Imperial or metric?

[Keekeecat]

Some of us use imperial measurements (inches, feet, pints, gallons etc) while others use the metric system (centimetres, metres, millilitres, litres etc) and it drives us crazy when someone uses it the other way around. I live in a country that mainly uses metric measurements, what about you? Which is your preferred system?

 

[Syaoransbear]

We use the metric system, but more accurately we use both systems for different things, so we're pretty fluent with all of those types of measurements. And we tend to measure distances by time, like the hospital is 10 minutes away or the cabin is two hours away instead of using kms. That's because people only care about how long it takes to get somewhere, not the actual distance .

[CDM]

We use the metric system, but more accurately we use both systems for different things, so we're pretty fluent with all of those types of measurements. And we tend to measure distances by time, like the hospital is 10 minutes away or the cabin is two hours away instead of using kms. That's because people only care about how long it takes to get somewhere, not the actual distance  .

Yep, same here "How far is it to Owen Sound?" "Oh, about 40 mins, and we're only 10 minutes from Southampton."

 

Even though we were taught the metric system in school, most people my age still think in inches and feet. It just seems easier somehow, lol. If someone asks my height, I don't say that I'm 150cm, I say that I'm 5' tall and most people say the same thing. It just seems so natural to just convert metric to imperial.

 

You're Canadian like me, Syaoransbear, so maybe it's a Canadian thing...using both measurements? Probably because our neighbours to the South (the U.S.) still use the imperial system. I know that whenever we have relatives come over from England though, they think it's hilarious that we convert distance into time.

Edited November 19, 2012 by CDM

[angelicdragonpuppy]

I've grown up with Imperial and probably won't ever be able to retrain my brain (every time someone list their character's height in cm I'm just like WHAT DOES THAT MEANNN ;___; </3), but I think the metric system is a lot easier to work with and makes more sense.

[klinneah]

I'm USA and I do the same thing with distance and time. For example, my college is about ten hours away from my home. Walmart is about five minutes away from my school. I use inches, feet, gallons in my everyday life but in science lab it's a lot easier to use the measurements the directions are written in

[PointOfOrigin]

Where I'm from, we use metric system for everything. We brushed once or twice in school on imperial system but nobody took to it. We just find metric to be more logical. As far as distance goes, we use both time and metric system. It pretty much depends on the situation.

 

 

[Gsea]

I'm USA and I do the same thing with distance and time.

Yup, me too. We use the imperial system but most people I know give distances in time, unless we are trying to emphasize a really long distance in which we would say "She lives at least 800 miles away!" or something like that.

 

A lot of the time in school, though, I'm required to use metric measurements. In science all we use is the metric system. We use it a lot of the time in math, too.

[High Lord November]

I function in both pretty well. Feet and meters and pounds and kilograms are pretty interchangeable. The exceptions are inches, miles, and the Fahrenheit system - they don't make a lot of sense, and I've always used centimeters, kilometers, and Celsius instead.

[TikindiDragon]

Even though we were taught the metric system in school, most people my age still think in inches and feet. It just seems easier somehow, lol. If someone asks my height, I don't say that I'm 150cm, I say that I'm 5' tall and most people say the same thing.

Ditto with me to a certain extent - I use Imperial mesurements (with the exception of temperature - I can only think of that in celcius). I'm in a bit of a gap generation, and how people around my age think seems to have more to do with how well our parents took to the metric system. Mine didn't very well, so I grew up using imperial measurements at home, and that stuck despite the insistence on using metric ones at school. My other half is more crossover than I am - he'll measure people in feet and inches, but dimensions & stuff for DIY in centimeters.

 

Plus we all use miles (and/or time to be fair if something is local) to measure distance in the UK. England officially went metric later than Europe did, so a lot of us still haven't caught on. I doubt I ever will - I'm afraid I just can't think in centimeters, kilograms and kilometers.

[DaniBoo]

I function in both pretty well. Feet and meters and pounds and kilograms are pretty interchangeable. The exceptions are inches, miles, and the Fahrenheit system - they don't make a lot of sense, and I've always used centimeters, kilometers, and Celsius instead.

Same here.

[TheDarkCynder]

I can use both fine, though I live in the United States.

[glass_kisses]

My maths teacher reckons everyone in the UK is supposed to be able to convert from Imperial to Metric and vice versa flawlessly. Instead, what actually happens is everyone my age uses imperial for height and distances. And then gets their calculator out whenever someone starts talking about kilometre/metres conversion. Despite the fact that we use metric system for Maths and Science.

