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I have a burning need to know stuff and I love asking awkward questions.

Saturday, May 24, 2025


To say that we have 'mixed' weights & measures.... is a *bit* of an understatement....! [lol]

13 comments:

Stephen said...

The United States is mixed, too, at least for commercial products. We can buy a gallon of milk, a 2 liter Diet Coke, or a 750 ML handle of our favorite ardent spirit. I understand metric is very common in the drug biz.

CyberKitten said...

We tend to measure shorter distances in metric but also use miles... Our milk is in pints but (I think) every other drink is in litres.... You buy petrol also in litres but a cars efficiency is measured in miles per gallon.... I *think* fabric is still measured in yards (as, I think, is wood). Weight is in kilos but also (metric) tons... All due to History, Culture, Law and Custom... It must be an absolute nightmare for foreigners!

Oh, and I almost forgot... shorts (AKA spirit) is measured in gils... [grin]

Marian H said...

Don't even get me started on Celsius and Fahrenheit XD

CyberKitten said...

Yeah, we (and indeed me myself) use both too... With me its C in winter & F in summer...... (mostly).

Stephen said...

Do you encounter Celsius often? I'll include Celsius when writing on the blog, since I have a fair few non-American readers, but that's it.

CyberKitten said...

Oh, I 'encounter' Celsius *every* day... [grin] It's how I've got my weather apps set up and just about everyone here uses it. Or was that question directed @ Marian?

Stephen said...

It was. Blogger restricts the level of nested comments...

CyberKitten said...

Annoying so I find.................

Sarah @ All The Book Blog Names Are Taken said...

Yep, look at us, one of the only countries in the world who think it's better to measure in anything but what makes the most sense. No joke, we would rather measure in lengths of refrigerators and elephants. I think we talked about it but I can't remember - did I send you a link of a George Washington/Saturday Night Live skit where Nate Bargatze?

If not, here is part 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYqfVE-fykk

part 2 just because it is also funny - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJ62EfUKI3w

CyberKitten said...

I've certainly seen LOTS of memes where Americans will use *anything* BUT the metric system... [lol]

Marianne said...

Very easy, the older Brits use imperial, the younger metric. ;)

CyberKitten said...

VERY true [lol] I was 10/11 when we went metric so we spent a lot of time in school learning how to convert from one to the other. I ended up explaining it to my parents and to other adults I encountered in the world as they struggled through the change. I still have to do some mental math and approximate things 50+ years later!

Marianne said...

Even people our ages still have problems because they never really switched. I remember when my youngest was born and they put him on a metric scale. Hubby said, he saw the weight immediatele (4.920 g) but the nurses had to use their conversion table first and their eyes got bigger and bigger when they finally reached 11 lbs and something. LOL