Why the heck does America still use outdated measurement and date units?

[JT2002TJ]

Ha, well this bottle “size” is what?
Make some plastic molded bottle fit some logistics container first , then see it’s capacity ??
Like x amount of bottles can fit in a pallet, we can then stack y pallets in a truck.
18.5 oz (1.15 Pint) = 547 ml
Yea, this one makes no sense

HAHAHAHA.

Maybe they had a 160 Calories per bottle threshold they needed to stay at or under?

 

[timber]

They really wanted the customer to have enough energy to heat 160 kg of water by 1 degree celsius.

 

[iLondoner]

Ah, but you missed the joy of learning to do long division into £sd.

In grade 3 (or maybe 4) we were taught how to divide £5 4s 1d by 13.
It was a three stage process. Divide into the pounds in Base 10, get the remainder and multiply by 20 convert to shillings.
Add that to the shillings and divide into the shillings in Base 20, get the remainder and multiply by 12 to get pennies.
Add that to the pennies and divide into the pennies in Base 12. (I think that's right. It's over 6 decades since I did it.)

Better if you started with £5 3s 2d which is divisible by 13. You can do this in your head; obviously £5 is 1200d and 2s 11d is another 49d, making 1235. Then divide by 13 and convert the answer (95d) back to £sd as 7s 11d.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

American date units are a source of ongoing iand perennial irritation to me.

None of the rest of the world uses this nonsense.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

American date units are a source of ongoing iand perennial irritation to me.

None of the rest of the world uses this nonsense.

Why should anybody be irritated about date formats, whichever these may be?

List of date formats by country - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

As for me I generally used these depending on the occasion:

DD-MM-YY
YY-MM-DD
MM-DD-YY

 

[Algr]

As for me I generally used these depending on the occasion:

DD-MM-YY
YY-MM-DD
MM-DD-YY

I wonder if this is fixable by using abbreviated letter for the month?

Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec.

I understand that these are a bit off for some other languages, but are they actually unclear for anyone? (Everything I've seen lately insists on 4 digit years, so I don't think that their is any ambiguity there.)

 

[Ericplan]

Where MM-DD-YY is the most stupid and confusing date format ever invented.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

Where MM-DD-YY is the most stupid and confusing date format ever invented.

There's always YY-DD-MM...

 

[SalisburySam]

Ha, well this bottle “size” is what?
Make some plastic molded bottle fit some logistics container first , then see it’s capacity ??
Like x amount of bottles can fit in a pallet, we can then stack y pallets in a truck.
18.5 oz (1.15 Pint) = 547 ml
Yea, this one makes no sense

The manufacturer wants to sell by the calorie…the volume is immaterial. Perhaps all food should be sold this way actually and the weight and volume just red herrings. If we started paying only by the calorie, perhaps our diets would change for the better?

 

[chown33]

The manufacturer wants to sell by the calorie…the volume is immaterial. Perhaps all food should be sold this way actually and the weight and volume just red herrings. If we started paying only by the calorie, perhaps our diets would change for the better?

You'd have to use joules instead of calories, because the calorie is obsolete:

Calorie - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[AlaskaMoose]

I wonder if this is fixable by using abbreviated letter for the month?

Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec.

I understand that these are a bit off for some other languages, but are they actually unclear for anyone? (Everything I've seen lately insists on 4 digit years, so I don't think that their is any ambiguity there.)

You are right about it. It isn't complicated for a great majority of the people, regardless of nationality. In some legal documents the day, month, and year are written (words and numbers). In reality these things aren't important for most people to be upset about. Different date formats are used around the world, and the US is not the exception. All legal and other forms where questions are asked the date format is printed on the document already. In another country it may be a different date format, but the differences should not be enough to make one upset.

Sometimes I enter the day (number), then the month (words), and year (numbers) last. I sometimes do this when writing checks and things like that where specific date formats aren't required. For example, "4 of July, 2023." The check's recipient doesn't care if I write, "July 4, 2023," or not.

 

[Algr]

For historical reasons, two main definitions of "calorie" are in wide use. The large calorie, food calorie, dietary calorie, or kilogram calorie was originally defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by one degree Celsius (or one kelvin).[1][3] The small calorie or gram calorie was defined as the amount of heat needed to cause the same increase in one gram of water.[3][4][5][1] Thus, 1 large calorie is equal to 1000 small calories.

