C to F, ml to tsp, km to mph, m to ft etc.

[imoldernu]

Metric Conversion Act of 1975.

We almost made it. Now, the question is why didn't it happen. This tired old brain still goes into shock when, like this morning, the medicine bottle said that the recommended dose was 30ml.

So the question is, did you adapt? Would an 80km speed limit mean 50, 60 or 65MPH? How many 1/2 lb hamburgers would you get from 3kg of meat? Would 50L of gas fill a 17 gallon tank?

Did you learn conversion from school, from living in different countries, or like me, never learned it at all. Thank goodness for the internet and conversion tables, else some of us may not even be here today. Would you support new school requirements to teach metrics?... maybe in place of the lost art of cursive writing.

 

[Nemo2]

Canada switched to metric in the mid 1970s.......I still convert km to miles mentally when I'm driving, and know that 20 Celsius is comfortable, but I think in Fahrenheit.

Old dog, new tricks, an' all that.

 

[kaudrey]

I know a 750ml bottle gets us 5 glasses of wine. Does that count?

 

[Car-Guy]

Metric Conversion Act of 1975.


So the question is, did you adapt? Would an 80km speed limit mean 50, 60 or 65MPH?

Did you learn conversion from school, from living in different countries, or like me, never learned it at all.

Never really learned it but I often use on line conversion calculators when needed.

Most of my newer vehicles show me either mph or kmh at the touch of a button. (both digital and analog displays) Sometimes I'll be cruising along at 75 to 80 mph and punch the button and presto, I'm cruising along at ~125 (well kmh) I'll leave it there and just wait for the DW to look over at the speedometer.

 

[HadEnuff]

In my home winemaking hobby I'll sometimes be expected to convert something like:

dosage: 1 lb / hectolitre ....

and I'm fermenting a 20 gallon batch.

They couldn't even stick to one system...even with a calculator I manage to screw something up with every batch.

 

[braumeister]

Ask any Britsh brewer:
36 pints in a pin.
2 pins in a firkin.
2 firkins in a kilkerkin.
2 kilderkins in a barrel.

US measurements are different.
8 pints in a gallon.
31 gallons in a barrel.

 

[travelover]

I still struggle mentally converting degrees Fahrenheit to degrees Canadian.

 

[Meadbh]

I grew up in Ireland and metric was introduced there in the 1970s when we joined the EEC. I am most comfortable in metric. It's just so much simpler. I certainly did not miss pounds, shillings and pence!

As a physician, everything I learnt in medical school was in metric. It is obviously much simpler to calculate drug doses in metric, a matter of some importance when your patients are children. When I went to the US for training, I was quite worried that I would be expected to calculate in imperial units; fortunately, that was not the case. I can guess the weight of a baby in Kg, but not in lb, and I have a mental image of how many litres of fuel I am putting in my tank. Gallons, I have no idea, because American gallons and British gallons are different.

One thing I find awkward is the use of "cups" in recipes. Surely, the volume of an ingredient depends on how it is processed and packed, not on the amount of nutrients in it. So a cup of broccoli florets will have a lot less broccoli in it than a cup of finely chopped broccoli florets. The weight of a cup of flour can vary by 20% or more, depending on whether it has been sifted or not. This can make all the difference between a spongy cake and a hockey puck. Precision is particularly important for baking. So I have a digital scale and measure everything in grams.

 

[2017ish]

I know a 750ml bottle gets us 5 glasses of wine. Does that count?

We must use bigger glasses! (Reds with dinner = 4 pours; if 5, how would we split them between the two of us? )

On the main topic--I've been using celsius setting on my phone for temperature for several years. Still not thinking in it, but gotten quick at converting. Living in Tennessee as a non-techie gives little exposure to metric system; thus, it is like trying to use foreign language without immersion.

 

[razztazz]

https://vimeo.com/66638573

And don't for get this failed attempt. The DECABET

 

[2017ish]

...
As a physician, everything I did in medical school was in metric. It is obviously much simpler to calculate drug doses in metric, a matter of some importance when your patients are children. When I went to the US for training, I was quite worried that I would be expected to calculate in imperial units; fortunately, that was not the case. I can guess the weight of a baby in Kg, but not in lb,....

