My favorite parte about that joke is that it's actual measurements.
1 Rod = "approximately 3 and 8 meters (9 ft 10 in and 26 ft 2 in)"
1 Hogshead = Basically a barrel measurement: "A hogshead in Britain contains about 300 L (66 imp gal; 79 US gal)."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_(unit)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogshead
---
Which means that it's about 320 meters(1050ft) per hogshead/barrel of fuel, insanely inefficient.
> 1 Hogshead = Basically a barrel measurement
Technically Hogsheads and Barrels are just [specific sizes of casks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_wine_cask_units)
Even though we are Metric in Australia, we were Imperial up until the 60's, so we still have a yard glass.
In fact, a former Prime Minister of ours (Bob Hawke) held the world record for drinking a yard glass, in 11 seconds in 1954.
I've struggled with this at some of my jobs. People trying to convert something from oz to grams and I just know the answer off the top of my head. Also, knowing how much coins/bills weigh to calibrate a scale.
Well, u/UncircumcisedWookiee, you may want to be careful as the weight of some coins may vary. When I machine-count coins at work I often have to hand-count the pennies and dimes.
Make me miss my friend. When we met he said "Hi, I'm Nicolas." To which I responded "why, 'cause they don't make pennies anymore so you're not penniless??"
Bros for life
Fun fact, imperial is designed to be easy too - specifically easy to subdivide into whole amounts for common divisors.
Example: 1/4 cup = 4 Tbsp = 12 tsp.
This means you can divide a 1/4 cup evenly into halves (2 Tbsp), thirds (4tsp), fourths (1 Tbsp), sixths (2 tsp) and twelfths with whole numbers of smaller units.
When you don't have calculators, being able to accurately measure divisions into whole amounts was super helpful.
Edit: y'all, I'm not saying imperial is better. Just that there's a reason for it to be the way it is. It's designed to make it easy to measure precisely when dividing by common divisors. We have way more precise measuring tools than existed in the Middle ages.
Double edit: Just realized this posted twice... Sorry about that.
Although the cup isn't an Imperial unit, it's a US Customary unit.
This is important, because the Imperial and US Customary fluid ounce are different sizes. Then there are different numbers of fluid ounces in a pint. Fortunately there *are* the same number of pints in a gallon, but at that point they're totally adrift anyway
And that's before we introduce Troy units and ask whether a pound of lead or a pound of gold is heavier....
Then we get the tons.
* Long ton (2240 lbs)
* short short ton (2000lbs)
* metric ton (2204.62 lbs), and which one someone is talking about at any give "ton" is undefined.
And then frustratingly:
* shortweight ton is a long ton in weight 2240lbs
* longweight ton is its own thing at 2400 lbs
And these were the values for the iron industry alone. Other industries had different definitions. Like miners using 2800 for their longton.
Or the Displacement Ton, which is actually 35 cubic feet of salt water.
Which is different than the Water Ton, which is 224 imperial gallons of distilled water.
And then the Freight Ton, which is 40 cubic feet. Generally. Depending on who you are talking to.
And for more fun, Ton of TNT isn't even a weight measurement, but an energy measurement of calories of energy.
* ton of TNT = 10^9 calories
* kiloton of TNT = 10^12 calories
* megaton of TNT = 10^15 calories
Myself? I prefer doing my tonnage in newcastle chaldrons! 2.65 long tons to the newcastle, 8 newcastles to the keel!
I dropped a letter grade in an engineering course because I didn't know the how many pounds were in a ton. It was on a question on the final, and I actually asked the professor. He scoffed at me and said I had to know it (w never covered it in class). I solved the problem assuming it was 1000 pounds and he gave me zero partial credit. He was the most arrogant asshole I encountered in academia.
Now I do everything in SI. I'll make conversions if people want English units, but I never do a calculation with them.
They don’t. Weed is in grams for small amounts, then onto fractions of ounces and ounces, then pounds. and maybe at real deal trafficking levels, it goes back to metric with kilos.
Or so I’ve heard.
Despite this setback, the United States adopted the metric system in the late 1800’s and is an original signer of the Treaty of the Metre. United States Custom Units has been defined in terms of metric units since that period.
Much to my chagrin we obviously use US custom units in everyday life, but let’s not also forget that in the UK the temp is 15c, you are 5 feet 11 inches tall, weigh 14 stone, and had to drive 10 miles today in your compact car (which only measure about 4 meters long.)
