Why the heck does America still use outdated measurement and date units?

[Algr]

Because American XL is way way bigger than Chinese XL. So, which country will have the defining spec?

The country you are in. Having XL be different in another country is not as bad as having it different across the street.

Someone needs to make a SW parody where the main conflict is the Empire using Imperial and the Rebels using Metric. "Your lack of Imperial Units is disturbing!"

Works better the other way. No one is really trying to force feet and inches onto anyone.

First two on the right are definitely better, but I prefer month first because it sorts logically. II don't want to see Jan 1 Feb 1...Jan 2 Feb 2....

That comes down to the programmers. If there are dates in the file names, the only way to prevent the numbers from being alphabetized nonsensically is year/month/day, and always have leading zeros for both month and day. In any sort system you get numbers sorted like this: 1,10,11,12...2,20,21... 3,30,31, ...if they don't have leading zeros.

 

[Mousse]

Works better the other way. No one is really trying to force feet and inches onto anyone.

The rebel scum won, which is why most of the world uses Metric. Only 350 million of us brainwashed by the Sith still use Imperial. If only you knew the power of the Dark Side.

 

[Algr]

In the opening of New Hope, Vader says he has dissolved the imperial senate and given direct control to the planetary governors. This technically makes planets freer than they were under the republic. As long as they give Vader what he wants, and don't harbor rebels, he doesn't care what they do or what measurement systems they use internally.

The rebels were all against the empire, but they weren't really FOR much of anything as a whole. They certainly weren't about bringing order to the galaxy by imposing a universal law of measurement. So the whole analogy breaks down in that respect.

 

[AngrofMayfair]

There is nothing wrong with the system that the Yanks use, it's just that it's different. If you were American then you would say that the others are just different. Isn't that the great thing about different countries; differences? For what it's worth, here in Australia you still buy pants in inches off the rack, we still use feet when talking about aircraft height, and drag cars run the quarter mile. Relax, learn and enjoy them both. It's not that one is better than another, it's just that it's different.

Yes, Australia is also confused with what measurements to use - whilst we are now finally predominantly metric we still prefer inches for tv and monitor sizes as well as car wheels and tyres…
shoe sizes are still in uk/usa sizes too….

 

[cyb3rdud3]

And one is better than none. Global standardisation is not an attractive goal, which is why Country Road XL sized shirts are about 3 times bigger than Kmart XL sized shirts. If we all had to wear Kmart sizes because it was the accepted spec, we’d all look like rissoles in cling wrap.

Nope, then you’d wake up to the reality that you aren’t an XL anymore. That is not a good thing and not healthy. Heck XL is not a healthy place to be at for most people. 🤷‍♂️

 

[Boeingfan]

Yes, Australia is also confused with what measurements to use - whilst we are now finally predominantly metric we still prefer inches for tv and monitor sizes as well as car wheels and tyres…
shoe sizes are still in uk/usa sizes too….

HAHAHA I don't find it confusing at all, I use them both!

 

[Boeingfan]

Nope, then you’d wake up to the reality that you aren’t an XL anymore. That is not a good thing and not healthy. Heck XL is not a healthy place to be at for most people. 🤷‍♂️

And this is where standards get confusing because we're not all the same. There are plenty of people around who don't carry any fat on them and yet are bigger than a Kmart XL sized shirt.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

Yes, Australia is also confused with what measurements to use - whilst we are now finally predominantly metric we still prefer inches for tv and monitor sizes as well as car wheels and tyres…
shoe sizes are still in uk/usa sizes too….

Yeah, but the 100" TV in the bedroom is way smaller than the 2500 250 cm TV in the lounge room...

 

[drumcat]

And one is better than none. Global standardisation is not an attractive goal, which is why Country Road XL sized shirts are about 3 times bigger than Kmart XL sized shirts. If we all had to wear Kmart sizes because it was the accepted spec, we’d all look like rissoles in cling wrap.

Nah. This is just a way to ensure Americans keep buying their stuff instead of marking it 4XL.

 

[drumcat]

Yeah, but the 100" TV in the bedroom is way smaller than the 2500 cm TV in the lounge room...

If you have a 25 metre TV, you must be at the game...

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

If you have a 25 metre TV, you must be at the game...

You are right. Original edited. That's what comes of trying to be clever before the coffee has kicked in...

 

[drumcat]

You are right. Original edited. That's what comes of trying to be clever before the coffee has kicked in...

Interestingly, cm usage is rare. If you'd just said a 2500, I'd assume (as most would) that you're talking mm.

