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So every time the Celsius Fahrenheit debate comes out, there is always the point made about “Fahrenheit makes more sense, it tells you how is out there: 0 is freezing, 100 is roasting hot”.

And yes, that might be accurate but showcases that USA citizens only care about themselves, they do not even care about physics or chemistry.

The “it works for me therefore it is good” mentality is what they bring to the world and the most clear example is their choice of framing for justifying Fahrenheit over Celsius.

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[-] derf82@lemmy.world 13 points 18 hours ago

Fahrenheit was literally devised by a physicist, Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, a European, mind you.

It was based on physical properties, too. Originally 0 was the freezing point of a replicable water solution, and 96 was set at human body temperature (96 used as it made dividing a thermometer easier). It was later recalibrated to put boiling at 212, 180 degrees from freezing, but that’s the original basis.

There is no god-ordained rule that states that 0 has to be the freezing point of water, nor 100 the boiling point.

Fahrenheit also has an inherent advantage to Celsius in that for every 5 degrees C there are 9 degrees F. There is more inherent precision.

[-] GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca 0 points 16 hours ago

In metric, we aren't scared of using a decimal if we have to. Our thermometers can be as precise as we need them.

[-] derf82@lemmy.world 5 points 16 hours ago

Yet weather reports rarely include them.

[-] GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca 0 points 16 hours ago

...because we don't need them.

[-] derf82@lemmy.world 3 points 16 hours ago

You go if you want to be precise as Fahrenheit is without decimals.

[-] GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca 0 points 2 hours ago

Weather forecasts are only accurate to 1 to 2 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 1 degree Celsius. So the only example you've given where Fahrenheit is "superior" is one where the accuracy is so low that we just shrug and give a number in the middle of the range. This doesn't make using Fahrenheit more accurate, this just makes the scale irrelevant and we use a whole number because having a convention where we skip some would be pointless.

As for being more precise without decimals, I live in a country with half-decent education standards, so decimals and fractions don't scare me.

[-] derf82@lemmy.world 1 points 40 minutes ago

It isn't about being "scared" of them, it is about them being used.

And we don't just make forecasts, we report actual temperatures.

But whatever, you just want an air of superiority.

this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2026
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