You usually don’t convert the units in the day to day. Either something is a few inches, a few feet, or a mile away. Construction workers can usually measure stuff out by hand (literally) if they’re doing stuff like framing.
A cup is quite literally a standard cup size. Any modern recipe will just be like “2 ¼ cups of milk” you can measure it or eyeball it. Anything smaller and you’re using measuring spoons anyway, so conversion doesn’t matter again.
Why do non-US people get weirdly emotionally invested in it? I mean, if we’re criticizing, it’s worse that US recipes use cups and tablespoons (measures of volume) for ingredients (like flour) that should be measured by weight.
I’m an immigrant in Canada. Canada officially adopted the metric system, migrated from 1970 to 1985, when the commission was abolished.
40 years later, due to inertia AND the proximity to a larger country that still uses a backward metric system, we have a mash-up of both systems here.
So yeah, I kind of feel it strongly.
But well, it’s like people: you like them for their inherent qualities, you love them for their quirks.
It’s the same here in the US, and I’m not sure that everybody realizes it. We officially adopted the metric system, too, but we haven’t undertaken the massive effort needed to replace all of the legacy systems. For instance, all of our food labels have the volume in (milli)liters, and weight in grams; true, mostly that’s listed as the conversion of the fluid ounces or ounces, but a few products have only the metric units. The required nutrition information label on the back is entirely in (milli)grams. Electricity is metered in metric units, and the electromagnetic spectrum is demarcated in them, too. All of our cars, motorcycles, bicycles, computers, and electronics use metric dimensions. (Hence the joke among mechanics about the 10mm socket always going missing.) Randomly, I’ve been looking for a couple of different light bulbs to buy online; every specification of a US bulb (base size, globe size, electrical requirements, luminous flux, color temperature) is a metric unit. Our money is metric, not just the denominations, but US law specifies the size and weight of coinage in metric units. (The dollar coin, for example, is 2mm thick.) Heck, even the US customary units are now officially defined in terms of SI units!
It’s pretty much the units that people interact with day-to-day that we’ve kept the US customary system. Except for, y’know, drugs and ammo. The most-American of all things, cars, food, money, drugs, and ammo, all metric. What more do you want from us?! 😉
I’m not advocating for the continued use of imperial units. I do all of my work in metric units. I’m just explaining why the average person in the US doesn’t really care about one system over another.
You usually don’t convert the units in the day to day. Either something is a few inches, a few feet, or a mile away. Construction workers can usually measure stuff out by hand (literally) if they’re doing stuff like framing.
A cup is quite literally a standard cup size. Any modern recipe will just be like “2 ¼ cups of milk” you can measure it or eyeball it. Anything smaller and you’re using measuring spoons anyway, so conversion doesn’t matter again.
This is how not to construct things.
Measure twice, cut once. Then start over cause you measured with your hands like a buffoon.
Alright! Alright! I’ll do it again! So… one… two… three… four… five… six feet and… yeah, that ought to be six feet a half.
Professionals tend to do it wrong and then just cover it up afterwards because it’s faster/saves money.
Source: did carpentry/home renos when I was younger.
Why dont they use feet? 😉
The US uses stupid measurements and makes up any excuse to keep using them
Why do non-US people get weirdly emotionally invested in it? I mean, if we’re criticizing, it’s worse that US recipes use cups and tablespoons (measures of volume) for ingredients (like flour) that should be measured by weight.
I’m an immigrant in Canada. Canada officially adopted the metric system, migrated from 1970 to 1985, when the commission was abolished.
40 years later, due to inertia AND the proximity to a larger country that still uses a backward metric system, we have a mash-up of both systems here.
So yeah, I kind of feel it strongly.
But well, it’s like people: you like them for their inherent qualities, you love them for their quirks.
It’s the same here in the US, and I’m not sure that everybody realizes it. We officially adopted the metric system, too, but we haven’t undertaken the massive effort needed to replace all of the legacy systems. For instance, all of our food labels have the volume in (milli)liters, and weight in grams; true, mostly that’s listed as the conversion of the fluid ounces or ounces, but a few products have only the metric units. The required nutrition information label on the back is entirely in (milli)grams. Electricity is metered in metric units, and the electromagnetic spectrum is demarcated in them, too. All of our cars, motorcycles, bicycles, computers, and electronics use metric dimensions. (Hence the joke among mechanics about the 10mm socket always going missing.) Randomly, I’ve been looking for a couple of different light bulbs to buy online; every specification of a US bulb (base size, globe size, electrical requirements, luminous flux, color temperature) is a metric unit. Our money is metric, not just the denominations, but US law specifies the size and weight of coinage in metric units. (The dollar coin, for example, is 2mm thick.) Heck, even the US customary units are now officially defined in terms of SI units!
It’s pretty much the units that people interact with day-to-day that we’ve kept the US customary system. Except for, y’know, drugs and ammo. The most-American of all things, cars, food, money, drugs, and ammo, all metric. What more do you want from us?! 😉
I’m not advocating for the continued use of imperial units. I do all of my work in metric units. I’m just explaining why the average person in the US doesn’t really care about one system over another.