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[–] 19 points 3 years ago (29 children)

Why does the US live rent free in so many European's heads all the time?

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  • [–] 34 points 3 years ago (17 children)

    Because each time we look for some English content, they use some dumb fantasy metrics based on the size fo the feet of a king for some reason, and we need to look up a converter to change it to a metric used in 195 different countries.

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  • [+] -7 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    It's really not hard to convert.

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  • [–] 10 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Then why don't you Just switch

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  • [–] -2 points 3 years ago

    Because it's a massive waste of money for little to no benefit, and barely actually comes up because unit conversion is trivial and is done constantly regardless of overall unit system.

    Armchair unit system fanatics make it out to be such a bigger deal than it is. Whether im working in metric or standard I'm doing several to several dozen dimensional analyses anyway, normally with industry specific units. Which again, exist in both standard and si.

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  • [+] -8 points 3 years ago (8 children)

    If you grow up in the US, you learn both systems and you're able to convert between them. It's easy.

    2.2 pounds to the kg

    1 inch is 25.4 mm

    A gallon is 3.8 liters

    But it's fun watching supposedly intelligent people from other countries who reeeeeee when seeing imperial units.

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  • [–] 9 points 3 years ago* (7 children)

    ? i don't know about you, but multiplying 19" times 25.4 isnt something easy at all to do quickly in your head. Also, not to mention the best example: when i have to convert cm to m I move the comma

    when I have to convert from cm to freedom units: -Divide the height in centimeters by 30.48 and write down the whole number as feet

    -Multiply the decimal part of the above division by 12

    -Round the result of the multiplication to the nearest whole number and write it down as inches

    like, really? you have to use two different units added together for one thing? How is that easy?

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  • [–] 1 point 3 years ago (2 children)

    Freedom units.. Oh, you mean imperial? As in, Britain? Yeah, we're just using their old system and haven't bothered to change unless there's a practical necessity.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (1 child)

    The British still gladly mix both systems inconsistently. They measure themselves in stones & buy cars based on liter per mile fuel efficiency.

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  • [–] 14 points 3 years ago (7 children)

    I didn't know Canada and Australia were in Europe

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago (5 children)

    They aren't, which makes this meme even funnier because in my experience Canadians and Aussies are pretty likely to understand both systems and wouldn't have a problem identifying either.

    I'd put money on this having been made by a European.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago (3 children)

    As a Canadian myself, it really depends. Most of us only understand farenheit in certain contexts. Some of us can understand it for weather but I think that's mostly older generations. I use farenheit for oven and pool temperature only. In every other context, it is meaningless to me.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    The crossover is so fascinating to me.

    Like you just nonchalantly use it for pools and ovens and nothing else. Kind of like we use liters randomly for certain soda bottles and basically nothing else.

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