this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2026
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in this thread: USAians consooming epic amounts of copium.
Never got this. I saw one fucking dumb american actually defend the rrtarded system by saying "It's actually more precise" - what a fucking stupid thing to say, when you don't even have a smaller unit than freaking Inches. Atleast we have mm. You guys use 1\4 Inch. Wtf is that??
Fractions are pretty good for quick ratios, which is why it's popular in carpentry, but I'd never call it "more precise" than decimal numbers. Anything that needs tighter tolerances than 1/16" is probably going to use metric measurements.
I will say that for most people it doesn't impact their life either way. If the Imperial system (or the modern American system based on it) were truly inferior they would have been replaced but it's mostly an issue in laboratories and engineering.
We have even less than mm
through the power of the decimal separator!
While I get this is a meme, I do think the imperial measurement system deserves some credit. More the vast majority of humanity’s existence it has been an incredibly capable and powerful system. It’s only in more modern times where a system like metric is an upgrade. This is also ignoring the few ways where imperial still eke out a win, but that is besides the point.
Imperial’s weird gaps between units are pieces that come from a variety of different systems that got layered together over the centuries it lasted. 5280 feet in a mile? Based on the Roman mile which was 5000 paces from a soldier. 12 inches in a foot? From a different way people counted on their hands.
Length of an inch and length of a foot? From different parts of the body. Weird? Certainly. Practical? Amazing so. They were easier for day to day tasks and for measuring on the small, human scale. Metric is easier to calculate between different units and that is an amazing innovation.
Fahrenheit is weird today, but was more practical when it was first established. Even then it has value in how it is more granular without the necessity of decimals. Celsius is still the better unit, 0° being freezing and 100° being boiling for water is very useful. It gives you two easy to remember extremes.
Imperial had to walk, so metric could run in a way. Both systems are great in their own ways and in their own times. Imperial isn’t needed anymore, but deserves recognition for being good for its time and for being more practical historically.
The only dud metric really has is metric time, and that is because everything we have ever done has been based on the older time keeping system. Cultures have laid claim to certain dates and times of day within the old system that just have constrained us to it.
I definitely prefer metric overall, but I genuinely believe that imperial deserves more credit for getting us to the point where metric makes sense to swap to.
A foot doesn't need to be standard, just an easy way to measure, just as a hand is.
Far as I have come across only horses are measured by hand.
Metric time ❤️
Please also lets use the International fixed calendar where every month has exactly 28 days/4 weeks and the year has 13 months. Every 1st of the month is a sunday, every 2nd is a monday and so on, so you will always know which day it is by the number.
The leftover day is a dedicated new years day.
Every other full spin it stops for 4h. There. We also get rid of DST because who can tell the time anymore?
100 warm
Yeah, I suppose that's one way to describe 100°C
Boiling warm is still warm
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Yes... Thank you British Empire, French Empire, and Spanish Empire for your contributions to the system.
-British: Mile, Foot, Inch, Yard
-Spanish: Dollar, from the Spanish Pieces of 8
-French: You know what you did
As a European living in the US now for many years the temperature scale is the least of my annoyances. It's easy enough to memorize be ranges for what to wear. Fahrenheit is more granular, which is nice sometimes but really doesn't matter.
No, let's convert all the ridiculous weight/volume measures first. Having two kinds of ounces makes no sense. Measuring solids by volume (mostly) doesn't make sense. Having different units for different magnitudes doesn't make sense.
Fortunately things are often labeled in both metric and customary units so I can convert way easier.
Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to have my 12 fluid ounces of coffee and a 1/3 cup of oatmeal.
I know it's all based on what's familiar, but I imagine I'd have a hard time converting to Celsius for a weather report. I've lived in tropical climates in the US for over half my life so when people say things like "it's a hot 30 degrees out there!" it just short-circuits my brain.
If accuracy is not critical you can use some simple tricks to convert between them.
30C is roughly...2 x 30 + 32 = 92F which is only 6 degrees off the actual value which is 86F.
I very much prefer to cook/bake/prep in metric grams.
2c white flour, sifted.
1c brown sugar, packed.
1c room temperature water.
2tsp active dry yeast.
2tbsp vegetable oil.
1/2tsp baking powder.
2 egg yolks.
5 egg whites.
Pinch of cinnamon.
Fuck you. Tell me how many grams that is. I don't need five different tools to measure out my ingredients. I need a wet bowl, a dry bowl, and a scale.
Also this isn't a real recipe I just started naming shit at random.
You made cake btw.
I've had to translate recipes from Norwegian to American and this struggle is real. Never thought I'd need to look up material density tables for cooking.
“To American” … what?
We have kitchen scales, we know how to weigh ingredients.
Old recipes in English often use volume measurements, across the pond too.
Modern recipes use weights when possible.
Idk why you’d convert to ye olde style.
I accidentally a word. Converting recipes from Norwegian and metric to American and US customary units.
I'm aware. I have a scale, too. But most people didn't weigh dry ingredients. So when I translate for someone else I have to use the "normal" measures they're used to. For myself, I speak the language and just use metric, my scale, and a measuring cup with both markings.
If they'd just standardized on one unit per measurement and apply si prefixes it's still an imperial unit but easier to work with. Say a quart for volume, and a yard for distance, because they're close to liter and meter. But I guess a kiloyard and a deciquart is taking it too far.
Yeah I think at that point it would be easier to just go metric.
Most Americans actually seem to be five with metric and probably would not mind it too much if we just switched. The objections are basically: 1) it's too expensive to switch now (okay), or 2) it's part of our identity (doubt). I swear to God everything is a culture war with some people.
More rational people, especially in STEM where it's already the standard, prefer it.
In general though, I would argue that Americans know metric better then Europeans know US customary, for what that's worth
It's mostly about what you're used to. Americans buy soda in liters, run 5km and do drugs by the gram. But we buy gasoline and milk in gallons and our recipes call for flour by volume. It's mostly inertia. At the end of the day you have to communicate with people around you so you use units they understand.
But you don't switch in one go, so costs can be spread out over years. First you would do double labeling, roll that out slowly, and with time the customary units slowly fades out.
Saying its too expensive to change is bullshit. Metric is common enough that most people who care about units at all end up having one set of tools for each system so they can use both as needed. This includes industry and machinists. It wouldn't actually cost anything to change at this point we could just stop designing new things in imperial units and in a couple decades we would barely need imperial tools anymore, except to work on old stuff. Some engineers are just as pig headed as anyone though, so they just keep using imperial even though they know both, use both, and still run into problems with imperial.
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