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theorist9

macrumors 68040
May 28, 2015
3,854
3,036
American here. I will both say I wish America would switch to metric, and offer some explanations for why it hasn't (and also offer some caveats).

As a scientist, I'm used to using metric. And for things like measuring distances, it's vastly easier than the Imperial system -- when using a ruler, it's much easier to read off 53.1 mm and 33.3 mm, and add them to get 86.4 mm, than to read off 2 2/32" and 1 5/16", and add them to get 3 13/32".

But at the same time, having grown up with the Imperial system, I have an intuitive feel for it that I still don't have for the metric system, even though I use metric regularly. For instance, I'm a trail runner, and when buying gear I pay attention to the weight. If I'm making a table comparing the weight of, say, different hip packs, I'll convert all the weights to ounces because I still have a much more intuitive feel for what, say, 5.5 oz feels like than I do for 156 grams. I think that's part of the reason people don't want to switch—they don't want to give up something for which they have an intuitive feel.

The other (related) reason is simply that people are people and Americans are like anyone else--they want to avoid inconvenience unless they are forced to do something (or can be convinced it's important). The US did make a legislative effort to switch to the metric system in the 70's (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_Conversion_Act), but it was voluntary and didn't take hold. Because the US is big enough that it can continue to function with its own system, people haven't been forced to switch like they would if they were in a smaller country. If the US were smaller, it would have switched. And if other countries were as large as the US, and used their own system, and could get away with continuing to use it like the US, they would probably have stayed with their own system as well.

And metric isn't always functionally superior. The spacing of Farenheit degrees is more suitable than Celsius degrees for expressing temperature when it comes to human comfort levels. As @sudo-sandwich said, Celsius is too coarse, so you have the inconvenience of having to add a decimal. It's just not quite as clean.

Of course, if you live somewhere the temp is always –40, it doesn't matter.

I would also caution those who argue in favor of metric in order to have a common officially recognized worldwide standard that if you want that, you would need to give up some of the units you are used to. E.g., while bar is metric, it's not SI, so if you use bars for barometric pressure, you should really use pascals instead. [I personally don't like either for atmospheric pressure--for that usage, atmospheres is most physically meaningful unit, because it expresses values in terms of something that gives them immediate context--the pressure relative to average earth sea level pressure. If you say the pressure at the surface of Mars is 0.0063 atm, that is immediately meaningful in a way that 640 pascals is not. Yes, 1 bar is about 1 atm, but that's just a coincidence; there's no physically meaningful connection of the bar unit to earth atmospheric pressure.]
 
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skottichan

macrumors 65816
Oct 23, 2007
1,143
1,384
Columbus, OH
We hit 109ºF today in Phoenix (it was a cooler day). I wonder if using Celsius would help all us Phoenicians to feel cooler. 42.7º sounds a lot cooler than 109 I think ;)
I feel ya, I lived in Tucson back in 2001-2002, if I could have convinced my body that it was only in the upper 30's-lower 40's, I would have even in heaven.
 
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sudo-sandwich

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Aug 5, 2021
671
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Isn't Metric used in the US when it's needed? Usually engineering or other careers involving high level mathematics. As for the Gen Pop. As other's said. It's been tried before and failed. Muricans don't want it. OTherwise we'd make the change.
Not metric, but same idea. I for one for example use 24 hr clock vs the 12 hr clock. I find the 12 hr clock annoying. 24 hr clock immediately know what time of day it is. It just makes more sense.
There are separate metric and imperial versions of things like bolts and wrenches, which sucks.
Edit: Wait, this thread is from 2016??!
 
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AlaskaMoose

macrumors 68040
Apr 26, 2008
3,585
13,429
Alaska
42 sounds horrendous. I grew up with Fahrenheit but switched to Celsius when the weather men did. Easy enough to get used to. I still know what both mean.
I think air temperature is one of the easiest as you really don’t need to know exactly what it is. You just need to know if it’s hot or cold.
I live in the interior of Alaska where it gets very cold during the long winters, and hot during the summer. While I don't have any issues with the metric system since that is what I learned as a child, I prefer Fahrenheit for air temperatures, since from 0-degrees F. down the scale, both indicators point to temperatures that are close to each other. But there is something else that I like: since -40 degrees F. is a very common temperature around here, when I look at the thermometer and it shows -40 degrees F., it also is -40 degrees C.

The outdoors thermometers I have outside my house have F. and C. scales, but once the the temperature is 40-degree F., I don't worry about either one since this a relatively cool temperature. When it surpass 70 degrees F. (a little over 20 C) and reaches 80 F. is too hot for me to enjoy, unless I am in the shade near a lake or river.
 
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DaveFromCampbelltown

macrumors 68000
Jun 24, 2020
1,781
2,877
I read that many Australians use the two competing standards almost interchangeably, depending on what/where the temperature is being measured. While most Americans (myself included) can't seem to grasp the 'bilingual' temperature system. Sure, 32 degrees and 0 are the same, but I have to check when people gasp at the high 2 digit numbers in some areas. 35 sounds frigid, but it's 95! *shrug*
Yeh, nah, mate. Not really. We're pretty well all metric here. 30 is verging on hot. 35 is hot. 40 is really hot. 45 (yes it happens) is pretty well unbearable.

