.Regardless of the etymology of the words "football" and "soccer", I feel that the word "football" is much more apt for soccer than it is for American football.
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I think it's better too. But we like our measurement system. If there's ever a need to change we'll spend the money to change it. Until then, idk, deal with it? Don't deal with it? Live your own life.
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Call people from Brasil Americans and see what they say. Or Mexicans or Cubans.
It's a made up issue by people without anything else to do. If you don't like calling us Americans than type "People from the United States" or United States of America people" or whatever else you want.
Ask in Latin America if they are Americanos. People from the US are no excluded from the term.
I guess it is possible that in some cases the understanding of the definition might have been subverted, at least as a first response.
Well they can be called Americans or Americanos, and it would be clear that being from South America that they would be referring to the continent. But if you're talking about Americans in colloquial speech it means the US. It's not a big deal to anybody except people who don't have anything else to do with their time. None of my friends from Brasil or Colombia give a crap. I'm pretty sure that same lack of caring is quite pervasive.
If you don't like that we're called Americans, call us people of the United States or something and type that out a bunch. Otherwise stop arguing about it.
¿Estadounidenses? In America they are called gringos, everybody knows who are the gringos. In Venezuela we call them gringos. I have my U.S. citizenship and I am gringa since a year ago.
http://dle.rae.es/?id=Gjw3x9j
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You are Americans. You are not the only ones.
Who knows? White people have no clue when it comes to stuff like this.
We're the only ones in colloquial speech. *shrug* idk what else you want
Yup, not the only ones, but in most cases when people say "Americans" they are referring specifically to those who are from USA nevertheless.
Just finished reading the entire thread, really interesting read! What I find strange is how Americans generally state month/day, whereas, Brits would normally just say "the 25th" (it's obvious it's May, so why state it?).
A decimal system also makes much more sense for programming (I imagine) if a value can be expressed as a single continuous string, rather than subtended into separate units say: 6' 2"
But we still have quirks and idiosyncrasies here, it's common to buy a dozen 2.4 Metre lengths of 3" x 2"
A decimal system also makes much more sense for programming (I imagine) if a value can be expressed as a single continuous string, rather than subtended into separate units say: 6' 2"
But we still have quirks and idiosyncrasies here, it's common to buy a dozen 2.4 Metre lengths of 3" x 2"
American is more than colloquial in English. That's why I only refrained from using it here where it was required.
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Spanish speaking people come in all colors.
This is something that should be submitted to the Congress and the United Nations.... probably the "Americans" will end up being called officially... Gringos.
By the way, the word gringo comes from the war with Mexico. Gringo was the word for the "gringos" because the uniform was green gold. So the Mexicans started... allí vienen los greengolds. When we watch the movies and the "gringos" called themselves "Americans" everybody in latin america get upset. The only people who call them that way are the Europeans. But then, as a latin american you go to Europe and you tell them "they are not American because I am American too if that is the case". And the entire thing start to get complicated. I used to work with exchange students and this topic was one of those...
By the way, the word gringo comes from the war with Mexico. Gringo was the word for the "gringos" because the uniform was green gold. So the Mexicans started... allí vienen los greengolds. When we watch the movies and the "gringos" called themselves "Americans" everybody in latin america get upset. The only people who call them that way are the Europeans. But then, as a latin american you go to Europe and you tell them "they are not American because I am American too if that is the case". And the entire thing start to get complicated. I used to work with exchange students and this topic was one of those...
Wow, LOL. My goal was to post a funny picture. But I guess "those people", whoever they are, are easily offended by a little humor.
I'm an American and I don't care about making other Americans care any more or less for any sport, soccer or otherwise. What a weird goal you assumed I have.
Point still stands. People (Europeans in particular) say that exact thing with serious conviction. The typical American response is then to just never listen to them.