DW also benefits from this as even in the US she has had to be comfortable and fluent outside of the imperial system. (Her "arm scale" for newborns still defaults to pounds, but she easily shifts to grams and KGs.)

 

[Ronstar]

We used to have to produce drawings for state highway jobs (anything with federal funding) in both imperial and metric units. Every distance had to be labeled in both feet and meters. I'll never forget that 1 meter = 3.28083333 feet.

 

[exnavynuke]

I heard we failed to convert because the budget didn't support it. Personally, I wish we were on the metric system, but I use both at work since many of our engineering drawings and/or manuals are designed for either metric only or to be used anywhere (and thus contain both units).

 

[Big_Hitter]

Metric Conversion Act of 1975.

We almost made it. Now, the question is why didn't it happen. This tired old brain still goes into shock when, like this morning, the medicine bottle said that the recommended dose was 30ml.

So the question is, did you adapt? Would an 80km speed limit mean 50, 60 or 65MPH? How many 1/2 lb hamburgers would you get from 3kg of meat? Would 50L of gas fill a 17 gallon tank?

Did you learn conversion from school, from living in different countries, or like me, never learned it at all. Thank goodness for the internet and conversion tables, else some of us may not even be here today. Would you support new school requirements to teach metrics?... maybe in place of the lost art of cursive writing.

I was in jr high when this bad idea came out - the only thing that stuck was liter (litre) since it sounds good and it's close to a quart.

I'm pretty sure that's the only one that's used in common parlance.

 

[Sittinginthesun]

47 year old Canadian who thinks in Fahrenheit during the summer but Celsius during the winter. Cups and oz for cooking but also ml and g. Liters of gas but both mpg and L/100km for fuel economy. Toolbox has both socket sets.

Growing up in the 70's left me lost in translation!

 

[euro]

Metric Conversion Act of 1975.

We almost made it. Now, the question is why didn't it happen. This tired old brain still goes into shock when, like this morning, the medicine bottle said that the recommended dose was 30ml.

So the question is, did you adapt? Would an 80km speed limit mean 50, 60 or 65MPH? How many 1/2 lb hamburgers would you get from 3kg of meat? Would 50L of gas fill a 17 gallon tank?

Did you learn conversion from school, from living in different countries, or like me, never learned it at all. Thank goodness for the internet and conversion tables, else some of us may not even be here today. Would you support new school requirements to teach metrics?... maybe in place of the lost art of cursive writing.

I really wish we would get on the stick and convert to metric. It is so much easier. But I guess the tool-making industry likes selling two sets of wrenches to everyone
I think I mentioned this in another thread but NOT converting is costing up plenty. See for example the space probe we rammed into Mars because of a conversion mistake - oooops. That wasn't cheap.
CNN - Metric mishap caused loss of NASA orbiter - September 30, 1999

 

[Meadbh]

Mixing imperial and metric measures may have drastic consequences, like running out of gas.

https://www.damninteresting.com/the-gimli-glider/

"When airline mechanics finally arrived at the landing site, they found all three of the 767’s fuel tanks completely dry, with no evidence of a fuel leak. A review of the day’s events traced the problem back to the manual dripstick checks in Montreal and Ottawa. In order to maintain awareness of the overall weight of the aircraft, flight crews kept track of fuel quantity based on kilograms rather than the fuel company’s liter-based measurements. Pearson and Quintal had determined the fuel weight by multiplying the the number of dripsticked liters by 1.77, as indicated by the documentation. However, unbeknownst to the pilots and the fuel crew, this multiplier provided the weight in imperial pounds; the new, all-metric 767 was based on kilograms, and required a multiplier of 0.8. As a consequence of this documentation disconnect, Flight 143 had left Montreal with roughly half the necessary fuel."

 

[braumeister]

Precision is particularly important for baking. So I have a digital scale and measure everything in grams.