Also, it's a real pain reading an air-fryer recipe and having to convert the Fahrenheit to Celsius.

Don't forget, that if it's -40 outside, you don't have to say which short of degrees (unless you are dealing in Kelvin...)
 
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Apple fanboy

macrumors Ivy Bridge
Feb 21, 2012
56,912
55,850
Behind the Lens, UK
Yeh, nah, mate. Not really. We're pretty well all metric here. 30 is verging on hot. 35 is hot. 40 is really hot. 45 (yes it happens) is pretty well unbearable.

Also, it's a real pain reading an air-fryer recipe and having to convert the Fahrenheit to Celsius.

Don't forget, that if it's -40 outside, you don't have to say which short of degrees (unless you are dealing in Kelvin...)
No, no no. 25 is hot! 30 is me spending a lot of time with the freezer door open!
 

polyphenol

macrumors 68020
Sep 9, 2020
2,111
2,593
Wales
What's the importance of everything being based on the physical properties of water?
At least Celsius relates the numbers to something in the physical world.

What possible argument is there for the zero of Fahrenheit being where it is? It is about as arbitrary as you can get.

Let's face it, freezing and boiling points affect us every day. Having simple, easy to remember values for both of them seems reasonable.

It is also odd that so few dial thermometers which display Fahrenheit - even those produced purely in software - use one degree of angle to represent one degree of temperature. With a neat two right angles between freezing and boiling points of water (under ordinary open conditions).
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
29,604
28,366
When it surpass 70 degrees F. (a little over 20 C) and reaches 80 F. is too hot for me to enjoy, unless I am in the shade near a lake or river.
You probably want to stay far away from Phoenix during the summer, particularly August. :D Average temps in August are 110ºF.

Shorts in December is awesome though, although 80ºF may still be hot for you. February is probably our coolest month and its usually remarkable if we get below 32ºF. This past February we were nowhere near that.
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
29,604
28,366
Let's face it, freezing and boiling points affect us every day. Having simple, easy to remember values for both of them seems reasonable.
32º is freezing, 212º is the temp that water boils at. Simple easy to remember values.

451º is the temp at which paper starts to burn. :D

Just threw that one in there.
 
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polyphenol

macrumors 68020
Sep 9, 2020
2,111
2,593
Wales
They based it on how they say dates, like "24 January 2022," and Americans say "January 24, 2022."
I've always thought the way we in the UK speak dates depends on context as much as anything.

"When are you going on holiday?"

Several weeks, even months, ahead we might hear:

"September. Fifth to sixteenth."

But on the first day of September, more likely:

"Fifth to sixteenth." (Implicitly "Of September", of course.)

"When is Easter next year?"

"Umm, April. April the ninth."

We take a punt on whether the person is trying to get an approximation - so saying the month first seems right. Or the specific, in which case, the day of month first.

But we also tend to use the ordinal numbers - whether written or spoken. Not September Five but fifth of September; not April 9 but April the ninth.
 
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millerj123

macrumors 68030
Mar 6, 2008
2,601
2,703
Intellectually, the increments for Celcius seem too large, but given time I could probably get used to it. We currently heat our home to 68 F in the winter, and cool to 78 F in summer, with appropriate clothing. I guess that would realistically translate to roughly 20 C and 25.5 C.
 

Herdfan

macrumors 65816
Apr 11, 2011
1,350
7,898
You probably want to stay far away from Phoenix during the summer, particularly August. :D Average temps in August are 110ºF.

Shorts in December is awesome though, although 80ºF may still be hot for you. February is probably our coolest month and its usually remarkable if we get below 32ºF. This past February we were nowhere near that.

The first time I ever went to Phoenix was in August. We landed and it was still 113ºF at 9pm. And from what we were told, the humidity was a bit high that day (still not high compared to where I just came from:)).

But over the next few days temps hovered around 100ºF and it wasn't that bad.

We are moving to AZ (Sedona/Cottonwood) within the year mainly to escape the humidity (and for the wife, mosquitos) on the east coast. We have visited the area about a dozen times in the past few years and really like the climate. The wife has Sedona on her weather app and she checks the temps compared to here. Temps in the summer during the day are close (80's - 90's), but the RealFeal is much lower. There 85ºF feels like, well 85ºF compared to 98ºF. But at night without the humidity, it cools off quite nicely and isn't 78ºF at 10pm.
 

eyoungren

macrumors Penryn
Aug 31, 2011
29,604
28,366
The first time I ever went to Phoenix was in August. We landed and it was still 113ºF at 9pm. And from what we were told, the humidity was a bit high that day (still not high compared to where I just came from:)).

But over the next few days temps hovered around 100ºF and it wasn't that bad.