No. Why would multi-digit decimals be too hard, when I'm the one favoring metric and it's ease of decimals? I use imperial daily as well. But metric is just simpler to get more accurate measurements without having to resort to multiple decimal places.
Umm...okay. So, we should keep a variety of non-related measurements (whatever you feel that day to an inch, 12 inches to a foot, 3 feet to a yard, 5280 feet to a mile) instead of using a system in which all the relations are the same, so that you have more standard tolerance within a single inch. Copy that.
I get it. I use inches in all of my CAD and 3D work (and often use mm as well), but to say that inches are better...eh, don't agree.
in practical human use, imperial offers better divisions or, more usable/common numbers than metric..
And base 12 is somehow better than base 10? So, instead of 1, 10, 100, 1000, 10000...it's better to....1, 12, 144, 1728, 20736?
Yeah, sorry for my confusion when you say that "no further operation is possible" on a certain number. What you meant is that there was another operation possible, but it just wasn't prime, an that's apparently really important. Trust me, I do like being able to use 2, 3, 4, and 6 as divisors of 12, but that doesn't make it a "better" overall system outside of the foot alone.
No, no...I don't think so.
Intertesting point you bring up. Most blueprints, if using imperial, use inches for small measurements, and feet and inches for larger ones. In fact, I have only very rarely seen a blueprint which says that a room is 217 inches wide. Nor, have I seen one saying that a wall is .4167' thick. They have the room being 18' 1" wide and the wall being 5" thick. Maybe I've been looking at the wrong blueprints, though.
Of course. It just matters how clean you want your documents to be, and how easily it is to switch from one scale to another. For instance, in the example above, to switch from 217 inches to feet, you have to do math to get 18' 1". Most people can picture 50', but will have to think a little bit in their head to picture 600 inches. Instead, you can list the rom as 5.51m, 551cm, 5510mm. No math involved. THAT is why metric tends to be easier...no math to switch scales.
What modern system do you think could replace the simple moving of a decimal to change scale? Ooh...let's go to base7!
This is by no means universal, but common convention is that civil engineering plans dimension everything in feet - right down to 5 inches being 0.4167', for example, architectural plans dimension in feet and inches, and mechanical component plans dimension everything in inches or millimeters.
Tremors were felt in the State of Texas when bottles of Kroger's Seltzer Water were discovered on the shelves in 1 and 2 liter sizes! PS, we've been buying soft drinks in 1,2, and 3 liter size bottles forever, but a clear threshold has been crossed. That sinister foreign influence is happening folks.
yeah, i really think i'd need to see an example of what your point is because if you do a calculation in metric.. say 25mm ÷ 8, you end up with 3.125mm ..
if you do 25" ÷ 8, you end up with 3.125"... it's the same exact thing, right? how are you thinking metric makes calculations end up with single decimal digits whereas imperial has long decimals?
(and, btw, in that example, the imperial version can also be written as 3-1/8" ..which also, conveniently, has a mark on your ruler for you to tick)
can you clarify this single decimal thing?
[edit] unless you mean something like
25cm ÷ 8 = 3.125cm
but that can also be said 31.25mm..
or- 25m ÷ 8 = 3.125m
but that can also be written/spoken as 3125mm
so there are less decimals being used in metric
?
if so, i don't think i'm quite backing this notion.. i mean, the math is the same with both. (actually, the math is the exact same but then, with the metric example, you're doing additional math on it in order to show less numbers after a decimal point.)