 

I don't think many places use pints and gallons anymore. Well. Other than pubs & bottles of milk.

 

 

[CatCreature]

We use the metric system in my country and I don't think anyone uses imperial measurements anywhere. (I might be wrong though. ^^' )

 

And we use time to tell distance too, "10 minutes walk" or "30 minutes drive" is common.

[Zaxian]

I prefer the metric system, but must admit a fondness for the British use of miles over kilometers. And I know a fair few people who'd be very upset if their pints suddenly becamse half-litres

[Anna Selka]

I've grown up using the metric system and have no clue what the imperial system represents, every time I have to find a converter otherwise it just doesn't mean anything to me ^^'

[lizardtail]

i like the metric system, though i was raised by the imperial system and cant do conversions very well yet. im starting to gradually get a better feel for the metric system though.

[RWyvern]

I'm in Australia where we use the metric system, but I use a combination of both types. I find it more accurate. Miles are different to kilometres, feet are different to metres and so on :3

[Shienvien]

My country is metric-only, and I prefer and commonly use metric.

 

I can use imperial, too, but for the most part it means that I am doing the approximate conversions in my head to get a clear image of what I'm dealing with.

[Kestra15]

As a scientist I have a preference for the ease and simplicity of metric.

 

Sadly I live in the Imperial UK.

[Syaoransbear]

Yep, same here   "How far is it to Owen Sound?"  "Oh, about 40 mins, and we're only 10 minutes from Southampton."

 

Even though we were taught the metric system in school, most people my age still think in inches and feet.  It just seems easier somehow, lol.  If someone asks my height, I don't say that I'm 150cm, I say that I'm 5' tall and most people say the same thing.  It just seems so natural to just convert metric to imperial.

 

You're Canadian like me, Syaoransbear, so maybe it's a Canadian thing...using both measurements?    Probably because our neighbours to the South (the U.S.) still use the imperial system.  I know that whenever we have relatives come over from England though, they think it's hilarious that we convert distance into time.

You're definitely right . I've become pretty good at converting Celsius to Fahrenheit because a lot of the forums I go to are mostly americans that don't understand Celsius so when I'm talking about weather I always provide C and F temperatures, otherwise they are like "OMG that's so cold, do you have snow?" when I say it's +35C out , which is 95F.

 

I'm terrible when people use centimeters to measure height, though. I just can't imagine it very well in my head. When I was pretty young there were movie scouters watching our dance group and I was asked to audition for their movie. They asked me what my height was and I said 4' 6", and they were like, "No, we need to know your height in centimeters." I was like "Uhhhh I don't know." Of course, they didn't know how to do the conversion either, so they just made something up.

[blah]

"You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with cheese in France? A Royale with cheese! You know why they call it that?"

 

"Because of the metric system?"

 

"Check out the big brain on Brett!"

 

Where I live, we use the metric system. For everything. And Celsius. Anything else I only look up before holidays so I won't look like an idiot.

[Zinogre]

We use the Metric system, I don't know all that much about the Imperial system to be honest .

[whitebaron]

As in most of europe: metric system.

 

I believe imperial to be outdated due to their varying conversion rates (how many feet are in a mile, how many inches are one foot), but it's hard to get rid of when whole countries use it and people are trained to it you cant just relearn your entire feeling for measurements.

 

so, probably, some countries will have to stick to

1 mile = 80 chain = 320 rods = 8000 links = 5280 feet...

 

though i'm still hoping this will someday change, i'm pretty sure its not in my lifetime.

[AlternateMew]

I live in a mostly imperial country. I do not like it. Unfortunately, I use it, and don't know metric too well in terms of visualizing. I should really work on that, metric seems so much easier.

 

Same for 12 vs. 24 hour time. I actually do use 24 hour time for all my clocks where the setting is available. Never have to specify AM or PM to myself. I do confuse others when I don't convert 14h to 2PM, though. Got that one in french class. xxhyy instead of xx:yy. Don't know how accurate that is, but I like it and use it. Easier when seconds coun as well, just add the appropriate letters. xxhyymzzs.

 

Also, time for travel is more specific to me. Miles doesn't mean squat.

[Shienvien]

Time for covering distances fluctuates so wildly I consider it quite worthless as a measurement...

 

Also, I'm a preferrer of 24 hours, and day-month-year.