That's part of the American misunderstanding. I had it too before I moved. Kids are taught cm when they are at school, but far more often sizes are broken into mm when measuring.

That "half-inch" socket is a 13. 1mm differences up and down. If a tradie is saying something's off by 300, that's about a foot. Using mm is built-in precision.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

Interestingly, cm usage is rare. If you'd just said a 2500, I'd assume (as most would) that you're talking mm.

That's part of the American misunderstanding. I had it too before I moved. Kids are taught cm when they are at school, but far more often sizes are broken into mm when measuring.

That "half-inch" socket is a 13. 1mm differences up and down. If a tradie is saying something's off by 300, that's about a foot. Using mm is built-in precision.

You are right on that. When John Bradfield built the Sydney Harbour bridge some 90 years ago, even though Australia was still firmly in the Imperial measurements world, he insisted that all measurements would be in millimetres, all 1,149,000 of them.
The number is a bit fuzzy. On a hot day, the bridge expands and the top of the span goes up by 300mm and down by the same amount at night.

 

[Algr]

Interestingly, cm usage is rare.

That is weird and annoying. It is bad to have units that force measurements to overstate how accurate they really are. If someone says they are 60 inches, we know that that is probably accurate to within an inch. If they say they are 1524 mm, they are wrong.

 

[drumcat]

That is weird and annoying. It is bad to have units that force measurements to overstate how accurate they really are. If someone says they are 60 inches, we know that that is probably accurate to within an inch. If they say they are 1524 mm, they are wrong.

Customarily you wouldn't say 1524mm unless you were reaching that level of accuracy. Assuming you're suggesting this is an estimate, this is 1.5m. Anything that gets over 1000mm is described by decimal. So 1.1 metres. 1.23m. 3.9m.

This allows for a decimal level of precision in an estimate, and it's very simple.

If it's less than a metre, you're going to say something is 300 "mill". But funny you should be talking about accuracy, as there's really no reason to understate accuracy. If you're measuring, you're measuring in "mills". The misunderstanding you have is that you're still considering what something is in inches, and converting.

We're not converting.

The one mistake that the US Government made when it was attaching to metric was it should have made "1 inch" = exactly 25mm. Instead they made it 25.4 for accuracy (which I understand, but they still rounded…) and this makes the transition very tough.

In fact, if it had been 25mm = 1in, and therefore 300mm = 1ft, and 900mm = 1yd, you'd probably have dropped the yard and be working in metric by now.

Just remember that if we're starting out measuring in millimetres, we're not losing accuracy in back-and-forth conversions. If something's measured at a rough 300mm, and it's actually 298, it's just 2mm off. That's still smaller than an 1/8 of an inch.

And by the way… imagine a measurement system without those stupid fractions...

 

[MacMan2013]

An inch is the length of a thumb. A foot is the length of a foot. A yard is one stride for an adult. These are sensible measurements that are easy to visualise. What actually is a milimeter, or a centimeter or a kilometer? They are based I understand on some obscure scientific information, the wavelength of something or other, which has no relevance to the real world. I understand the value of metric in scientific contexts where accuracy is important, but in day to day life why does anyone actually use metric? I will allow perhaps an exception for temprature - Celsius being based on the freezing and boiling temprature of water is easy to see in day to day life, but that's about the only exception.

I was pleased to see I was able to configure all measurements on my new Apple Watch to feet, yards and miles without too much trouble.

 

[drumcat]

A mile is easy to visualise? Interesting.

Good lord… not relevant? The whole darn thing is basically about water, which is about 2/3 of you.

"in day to day life why does anyone actually use metric?"

Allow me to answer that.

I know what a metre is. To you, it's just more than a yard.

I know what a litre is. To you it's just more than a quart.

Let's say I'm measuring how much water I need for my pool. It's easy, because the distance measurement gives me the amount of water.

Let's say I'm measuring the size of my desk. Millimetres are 25x more accurate than inches.

Or I'm measuring something in the house. I need to get something centred. I don't need fractions to do the maths.

If I'm using a drawing to scale, I can use whole numbers to do ratios. Try taking something down 1/10th in scale using feet and inches. Bloody nightmare.

But the flaw in your thinking about a thumb and a shoe is that they are in your world "base units". To me, if your thumb is 25, and your foot is 300, then you're not dealing with the variance of someone else's fat thumb or short foot. Metric measurements always relate to what's around it, so instead of getting used to a body part, you can use any body part as the measure once you get your own -- and it's more accurate.