So there are 1000 calories in a calorie. Good old metric system.

 

[Algr]

Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec.

It appears that this doesn't work in China and Japan. In India not even DD-MM-YYYY works because their months don't start at the same time. Maybe they use English calendars too? I don't know.

Surprisingly, it works okay in Indonesia. So we have a fair chunk of the world covered.

...until someone decides we need a metric calendar.

 

[timber]

So there are 1000 calories in a calorie. Good old metric system.

You just like to make stuff even more fun.
We use the kilocalorie for 1000 calories.
Still the SI unit is the Joule but everybody can play at weird outdated units no?

 

[AVBeatMan]

Being from the UK, I use (like most of us) use a hybrid system.
Ask me how much I weigh, it's stone and lbs.
How tall am I? It's ft and inches.
If I go go the pub I drink pints.
My car does MPH
But if I buy wood, I'd measure in CM's.
If I ran a race it would be in Meters.
Cooking could go either way.
As for temperature my brain can do it both ways, but generally it's C.
Time I can do either or.

I'm also in the UK and for me it's miles, stone (too many) and feet. I used to use the 24 hour clock but a year or so ago tried out the 12 hour. I use the 12 hour as it's what the majority of people use when speaking "Lets meet at 3 in the afternoon" for example. No one says 1500. That said we still use the 24 hour clock in the office so I do switch between the 2. I also say that I sit 7 feet from my TV and also use inches. For temperature it's a funny one. In summer I "know" 80ºF is too hot but in winter I think anything around 10ºC is not too bad. So I also use a hybrid system. Oh, and I must not forget pints, not litres.

 

[JitteryJimmy]

Americans use their traditional units of measure because schools rarely teach anything else. Sure, maybe if a kid takes a more advanced science course they learn about the metric system, but the vast majority of kids don't take any science course that involves mathematics.

As a scientist born and educated within the US, I use the metric system all the time. But when talking to non-science people, I have to default to their customary units. I always get confused by US customary units: cups, ounces, yards per mile, gallons per ccf, square feet per acre, ug, it gets crazy.

 

[JitteryJimmy]

I wonder if this is fixable by using abbreviated letter for the month?

Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec.

I understand that these are a bit off for some other languages, but are they actually unclear for anyone? (Everything I've seen lately insists on 4 digit years, so I don't think that their is any ambiguity there.)

ISO-8601 is clear and unambiguous. The programmer in me always uses YYYY-MM-DD... and I use it everywhere else in life. For time, I can go either way, but as an American I usually use the 12 hour AM/PM with the colon, and I am explicit with noon and midnight, and I always consider midnight to be the start of the day at 00:00 AM.

 

[Wizec]

Americans use their traditional units of measure because schools rarely teach anything else. Sure, maybe if a kid takes a more advanced science course they learn about the metric system, but the vast majority of kids don't take any science course that involves mathematics.

As a scientist born and educated within the US, I use the metric system all the time. But when talking to non-science people, I have to default to their customary units. I always get confused by US customary units: cups, ounces, yards per mile, gallons per ccf, square feet per acre, ug, it gets crazy.

Almost every school child in the United States is taught the metric system in Junior high and again in High School in basic mathematics and physical / earth science classes. It's practically unavoidable in standard tracks. I speak from experience as a principal myself, and with 5 children of my own and around 50 nieces and nephews that live all across the United States.

At the same time, in daily life in the US, the metric system is not used very much, outside of medicine and bottled soda.

 

[Algr]

I always consider midnight to be the start of the day at 00:00 AM.

I've never heard of this before outside of maritime, but it does strike me as a good idea. Another ambiguity: Does "Starts Tuesday at Midnight" mean the first or last program on Tuesday? I often here programs listed as "Tune in Tuesday night for X at Ten, Y at Eleven and Z at Midnight. All coming this Tuesday!"

I found the whole Dave Gorman episode, including a lead up to why reform the calendar. I just think he is awesome.

 

[RokinAmerica]

Because we can.

 

[eyoungren]

I've never heard of this before outside of maritime, but it does strike me as a good idea. Another ambiguity: Does "Starts Tuesday at Midnight" mean the first or last program on Tuesday? I often here programs listed as "Tune in Tuesday night for X at Ten, Y at Eleven and Z at Midnight. All coming this Tuesday!"

