Why the heck does America still use outdated measurement and date units?

[AVBeatMan]

I always wonder about the 12 or 24 hour clock system. From what I understand the US mainly uses the 12-hour clock whilst in Europe we use the 24-hour clock? I may be wrong?

It's strange as here in the UK in the office we can work until 1800 hrs but say 6 o'clock etc. No-one says "I'm working until eighteen hundred hours". We write in the 24 hour clock but speak in the 12.

 

[decafjava]

You missed my emoji huh 🤔

Uhhh yea. Still I've read folks say that unironically.

 

[Icelus]

I always wonder about the 12 or 24 hour clock system. From what I understand the US mainly uses the 12-hour clock whilst in Europe we use the 24-hour clock? I may be wrong?

Correct, Greece and Cyprus also use a 12-hour clock.

It's strange as here in the UK in the office we can work until 1800 hrs but say 6 o'clock etc. No-one says "I'm working until eighteen hundred hours". We write in the 24 hour clock but speak in the 12.

There are countries that say 18 hrs.

Date and time representation by country - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

█ 12-hour
█ both
█ 24-hour
█ 24-hour (12-hour orally)

 

[Tech_Fan]

On a recent deployment abroad, a deployment that took place in the Balkans, which lies in Europe, while working with with an international organisation (an organisation that is headquartered in Warsaw, also found in Europe) a few American colleagues - complacently, cluelessly, and obliviously, I would say also arrogantly - insisted on using what is (to our minds, a largely European audience, in a European country) the perfectly idiotic, and illogical, US date unit system, which was, frankly, annoying, and tedious (it meant getting the day and date of meetings confused, actually, wrong, for example, as Europeans read this stuff quite differently).

Now, one or two US colleagues took the perfectly sensible view of "when in Europe, write the dates on formal reports, and when arranging meetings, as Europeans do", but several did not, which also ensured that any professional respect for them - and what they said and wrote - was considerably eroded and undermined.

They were - how shall I say this - not using common sense. I think that’s a nice way of putting it. When you go to someone else’s house, you abide by their way of doing things. If you can’t then leave that person’s house. The same applies to countries.

 

[cosmichobo]

I think we should use the metric system, but the politicians don't have the guts to mandate the change.

These are the nations that use the Imperial system. The U.S. is basically alone...

It's really astonishing... the rest of the world woke up and used metric, and America persists with anarchy.

Ok, maybe that's not so astonishing...

 

[Fred Zed]

Correct, Greece and Cyprus also use a 12-hour clock.

There are countries that say 18 hrs.

Date and time representation by country - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

█ 12-hour
█ both
█ 24-hour
█ 24-hour (12-hour orally)

Forgot the 12 hour clock. After living stateside for over 15 years I still get MM/DD/YYYY occasionally mixed up. I think the USA is the only nation in the world to use this date format?

 

[chown33]

A timely XKCD:

Temperature Scales

xkcd.com

I'd forgotten about the original "inverted" scale proposed by Anders Celsius.

 

[Icelus]

Forgot the 12 hour clock. After living stateside for over 15 years I still get MM/DD/YYYY occasionally mixed up. I think the USA is the only nation in the world to use this date format?

No, a few more.

List of date formats by country - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[avro707]

The MM/DD/YYYY format does annoy me when some online systems use it and don't offer an option to change it to the DD/MM/YYYY format.

You can work around it, but it's just adds to confusion sometimes, usually when you are in a hurry.

 

[eyoungren]

I always wonder about the 12 or 24 hour clock system. From what I understand the US mainly uses the 12-hour clock whilst in Europe we use the 24-hour clock? I may be wrong?

It's strange as here in the UK in the office we can work until 1800 hrs but say 6 o'clock etc. No-one says "I'm working until eighteen hundred hours". We write in the 24 hour clock but speak in the 12.

My dad was in the Marine Corps and so at some point I was taught the 24 hour clock. Most Americans get confused by it, I suppose because math. IDK.

For me, if I have to, I just subtract 12 from any number higher than 12. That gives you the PM time. 12 or less it's all AM, so no need to subtract.

I adopted 24 hour time in my mid-20s because I wanted to. All my computers and devices are set to 24 hour time, but unfortunately I do not own any 24 hour clocks.

My son also adopted it, I suppose because I was using it before he was born so he had to get used to the clock whenever he used my computers and such.

 

[eyoungren]

It's really astonishing... the rest of the world woke up and used metric, and America persists with anarchy.

Ok, maybe that's not so astonishing...

There are a few factors involved here. If you are a Brit, or European and have never been to America, the size of the country can be eye opening. It's one of the reasons that air travel dominates, because bus and rail can take days to cross the country.

I'm making this point about transportation because a lot of people in the US are born, live their lives and die in the state they live in - without ever having traveled to another state.

Others might visit one or two states, even frequently. I'm fortunate that I've been to many states. But even I am like most people. The first and last time I ever traveled outside the USA was in 1983 for a week in London. I was 12, I'm 54 now.

So, if a lot of Americans don't even leave their home state, the metric system has no real relevance to them. There are exceptions of course, but I'd argue that we as Americans have simply learned to judge measurement by sight. If it looks like a 10mm bolt, you're probably going to need a '10' to wrench it. And that's about as far as the thinking gets.