Most people don't gait at 1 yard, either, unless they're Sasquatch.

I understand what you're saying about measurements being human, but that familiarity is only habit. People used to measure things in hands, too. Now only horses care. For me, it's pretty easy. Floor to waist is exactly a metre. Width of my hand is 90mm, but it's close to 100mm for most men. However, instead of being 10% off because my hand is a little narrow, it's still very accurate. It's not a base unit.

 

[MacMan2013]

Sure metric is more accurate. But in day to day life, that's rarely needed. If I want to buy a new [tv/laptop/tablet/phone] and the screen size is so many inches I can visualise that. So many milimeters? That's just a number. A pair of pants has a waistband that so many inches, I can understand that. So many centimeters? It means nothing. Its so many miles from city A to city B, that's easy. So many kilometers? Might as well measure it in grains of sand.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

An inch is the length of a thumb. A foot is the length of a foot. A yard is one stride for an adult. These are sensible measurements that are easy to visualise. What actually is a milimeter, or a centimeter or a kilometer? They are based I understand on some obscure scientific information, the wavelength of something or other, which has no relevance to the real world. I understand the value of metric in scientific contexts where accuracy is important, but in day to day life why does anyone actually use metric? I will allow perhaps an exception for temprature - Celsius being based on the freezing and boiling temprature of water is easy to see in day to day life, but that's about the only exception.

I was pleased to see I was able to configure all measurements on my new Apple Watch to feet, yards and miles without too much trouble.

A millimetre is the thickness of my big toe nail.
A centimetre is the thickness of my little finger
A decimetre is the width of my hand.
A metre is the height of my hips.
A kilometre is how far I can walk in 8 minutes.

A millilitre is a large drop on a teaspoon.
A centilitre is a desert spoon.
A decilitre is a large espresso.
A litre is half a large bottle of Pepsi.

A gram is a too-large pinch of salt on your eggs.
A kilogram is a large chunk of casserole steak.

Easy-peasy...

 

[Algr]

The misunderstanding you have is that you're still considering what something is in inches, and converting.

No. The person is wrong because people's height changes throughout the day, and can't really be measured accurately to a millimeter. That was my point about overstating accuracy. If someone says a string is 1400 mm, it presents a problem because mm is rounded to the tens or hundreds place so often that you'd never be sure if that measurement is exact. As for myself, it is helpful to note that I am about .002 km tall.

Here is an conversation that happens to be in metric. They don't state any units, but seem to be using cm, not mm or meters.

Also, you can tell how intelligent they are because they are using metric.

 

[Artwune]

the second American soldiers boot hits the ground the clock becomes 24 hr and the metric system is the new normal. amything else is not precise enough

 

[Riot Nrrrd]

Europeans: "You Americans are so dumb. Why can't you deal with the Metric System? Having everything be based on Base 100 is sooooo much easier!"

American: "Say, can you give me the time?"

European: "Sure - it's half-past 6."

American: "WHOA! That's ... that's AMAZING!!! "

European: "Huh? What do you mean? What's so amazing?"

American: "Somehow you were able to look at your watch and tell me the time, even though it's based on 60/60/24 and not based on Base 100 Metric Time!"

🤪

 

[Icelus]

Europeans: "You Americans are so dumb. Why can't you deal with the Metric System? Having everything be based on Base 100 is sooooo much easier!"

American: "Say, can you give me the time?"

European: "Sure - it's half-past 6."

American: "WHOA! That's ... that's AMAZING!!! "

European: "Huh? What do you mean? What's so amazing?"

American: "Somehow you were able to look at your watch and tell me the time, even though it's based on 60/60/24 and not based on Base 100 Metric Time!"

🤪

🤔

Decimal time - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Riot Nrrrd]

🤔

Decimal time - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Vive la France! Viva la Revolución!

 

[eyoungren]

Sure metric is more accurate. But in day to day life, that's rarely needed. If I want to buy a new [tv/laptop/tablet/phone] and the screen size is so many inches I can visualise that. So many milimeters? That's just a number. A pair of pants has a waistband that so many inches, I can understand that. So many centimeters? It means nothing. Its so many miles from city A to city B, that's easy. So many kilometers? Might as well measure it in grains of sand.

Do you take any medication? Prescription or OTC whenever you get sick or have a headache?

You're dealing with metric in day to day life.

Unless you want to go back to the "it's about this much" sizing of tablespoons, teaspoons and fluid ounces. Probably not a good idea if your continued existence depends on taking a precisely measured medication every day.