Canada does, because we’re mostly metric but still do enough business with the US that we’re sorta half and half
Comment on A metric tonne (1000 kg) should be called a megagram (1 Mg).
alvvayson@lemmy.world 1 year ago
A megagram is 1000 kg, by definition. It’s symbol is Mg.
In metric countries, we just use the word “ton” as shorthand/slang for it, since it is an easier term and was well known.
The only reason the US calls it a metric ton, is because they have archaic units (long and short tons).
Metric countries don’t call it a metric ton.
ArbiterXero@lemmy.world 1 year ago
cbarrick@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Yeah, but what about the metric shit-ton?
gazter@aussie.zone 1 year ago
I always forget- is that 100 fuckloads?
drbluefall@toast.ooo 1 year ago
I think it’s 128 fuckloads.
someguy3@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
We call it a metric tonne in Canada.
ME5SENGER_24@lemm.ee 1 year ago
theKalash@feddit.ch 1 year ago
Damn, you guys might be worse than the British.
ME5SENGER_24@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Something like this? How to measure like a Brit
yA3xAKQMbq@lemm.ee 1 year ago
That’s because you only metricated 40y ago.
Akareth@lemmy.world 1 year ago
- Its* symbol is Mg.
- A metric ton is a tonne
johsny@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I only use that term when I call a lot of items “a metric fuckton of stuff”
DharmaCurious@startrek.website 1 year ago
No one in the US knows WTF a long and short ton are. A ton is 2k lbs. And most Americans probably don’t even know the exact weight of a ton outside of “a shit load.”
For the most part, we generally only use pounds, feet, miles. Everything else is a mystery. Even ounces, cups and gallons are some fucking magical mystery. Just follow the recipe.
I switched everything to metric years ago, and have never been happier. It made a huge difference in most of the things I do, having a system that makes internal sense. The only thing I still routinely use standard for is sewing, because it’s damn near impossible to find any patterns or things like cutting mats in metric in the right sizes for quilting.
yA3xAKQMbq@lemm.ee 1 year ago
There recently was a discussion on lemmy where several US citizens (one of them allegedly an engineer…) tried to explain to me that metric might be „more precise“ (? 😂) but the imperial system more practical, because „everybody knows what a foot is“. When I asked them to add feet to miles I got shouted at (in CAPS) that noone (ever) does that. 🤷♀️
CIA_chatbot@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Lol, that sounds very much “as a black man”
I’ll tell you, most of us in the states would love a total switch to metric. We use it where is matters most, but we also have an aging population raised on lead has fumes that think anything they don’t know is “communism” or “wholeness” or whatever else the propaganda right spews. Those are the assholes that pretty much stop progress on anything.
I’m big into 3D printing, actually got into the same argument with another 3D printing guy…. And I’m like, literally EVERYTHING we do is in metric. Those damn hobby is metric.
I hate humanity
yA3xAKQMbq@lemm.ee 1 year ago
You mean the „engineer“? Well, what can I say, he was insisting his professor at uni taught him „a true engineer can work with every system“.
I mean yes, but the difference is one engineer is just happily pushing around decimals, the other one goes pale when you ask what 1/5th of a gallon in cubic inches is…
Rusticus@lemmy.world 1 year ago
You do realize that the US tried to switch to metric for 6 months in the 70s and it was a giant failure so we switched back, yes?
CCDKP@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Sometimes I like to think about the logistical challenges with a switch to metric. The one that always gives me pause is highway signs. Thinking about the monumental task of replacing every speed sign, distance sign, and mile marker across the country in any timely period makes my head hurt.
It could certainly be done, and is probably easier than I think with all the state DoTs working independently on it especially over time. We have a lot of road with a lot of signs.
sanpedropeddler@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
They are right, no one ever does that. Their reasoning for the imperial system being practical is stupid though. The reason it can be practical is that its useful to have a unit the size of a foot sometimes. Metric is better in general, but there are aspects of the imperial system I would miss if I switched entirely. I just use imperial in casual conversation and metric for anything important.
yA3xAKQMbq@lemm.ee 1 year ago
Sigh, here we go again…
Yes YOU don’t do that. Because you can’t.
Everybody in Europe can and does so. There’s nothing arcane or mysterious about the metric system. I have no issues telling you how many litres of water go into a 50 x 50 x 200 cm aquarium, or a pool with a 3.5 m diameter and 80 cm height. Good luck doing that with your inches and feet and quarts and gallons.