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no, we should have a unified (coherent) system much like metric (though modernized to include units for computers etc).. i think if you re-read what i've written, i've given examples of when imperial is better and i've also given examples of when metric is better.. i've never made the declaration that one is better than the other because neither one is better than the other.. they both have advantages and they both have disadvantages.. one of the advantages of metric is that it's a coherent system.. this trait should be adopted in a new universal system.
inches are better.. sometimes.
cm are better.. sometimes.
if one was superior to the other then it would be better in all or most scenarios.. this simply isn't the case.. neither is better. (repeating myself, i know... but..)
hmm.. yeah, i don't think you're seeing base12 yet.. in base12, there are two new digits for the numbers 10 & 11..
a few have been proposed such as ᘔ for what's known as 10 today and Ɛ instead of 11..
the numbers you've written as 1,12,144,1728 in the decimal system look like 1,10,100,1000 in the duodecimal system..
here, watch this:
and read this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duodecimal
....
and my point of bringing this into the discussion is that, if we were to adopt the duodecimal system (and seriously, if it were an easy switch and mathematicians only had to vote yes_or_no on the matter, an overwhelming majority would vote yes.. or even 'yes please!' : ) ..not because it would necessarily make their more complex problems any easier.. more because it would make math easier for everyone else.)
...
if it were adopted and we then made a new measuring system which worked like metric except now in base12, people would then realize "oh, i see now.. that's how feet&inches worked in the old imperial system.. neat."
like- base12 isn't a new concept.. it was almost implemented at points until those darn french had to come in and screw everything up.. instead of changing the numbering system to adapt and make sense to what was happening with the measuring units, they changed to unit system to adapt to the decimal system.. this was, quite possibly, one of the biggest blunders of all time..
if they would have done it the other way around and i was now proposing "hey, let's switch to a decimal system!", it would be a ridiculous idea to mathematicians and everybody else (like yourself) because it would be a disadvantage to duodecimal.
it is an incredibly tough position to be in if you're trying to argue a decimal system is better than duodecimal.. incredibly tough. (assuming involved parties have an equal understanding of both.)
that example was metric blueprints.
in imperial, one wouldn't (doesn't) stick to inches.. it's perfectly acceptable to dimension 18' 1 and 5" in the same document.
that's known as feet and inches
another standard is fractional inches (66 5/8 instead of 5' 6 5/8)
or you can use decimal inches as a standard (66.625")
not sure what CAD application you use but in Rhino, these three are your standard options without customizing:
i use fractional inches for most of my dimensions/shop drawings.. when working on larger scales, i use feet&inches..
typically, i'll never write a dim with more than ~150".. i'll always go to feet&inches at or around that point.
idk, it would be very uncommon to see something dimensioned or spoken of as 600 inches long. (fwiw)
likewise, it would be uncommon to see something dimensioned as 55mm and 5.51m in the same document.
but yes, i get your point.. if you were told something was 600 inches tall then it wouldn't be easy to imagine that length in your head.. you would prefer it to be in a different unit so yes, you'd have to divide by 12 in order to arrive at a better unit for visualizing something 50 feet long.
the duodecimal system
(i mean, any base system would work the same in these regards.. it's not only 10 that allows for this to happen.. the way we were taught and having the decimal system hammered into our brains since before we could walk or talk, we think 10 is magic but that's just because of the way we were taught. (poorly in many cases)
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the duodecimal system
(i mean, any base system would work the same in these regards.. it's not only 10 that allows for this to happen.. the way we were taught and having the decimal system hammered into our brains since before we could walk or talk, we think 10 is magic but that's just because of the way we were taught. (poorly in many cases)
Good God. And I thought the imperial vs. metric argument was bananas. I'm assuming you use a DVORAK keyboard as well!
ha no.Good God. And I thought the imperial vs. metric argument was bananas. I'm assuming you use a DVORAK keyboard as well!
the concept of us communicating with/through a computer by way of a keyboard is pretty much outdated and limiting (just kinda caveman style, you know?).. even moreso is us using a pointer on a flat panel and clicking at it with one of our fingers..
i'll just ride qwerty out for the next decade or two until technology eliminates both qwerty and dvorak (and kills the mouse too).
...
the numbers thing isn't as nerdy as dvorak keyboards..
i suppose i can see how it comes off that way but i think there's a critical difference between the two.
That's American (gringo, if you prefer) wisdom at its best!