Perhaps it is because my father was a Marine, but I've always understood and preferred the 24-hour clock and have always assumed that midnight is the start of the new day. In military time, there is no such thing as 24:00. It's either 23:59 or 00:00. And 00:00 is the start of the day - midnight.

Further, from 1992 to 1997 I worked for United Parcel Service and the schedule of the company was consistent with this outlook. If UPS is telling you 'We start at Midnight Tuesday' then you probably should be ready to clock in at 11:59 (23:59) MONDAY night.

M-Sort, short for Midnight sort, gets started at midnight. The workweek for them has them coming into the hub on late Sunday night and their work week is complete on Friday morning. But M-Sort handles 2nd Day Air and some ground, so they aren't as time critical.

 

[Algr]

So I've just rediscovered the Long and Short scales of numbers. This is a system where the American system is IMHO unambiguously superior.

Long and short scales - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The short scale has short and efficient names as far as anyone would use names instead of scientific notation. The British and European long scales just add complexity and confusion.

American:
Million: 1,000,000
Billion: 1,000,000,000
Trillion: 1,000,000,000,000
Quadrillion: 1,000,000,000,000,000

Long Scale:
Million: 1,000,000
Thousand Million or Milliard: 1,000,000,000
Billion: 1,000,000,000,000
Thousand Billion or Billiard: 1,000,000,000,000,000

The long scale Trillion is 10^18, which is so large, that no one would ever use the word, the exponent is clearer.

So you all need to fix that before complaining about Feet and Inches.
=============

Also, Light Years are an imperial unit, equal to 9.4607 Petameters. So not metric.

 

[decafjava]

So I've just rediscovered the Long and Short scales of numbers. This is a system where the American system is IMHO unambiguously superior.

Long and short scales - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The short scale has short and efficient names as far as anyone would use names instead of scientific notation. The British and European long scales just add complexity and confusion.

American:
Million: 1,000,000
Billion: 1,000,000,000
Trillion: 1,000,000,000,000
Quadrillion: 1,000,000,000,000,000

Long Scale:
Million: 1,000,000
Thousand Million or Milliard: 1,000,000,000
Billion: 1,000,000,000,000
Thousand Billion or Billiard: 1,000,000,000,000,000

The long scale Trillion is 10^18, which is so large, that no one would ever use the word, the exponent is clearer.

So you all need to fix that before complaining about Feet and Inches.
=============

Also, Light Years are an imperial unit, equal to 9.4607 Petameters. So not metric.

Well....actually

 

[Apple fanboy]

So I've just rediscovered the Long and Short scales of numbers. This is a system where the American system is IMHO unambiguously superior.

Long and short scales - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The short scale has short and efficient names as far as anyone would use names instead of scientific notation. The British and European long scales just add complexity and confusion.

American:
Million: 1,000,000
Billion: 1,000,000,000
Trillion: 1,000,000,000,000
Quadrillion: 1,000,000,000,000,000

Long Scale:
Million: 1,000,000
Thousand Million or Milliard: 1,000,000,000
Billion: 1,000,000,000,000
Thousand Billion or Billiard: 1,000,000,000,000,000

The long scale Trillion is 10^18, which is so large, that no one would ever use the word, the exponent is clearer.

So you all need to fix that before complaining about Feet and Inches.
=============

Also, Light Years are an imperial unit, equal to 9.4607 Petameters. So not metric.

Never really understood why the US short changes a billion.
I prefer the more logical way we do it.

 

[decafjava]

So I've just rediscovered the Long and Short scales of numbers. This is a system where the American system is IMHO unambiguously superior.

Long and short scales - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The short scale has short and efficient names as far as anyone would use names instead of scientific notation. The British and European long scales just add complexity and confusion.

American:
Million: 1,000,000
Billion: 1,000,000,000
Trillion: 1,000,000,000,000
Quadrillion: 1,000,000,000,000,000

Long Scale:
Million: 1,000,000
Thousand Million or Milliard: 1,000,000,000
Billion: 1,000,000,000,000
Thousand Billion or Billiard: 1,000,000,000,000,000

The long scale Trillion is 10^18, which is so large, that no one would ever use the word, the exponent is clearer.

So you all need to fix that before complaining about Feet and Inches.
=============

Also, Light Years are an imperial unit, equal to 9.4607 Petameters. So not metric.

Light years are not imperial as they are defined by time.