There’s nothing „more useful“ about either a foot or a meter. Either you know how much it is or you don’t. Everybody knows what a meter is. For me it’s a large step. My arm from elbow to fingertips is 50 cm. Or 1/2 m… A sheet of paper is 30 cm (actually it’s 297 mm, but that’s another story), and so are rulers. Which, btw, is very close to a „foot“.
Your foot btw most likely is not as long as a „foot“, and a small woman’s size is easily 20% off. And no, that’s not „in the ballpark“.
fubbernuckin@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I wish decimeter was used more commonly. It kinda takes up the place of the imperial foot.
tunetardis@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
Sometimes I think there was a missed opportunity in defining an easy conversion between inches and cm. It is 2.54 cm to 1". Why couldn’t it simply be 2.5? Then a 2x4 from the building supplier could simply be renamed a 5x10. 5.8x11.6 doesn’t quite roll off the tongue as well.
My understanding is that the metre was inspired by nautical measures? So the distance from pole to equator along sea level is supposedly 10000 km. But that’s pretty approximate, and there is a more rigorous definition that involves the wavelength of a certain type of radiation. But that number is quite arbitrary-sounding. Couldn’t they have chosen it to line up with the imperial system at some level to aid migration? Anyway, that train has left the station and I’ll stop ranting now…
someguy3@lemmy.ca 1 year ago
I say that Metric is like color vision. Your can see things in whole new and easier ways. People in USC can’t understand what others see and insist things are just fine the way they are. Thus the “no one ever does that”, “you don’t need to know that”, etc.
sanpedropeddler@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
It is true that no one ever does that though. That doesn’t mean its not a problem, but I’ve never seen anyone do it. If you need to do something like that and you have a brain, you use metric. Just because its flawed doesn’t mean imperial should be completely abolished though. What needs to stop is people thinking imperial is better than metric somehow. Aside from that, its just a weird flawed measurement system.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 1 year ago
I’ll tell you something I do as a woodworker a lot that metric isn’t great for: divide by powers of two, three or four. I’ve got some boards milled up 3/4" thick. I’m going to join them with a bridle joint, that means cutting the middle third out of one and the outer two thirds from the other. So each of the remaining “tongues” are each 1/4" thick. 3/4" is approximately 20mm. That’s a nice metric number, a multiple of 10. Let’s cut that same bridle joint in 20mm stock. What’s a third of 20mm? Can you come point to 6.6666mm on my metric tape measure here?
Don’t pretend base ten doesn’t do stupid things too.
dandroid@dandroid.app 1 year ago
As an American, I understand that metric is better for a lot of things. It also would cost a metric fuck ton (ha!) of money to switch over, and it just really isn’t a priority when things work just fine for us here. It’s not like we are constantly running into problems that would be easier to solve by using metric, and the people in the few professions that do run into those problems frequently just use metric.
The original idea behind imperial units is actually quite nice. They used 12 inches in a foot because you could divide it in so many ways without using decimals. You can take 1/2 of it, 1/3, 1/4, and 1/6 without ever needing decimals. It’s great for mental math with small number. That obviously is no longer the most important thing anymore, as we all have calculators with us at all times, and we deal with much bigger numbers on average than they used 200 years ago.
We all still use 360° in a circle for this exact reason. It can be divided up in 22 different ways (excluding 1 and 360 as factors).
yA3xAKQMbq@lemm.ee 1 year ago
You can measure 1/2, 1/3, or 1/4 of a meter, why wouldn’t you? Also, seriously, those common fractions aren’t that hard in decimal. Everybody knows that 125 g is 1/8 kg.
That’s not the issue. The issue is that it’s not consistent between imperial units, you have a zoo of different subdivisions between units. You have 12 inches in a foot, three foot in a yard etc pp.
The issue is it gets really unwieldy in multiplication, 1 cubic ft is how many cubic inches… 1728, how convenient.
Tell me how much is 1/6 cubic ft in inches? How many cups are that? There goes your mental math.
(It is also a common misconception that imperial is „duodecimal“. It’s not. It’s counting to 12 in decimal. If you had a proper duodecimal system, „12“ * „12“ would make 100 not 144.)
And you also say 180°, 45°, 720°. Not 1/2, 1/8, 2.
sfgifz@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
I saw that too, and many of them claimed they learn both Metric and Imperial British systems all the time. So this stood out now: