Unmentionables

**ccga3359** · 19th January 07, 08:33 PM

Originally Posted by wsk

If the US had done it right we'd have gone cold-turky metric like Canada did. But no, we put up two versions of speed limit signs etc and called that good. Where did that get us?

As a Canadian I for one am not completely metric. When it's cold I deal in celsius, but when it's hot I deal in fahrenheit. We are all pretty much fluent in distance and weight. We use pounds and kg, km and miles interchangeably. I measure in inches not centimetres. Change seems to take generations.

**A Hay** · 19th January 07, 09:25 PM

Lived in the USA for my first 40 years and mostly in Germany for the last 20.
Once I became accustomed to using metric, I find it much easier. All my projects around the house are measured in millimeters, centimeters, and meters. (How do you divide 13 5/8th inches into three parts?). Cooking takes some practice, however.
It helps I'm an engineer by profession and I know the conversion factors for most things. But I could easily live without English units of measure.
Just my two cents.

Tom

**Andrew Breecher** · 20th January 07, 01:21 AM

When I'm hiking I do all sorts of weird conversions. My hiking partner asked me once how far away something was. I replied, "Two miles and five minutes." She knew exactly what I meant (we hike at a fairly steady, standard pace). Our water bottles were almost always one-litre soda bottles, but then if we ever got a one-quart bottle we'd still call it a litre.

Andrew.