We are moving to AZ (Sedona/Cottonwood) within the year mainly to escape the humidity (and for the wife, mosquitos) on the east coast. We have visited the area about a dozen times in the past few years and really like the climate. The wife has Sedona on her weather app and she checks the temps compared to here. Temps in the summer during the day are close (80's - 90's), but the RealFeal is much lower. There 85ºF feels like, well 85ºF compared to 98ºF. But at night without the humidity, it cools off quite nicely and isn't 78ºF at 10pm.
Yeah, that's close to Flagstaff…where Phoenicians go to cool off. :D

Welcome to AZ. It's a dry heat as we like to say. :)
 
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jamietshaw

macrumors regular
Sep 25, 2009
107
31
UK
The mm/dd/yy order seems bizarre to me, but it’s only a problem due to ignorant/lazy software developers who don’t adapt it for other countries. For example, if you sell food through UberEats in the UK, you see US dates. So confusing! The same goes for software that assumes everyone uses letter-sized paper and wants measurements in inches (Adobe PDF!), regardless of their operating system settings.
 

AlaskaMoose

macrumors 68040
Apr 26, 2008
3,585
13,429
Alaska
The first time I ever went to Phoenix was in August. We landed and it was still 113ºF at 9pm. And from what we were told, the humidity was a bit high that day (still not high compared to where I just came from:)).

But over the next few days temps hovered around 100ºF and it wasn't that bad.

We are moving to AZ (Sedona/Cottonwood) within the year mainly to escape the humidity (and for the wife, mosquitos) on the east coast. We have visited the area about a dozen times in the past few years and really like the climate. The wife has Sedona on her weather app and she checks the temps compared to here. Temps in the summer during the day are close (80's - 90's), but the RealFeal is much lower. There 85ºF feels like, well 85ºF compared to 98ºF. But at night without the humidity, it cools off quite nicely and isn't 78ºF at 10pm.
113º F. and high air humidity is quite difficult to tolerate, even in the shade. But if the air is dry and one stays in a shaded area, it is tolerable. When it is very cold (-25 F. for example) and the air is dry, sometimes it feels like it isn't very cold outdoors too.
 
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AlaskaMoose

macrumors 68040
Apr 26, 2008
3,585
13,429
Alaska
Offensive? Merely suggesting a reason why the heck America still uses outdated measurement and date units.
There aren't any reasons to refer to anybody as you have, regardless of who they are or of their geographical locations (USA in this case). A discussion like this one, which is about the use of metrics or not, could take place in a polite way between all posters.
 
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sudo-sandwich

Suspended
Aug 5, 2021
671
558
I've always thought the way we in the UK speak dates depends on context as much as anything.

"When are you going on holiday?"

Several weeks, even months, ahead we might hear:

"September. Fifth to sixteenth."

But on the first day of September, more likely:

"Fifth to sixteenth." (Implicitly "Of September", of course.)

"When is Easter next year?"

"Umm, April. April the ninth."

We take a punt on whether the person is trying to get an approximation - so saying the month first seems right. Or the specific, in which case, the day of month first.

But we also tend to use the ordinal numbers - whether written or spoken. Not September Five but fifth of September; not April 9 but April the ninth.
That sounds pretty similar to the US then. If someone asks, "when were you born?", do you say "January first, 19xx" or "the first of January, 19xx"?

I think the only case where Americans say the day before the month is a few holidays like "fourth of July." But as far as I understand, in French, the day usually comes before the month.
 

sudo-sandwich

Suspended
Aug 5, 2021
671
558
At least Celsius relates the numbers to something in the physical world.

What possible argument is there for the zero of Fahrenheit being where it is? It is about as arbitrary as you can get.

Let's face it, freezing and boiling points affect us every day. Having simple, easy to remember values for both of them seems reasonable.

It is also odd that so few dial thermometers which display Fahrenheit - even those produced purely in software - use one degree of angle to represent one degree of temperature. With a neat two right angles between freezing and boiling points of water (under ordinary open conditions).
Boiling point doesn't affect us often (I just had to Google it to write this, which means I don't think about it), and freezing only does in some places. Even then, the temp being 0˚C says little about whether there will actually be snow or ice. And 100˚C being boiling means that half the 0-100 Celsius range is unused when discussing living temperatures. The weather forecast could be "in the 10s and 20s" for half a year.

I will still say that setting 0˚F as freezing, and keeping the current boiling point of 212˚F, might be a little better. But it's decent how it is. 0˚F is really cold, 100˚F is really hot, 1 degree of F difference is about the smallest you can notice, and 10 degrees' difference affects what clothes you wear.
 
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sudo-sandwich

Suspended
Aug 5, 2021
671
558
Intellectually, the increments for Celcius seem too large, but given time I could probably get used to it. We currently heat our home to 68 F in the winter, and cool to 78 F in summer, with appropriate clothing. I guess that would realistically translate to roughly 20 C and 25.5 C.
Given that many thermostats add the 0.5 increments when put in ˚C mode, you can say from a math perspective that it's worse. Now you need 3 sig figs to represent indoor living temperatures, or more like 2 with 1 extra bit of information.
 
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