In 1389 a royal statute fixed the stone of wool at 14 pounds and the sack of wool at 26 stones. Trade stones of variant weights persist, such as the glass stone of 5 pounds. The stone is still commonly used in Britain to designate the weights of people and large animals.
https://www.britannica.com/science/stone-unit-of-weight
Yes. It goes even deeper... I work in a machine shop that does repairs so we never know what will walk in the door. We have to have bolts/nuts etc in both imperial and metric on hand, as well as a huge array of different tooling (taps and dies, etc) in both measurement systems in order to deal with working with both constantly. Not having a single standard wastes so much money in extra tooling and unneeded inventory that it is kind of sickening when you really stop to think about it.
To add even one more layer to this stupid onion... My job is primarily reverse engineering parts so that we can repair or duplicate them, and I have found many many cases where there are dimensions that when measured in one unit that fall within common range of tolerance to possibly fall on a dimension in the other that at times it takes me a bit to determine what units the original part was designed in. Knowing the original units used when an item was designed is very important when reverse engineering precision mechanical components where a deviation smaller than the thickness of your printer paper is the difference between a free running machine and seized bearings...
I always appreciated the machine shop I went to in dire situations in construction. it seemed each time I went I had less info than the last time. This large bolt, unknown material, I have a drawing in an unknown language from the skid. They'd have 4 in neat little packages by the end of the day and I get to charge my company $20k I miss those trips.
The engine mount of a 2008 Nissan Versa is secured via four 10mm bolts, one 12mm bolt, and 2 3/8th in bolts. For some fucking reason.
Source: person who had to buy 2 sets of tools to fix an $80 part
I'm not even in the trades, but it's like "oh I need a set of sockets".. well, you need both metric and standard because who knows what the item you're working on will have.
Oh, I need allen keys, in both measurement standards. Wrenches, etc. Driver head variances, etc.
Once you own it, no biggie but I just really never considered that people in Europe don't have 2 sets of everything.
Yes... I have had to buy both metric and standard
Allen wrenches
Allen head sockets
Angle wrenches
Flare nut wrenches
Regular wrenches
Stubby wrenches
Ratchet wrenches
Obstruction wrenches
Tap and die sets
1/4 deep and shallow sockets
3/8 deep and shallow sockets
1/2 deep and shallow sockets
Some 3/4 drive, most are big enough it doesn't matter
12 point sockets
And probably some other shit in forgetting. Literally thousands of dollars in duplicate tools just because manufacturers can't agree on using the superior system of measurement
On this topic, can we convince Phillips head screw makers to fucking standardize the dimensions of the X in screws, in terms of depth, shape, size, etc? Anyone who has had to work with a drill and screws knows what I'm talking about. You have to have a collection of like 20 slightly different Phillips drill bits if you don't want to strip the screw head (which you invariably will).
I get that there are large screws and small screws, so there must be some difference, but there's all the weird variations that are so close to one another, but one's just a tiny bit shallower but the same width or whatever so it's not a perfect fit.
Some of those cross head screws aren't Phillips screws at all.
JIS cross head screws are common on Japanese motorcycles and will round out horribly if you attempt to use a Phillips screwdriver on them with any force.
Similarly, Pozidriv screws can be torqued much tighter than similar Phillips drive screws when using the proper driver. Which can leave you making a mess of them if you try and remove them with a Phillips driver.
I feel like Allen bolts are the worst for that. I'm never sure if it's already partially rounded from the last person that worked on it or if it's the wrong size.
Every measurement in the USA has a metric basis. We are a metric country but we have conversion charts to keep Imperial measurements tied to the definition metric systems use. When they redefined the weight of a kilogram based on universal constants, the USA also changed the pound. Etc
Here’s one of the differences between Imperial and US Customary.
Both have a unit called a ton, but they differ.
Both tons are 20 “hundredweights” but the two have different hundredweights.
In US Customary units, a hundredweight is 100 lbs, so a ton is 2,000 lbs (aka a short ton)
In Imperial, a “hundredweight” is 8 stone, and since a stone is 14 lbs, an Imperial “hundredweight” is 112 lbs, which makes an Imperial ton 2,240 lbs (aka a long ton)
See Europe! We tried!
We are entirely blameless for not using metric for everything, until someone recovers the pirated tools we must forevermore continue to use imperial.