Better to use weight in grams (I do this too) for any cooking task, but baking is certainly much more critical than other areas.

My favorite flour company even has a page on their website to cover this:
Ingredient weight chart | King Arthur Flour

 

[Alan]

The UK converted to metric in the 70's although for some reason all road signs, speed limits and distances are still in miles, but you buy your fuel in liters. My degree and subsequent jobs were in engineering so all metric. Then we moved to the USA for 29 years and switched back to imperial units.

Now we are back to the metric system and it hasn't taken long to get used to buying stuff in the stores in kgs and liters, measuring lengths in meters and centimeters, and not having to convert centigrade to Fahrenheit to know how hot or cold it is going to feel.

 

[easysurfer]

I never learned to convert.

That's what a conversion app or website is for .

 

[MRG]

I grew up in Ireland and metric was introduced there in the 1970s when we joined the EEC. I am most comfortable in metric. It's just so much simpler. I certainly did not miss pounds, shillings and pence!

As a physician, everything I learnt in medical school was in metric. It is obviously much simpler to calculate drug doses in metric, a matter of some importance when your patients are children. When I went to the US for training, I was quite worried that I would be expected to calculate in imperial units; fortunately, that was not the case. I can guess the weight of a baby in Kg, but not in lb, and I have a mental image of how many litres of fuel I am putting in my tank. Gallons, I have no idea, because American gallons and British gallons are different.

One thing I find awkward is the use of "cups" in recipes. Surely, the volume of an ingredient depends on how it is processed and packed, not on the amount of nutrients in it. So a cup of broccoli florets will have a lot less broccoli in it than a cup of finely chopped broccoli florets. The weight of a cup of flour can vary by 20% or more, depending on whether it has been sifted or not. This can make all the difference between a spongy cake and a hockey puck. Precision is particularly important for baking. So I have a digital scale and measure everything in grams.

I bought a digital food scale when I started logging all my meals. It's the most used item in the kitchen! How do people not have one? How did I manage?

For logging food the 100 gram USDA entries are the best. So easy to multiply and adjust.

I don't have many recipes in grams but it's easy to convert. [emoji4] It's easier when I do it frequently.

I graduated high school in '75 so we had some exposure to it. I have a few metric tools from working on Japanese bikes.

My first career as a hardwood lumber inspection would have been different. The whole system was based on 1/12 of a (board) foot.

 

[CRLLS]

I never learned to convert.

That's what a conversion app or website is for .

Some of us had to convert between systems before there were smart phones, or the Internet, before IBM invented the PC, and yes, even before scientific calculators were commonplace.

 

[SecondCor521]

I heard we failed to convert because the budget didn't support it. Personally, I wish we were on the metric system, but I use both at work since many of our engineering drawings and/or manuals are designed for either metric only or to be used anywhere (and thus contain both units).

I am not sure, but I think we failed to convert because we were only half-convinced - highway distances were listed in miles with kilometers tacked on to the right side, car speedometers had both, and so forth.

Same reason we don't adopt dollar coins - because dollar bills are still around and people are used to them.

If we really wanted to convert, we'd do it whole hog and burn the boats (sorry for the mixed metaphor). People are capable enough and could adapt.

In reading history, we almost adopted the metric system back in the late 1700's. I don't remember exactly the story, but one of our Founding Fathers wasn't *quite* convinced, so we didn't. I think it was maybe because the metric system was new at the time.

 

[HillCountry]

I was in metric system before I was 30 years old. So I am equally proficient in both.

 

[nuke_diver]

I was in Canada when we switched from imperial to metric in the 70's. I became perfectly comfortable with it. Then I moved to the US 1990 and had to covert back. Now I switch often depending on who I'm talking with. Temperature is really mostly just defining comfort ...25C is warm 25F is cold . If you are doing science it's all metric anyways. The only measure I never got comfortable with was litres/100 Km, that never made sense to me I always wanted distance/volume of fuel not the other way around.

Don't know why the US doesn't do what most of the rest of the world uses. It is simpler. But there are a lot of Luddites here so it will never happen...it will always be called too hard to change