Now, if Joe Citizen joins the military, gets a job as a diplomat or in the sciences, or becomes a nurse, doctor or healthcare worker - then it matters. But most of the time it doesn't because we don't deal with this on a daily basis. There's no reason to.

 

[drrich2]

I always wonder about the 12 or 24 hour clock system. From what I understand the US mainly uses the 12-hour clock whilst in Europe we use the 24-hour clock?

In the U.S. most people use the 12-hour, a.m./p.m. system and are familiar and comfortable with it. The main scenario where we see/hear the 24-hour system is watching movies where some military character, particular an officer giving an order, gives it along the lines of 'O 6 hundred hours' or some such.

Which creates a subtle association with a rigid, hierarchical system known for dictatorial authoritarian culture and things such as boot camp and war.

That's not to diss the military; for any sizable nation with valued assets to maintain sovereignty over the long haul requires military defense. There are reasons they operate as they do (though I wonder if sometimes 'ego' might be a reason?).

I don't think the average U.S. citizen wishes to adopt the mannerism of a military officer dictating to a subordinate.

Plus, we're doing fine with the 12-hour a.m./p.m. system and see not benefit to the onerous bother of changing.

 

[jlc1978]

The main scenario where we see/hear the 24-hour system is watching movies where some military character, particular an officer giving an order, gives it along the lines of 'O 6 hundred hours' or some such.

Perhaps, but much of the world says the equivalent of 6 or 18 o'clock, such as achtzehn uhr.

 

[KennyJr]

Because Americans like it the way it is. There was once an attempt to change it but we the people said no.

 

[GrayFlannel]

Either that or something sensible like ISO 8601 (YYYY-MM-DD)

ISO is completely sensible which is why I use it.

 

[GrayFlannel]

In the U.S. most people use the 12-hour, a.m./p.m. system and are familiar and comfortable with it. The main scenario where we see/hear the 24-hour system is watching movies where some military character, particular an officer giving an order, gives it along the lines of 'O 6 hundred hours' or some such.

Which creates a subtle association with a rigid, hierarchical system known for dictatorial authoritarian culture and things such as boot camp and war.

That's not to diss the military; for any sizable nation with valued assets to maintain sovereignty over the long haul requires military defense. There are reasons they operate as they do (though I wonder if sometimes 'ego' might be a reason?).

I don't think the average U.S. citizen wishes to adopt the mannerism of a military officer dictating to a subordinate.

Plus, we're doing fine with the 12-hour a.m./p.m. system and see not benefit to the onerous bother of changing.

Boy there’s a lot there to unpack.

 

[splifingate]

the US mainly uses the 12-hour clock whilst in Europe we use the 24-hour clock? I may be wrong?

There are some of us in the US who have long-chosen to utilise the 24 . . . it just makes sense, right?

 

[splifingate]

because math

Oh, how right you are @eyoungren

 

[splifingate]

It's really astonishing... the rest of the world woke up and used metric, and America persists with anarchy.

Ok, maybe that's not so astonishing...

We are what we eat.

 

[splifingate]

We write in the 24 hour clock but speak in the 12.

Amen, Brother

 

[eyoungren]

Because Americans like it the way it is. There was once an attempt to change it but we the people said no.

"We the people' is fine, when that's what's really happening.

 

[psingh01]

On a recent deployment abroad, a deployment that took place in the Balkans, which lies in Europe, while working with with an international organisation (an organisation that is headquartered in Warsaw, also found in Europe) a few American colleagues - complacently, cluelessly, and obliviously, I would say also arrogantly - insisted on using what is (to our minds, a largely European audience, in a European country) the perfectly idiotic, and illogical, US date unit system, which was, frankly, annoying, and tedious (it meant getting the day and date of meetings confused, actually, wrong, for example, as Europeans read this stuff quite differently).

Now, one or two US colleagues took the perfectly sensible view of "when in Europe, write the dates on formal reports, and when arranging meetings, as Europeans do", but several did not, which also ensured that any professional respect for them - and what they said and wrote - was considerably eroded and undermined.

Were you guys scheduling meetings with pen and paper? Email?

Basic meeting software would show the meeting date and time according to the viewer’s preferences.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

You don’t have pubs in America like we have here so I’m not surprised by that.

Yes, we have pubs, but I am assuming that these are not necessarily the same as in other countries. For example The University Of Alaska in Fairbanks, has a pub for the students of adult age to have a beer or two. But most pubs like this one are very small in size. So I am also assuming that most Americans refer to pubs as "bars," but I have no idea why, since a bar where some food is served is still a pub. Well, there are some bars where no food is served, and then one can have a bar at home. My goodness! The more I think about bars, pubs, bar stools, pub stools...the more confused I become

 

[AlaskaMoose]

I always wonder about the 12 or 24 hour clock system. From what I understand the US mainly uses the 12-hour clock whilst in Europe we use the 24-hour clock? I may be wrong?

It's strange as here in the UK in the office we can work until 1800 hrs but say 6 o'clock etc. No-one says "I'm working until eighteen hundred hours". We write in the 24 hour clock but speak in the 12.

I like the the way you use the 24-hour clock

We use both in the US. In the military the 24-hour clock is widely used while on duty, and so in most of the medical fields (hospitals, etc.), but when the workers leave the workplace they use the 12-hour clock.

 

[Fred Zed]

Suprised the 24hour clock didn’t take off after this hit tv series for Americans.