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keeveek: Every time i see that kind of things i wonder when US will switch to NORMAL dating / lenght / weight units. ;p
FTFY the UK has been metric for over 30 years the only reason the road signs stay in imperial is cause the government refuse to stump up the cash for new signage.

Oh and for dates day/month/year is called British usage it comes from our legal system that used "on the Xth day of <month> in the year of our lord <year>" we've been using it since before the norman invasion...
Thanks for clarification. Still using pounds though?

btw. date format day/month/year is called Gregorian Little Endian, and has nothing to do with United Kingdom.

Middle Endian, starting with Month

This sequence is used primarily in the United States, partially in Canada, and a few other countries[citation needed]. This date format was commonly used alongside the small endian form in the United Kingdom until the early 20th Century, and can be found in both defunct and modern print media such as the London Gazette and The Times, respectively. In the UK, it would be verbally expressed as Sunday, November the 9th, whereas in the United States, it is usually Sunday, November 9th, although usage of "the" isn't uncommon.


The Time still uses month/day/year . So how is it?
Post edited March 14, 2012 by keeveek
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keeveek: Every time i see that kind of things i wonder when US and UK switch to NORMAL dating / lenght / weight units. ;p
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hedwards: We won't be. The US was one of the few countries with a workable system of measure prior to the introduction of the metric system. Additionally, the scale of the job it would take to phase out the customary measurements and phase in metric ones would be nigh insurmountable.

We do use metric for some things like medication, some cars and softdrinks, but imagine how far Europe would have been down the road if they hadn't gotten to build from scratch and had to do it at once.
Don't forget that the US also uses metric for bullet calibers :D. After all, the 9mm is a very popular caliber.
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JudasIscariot: Don't forget that the US also uses metric for bullet calibers :D. After all, the 9mm is a very popular caliber.
We also use inches for some calibers, like .44 or .50
You can add temperature to the debate. Fahrenheit scale is confusing, do 0 and 100 actually mean something on the scale?
Yep, Fahrenheit degrees are also not very usable, compared to Celsius.

Celsius is simple. You see minus in front of the temperature? It's freaking cold, dude.

And the water boils in 100 degrees celsius and 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Funny :P
Post edited March 14, 2012 by keeveek
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cymrean: You can add temperature to the debate. Fahrenheit scale is confusing, do 0 and 100 actually mean something on the scale?
Nope. 100 was supposed to be body temperature, but because that's a value that fluctuates a lot and because Fahrenheit's measurements were imprecise, it simply isn't true. As for the 0, no one knows what that was supposed to correspond to. It's defined as a freezing point of some kind of water-based mixture today, but that's just a back-definition.

EDIT: Okay, the mighty Wikipedia disagrees. Still, it's hard to deny that Celsius makes a lot more sense from a purely scientific standpoint. When it comes to actual use, it hardly matters, really.

EDIT EDIT: I took the original facts (badly remembered, as it turns out) from here. Possibly untrue, but a lot funnier.
Post edited March 14, 2012 by bazilisek
Personally I only work in Kelvin, makes it seem a lot warmer. Phew - it is 285 degrees today, that's hot.
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bazilisek: Nope. 100 was supposed to be body temperature, but because that's a value that fluctuates a lot and because Fahrenheit's measurements were imprecise, it simply isn't true. As for the 0, no one knows what that was supposed to correspond to. It's defined as a freezing point of some kind of water-based mixture today, but that's just a back-definition.
So it's fucked up, and they still use it, funny again ;p
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bazilisek: Nope. 100 was supposed to be body temperature, but because that's a value that fluctuates a lot and because Fahrenheit's measurements were imprecise, it simply isn't true. As for the 0, no one knows what that was supposed to correspond to. It's defined as a freezing point of some kind of water-based mixture today, but that's just a back-definition.
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keeveek: So it's fucked up, and they still use it, funny again ;p
Some old people here still use Fahrenheit and find Celsius confusing. My dad was born in the 50s and can comfortably use both, but my grandmother born in the 1920s... no chance. Doesn't understand Celsius at all.
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keeveek: Yep, Fahrenheit degrees are also not very usable, compared to Celsius.

Celsius is simple. You see minus in front of the temperature? It's freaking cold, dude.

And the water boils in 100 degrees celsius and 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Funny :P
For science Celsius definitely makes more sense, but for everyday living Fahrenheit is a much more useful scale. Mostly because you're nearly always in positive territory whereas with Celsius you routinely end up being in negative territory without it being particularly cold.

Different scales for different purposes. Fahrenheit goes from the coldest water gets to roughly body temperature, for most things it's a perfectly reasonable scale to use.
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bazilisek: Nope. 100 was supposed to be body temperature, but because that's a value that fluctuates a lot and because Fahrenheit's measurements were imprecise, it simply isn't true. As for the 0, no one knows what that was supposed to correspond to. It's defined as a freezing point of some kind of water-based mixture today, but that's just a back-definition.
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keeveek: So it's fucked up, and they still use it, funny again ;p
What's funny is that you seem to think that metric is better than imperial. The fact is that unless you're a scientist there's very little reason to use metric over imperial measures. What's more imperial does have a few advantages such as being more suited to fractions and not requiring one to go into negative territory just because it's slightly below freezing.

Overall, anybody mocking people for using the other system had better not be serious.
Post edited March 14, 2012 by hedwards
I read Larry Shaw made called that day PI-day to shroud its actual meaning: Political-incorrect day.
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hedwards: What's funny is that you seem to think that metric is better than imperial. The fact is that unless you're a scientist there's very little reason to use metric over imperial measures. What's more imperial does have a few advantages such as being more suited to fractions and not requiring one to go into negative territory just because it's slightly below freezing.
I always thought this was a strange argument. I don't know about you, but for me it's much easier in my head to go 0.25 + 0.33 = 0.58, which I can find on a metric ruler pretty easily and quite accurately, than 1/4 + 1/3, that's... 3/12 + 4/12 = 7/12, which is... a bit more than a half?

I'm not mocking the Americans for using their system (I understand changing it at this point would be quite complicated), but claiming the system is better in any way is just ridiculous. The system is better because you are used to it, end of story. Metric is more logical and infinitely better for any exact, scientific applications, as is the Celsius scale. You can't possibly deny that. When it comes to practical everyday use, of course it doesn't really matter. Neither of the two systems is better there.
Isn't it 14/3? I'm still waiting for 22 July.
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keeveek: Yep, Fahrenheit degrees are also not very usable, compared to Celsius.

Celsius is simple. You see minus in front of the temperature? It's freaking cold, dude.

And the water boils in 100 degrees celsius and 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Funny :P
It's not like it's hard to convert or anything. I just multiply by 2 and add 30 when I need to figure out Fahrenheit. The point of Fahrenheit was based on the freezing and melting of brine, which is obviously different than the freezing and melting points of water.
Post edited March 14, 2012 by michaelleung
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hedwards: What's funny is that you seem to think that metric is better than imperial. The fact is that unless you're a scientist there's very little reason to use metric over imperial measures. What's more imperial does have a few advantages such as being more suited to fractions and not requiring one to go into negative territory just because it's slightly below freezing.
This is probably why the whole world is using metric system. It's because imperial is better, for sure United States is superior again!:trollface: (no, i am not serious about any of this, it's just funny :P)
Post edited March 14, 2012 by keeveek