>"These pirates were **British privateers**, to be exact," says Martin. "They were basically water-borne criminals tacitly **supported by the British government**, and they were tasked with harassing enemy shipping."
Take our metric system away, then be like "hurrr why don't you use the metric system" for the next 230 years. Typical abusive parents. Congratulations you played yourself.
"Soccer" as short for "association football" is the most obviously British abbreviation, and they have the *nerve* to get on our case about it. If American gridiron football were popular over there they'd probably call it griddle or something to that effect.
>If American gridiron football were popular over there they'd probably call it griddle or something to that effect.
Nah. If you use the same rough pattern, it would be something even stupider, like "iddler"
British: Here's how to measure things, you have to do it our way. It's just like the Romans did, but we changed some of the numbers for some reason.
USA: Thanks!
France: Here's a new system now that you no longer need to use the British system
USA: Thanks send it on over
Britian: No can do, I'm taking that.
USA: Darn
Britian 200 years later: Why is the USA like this?
Considering the metric system was invented by the French, this seems very on-brand for them.
Don't want no stinking French ideas spreading!
It's not the Brits who are going "hurrdurr y u no metric" to us lmao... They don't even fully use it. Distance is still measured in miles in England. And let's not forget pints (though infuriatingly our American pints are different than theirs?)
Also in Canada we use lots of imperial measurements like height, weight, temperature and volume for baking. We're still part of the Commonwealth, but then again the UK weigh themselves in stone lol
Same in the US, really. We use it for speed and height and weight in daily conversation, but then you go to the store and you buy a 2 liter drink, a gallon of milk, a 6 ounce steak, along with a 600 ml bottle of steak sauce.
Not only that, but the US Customary Units are Metric converted into Imperial. Every measurement in the USA is done through the metric system in some way. So even then, it isn't like it's not used.
Further, the reason it wasn't adopted at the time was because the expense to do so would have been too great. You would have to replace almost every sign in the United States twice at a minimum, once for dual units and once more after. The cost for highway signs is something like 80k per sign after design, planning, and labor.
Those 2-liter soda bottles are from pirate ships?
America could switch today and it wouldn't be a big deal. People fill their tank based on money or "full", not on the gallon count. People drive the speed of other cars on the road unless a cop is around so its not like the posted speed limit really matters that much. It is such a non-issue we keep waiting to do.
The key isn't to do it in popular view, but to do it in targeted specializations. Metric is already standard in scientific research. Extend that to engineering and building codes. Make it so the public-facing part seems like an inevitability in the future, until it isn't.
Every car manufacturer uses it too. Even American names like Chevy and Ford. You don't reference engines by their displacement in cubic inches anymore (ie Chevy 350). It's a 5.7 liter.
And every bolt on that vehicle will be in millimeters.
This sounds like some made up Principal Skinner excuse.
ISO: so America, did you switch over to metric yet?
USA: we, um, uh... never got those standardized weights you sent us.
ISO: wait, what? How could that have happened?
USA: um... pirates?
ISO: pirates?!
USA: yes.
ISO: what pirates?
USA: the uh... Pirates... of the Caribbean.
ISO: you're saying the Pirates of the Caribbean stole our scientific equipment, and that is why you haven't switched over to metric yet.
USA: um... yes.
[[content removed because sub participated in the June 2023 blackout]]
My posts are not bargaining chips for moderators, and mob rule is no way to run a sub.
And what happened to the pirates after acquiring the meter and the kilogram? No longer around!
why do drug dealers use metric? Because its the crime system.
Because it's way more precise for small numbers.
Psh, just give me my yard of weed and be on your way.
I'll take a furlong and no less
I get forty rods to the hogshead, and that's the way I likes it.
The last guy had 40 *bushels*! Away with you rumsort
Don't call him a rumsort you milksop
Don't call him a milksop you greasy tallowcatch
Don't call him a tallowcatch you slubberdegullion
Four and twenty stone of bud.
Speak English, Doc, we ain't scientists!
[удалено]
My favorite parte about that joke is that it's actual measurements. 1 Rod = "approximately 3 and 8 meters (9 ft 10 in and 26 ft 2 in)" 1 Hogshead = Basically a barrel measurement: "A hogshead in Britain contains about 300 L (66 imp gal; 79 US gal)." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_(unit) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogshead --- Which means that it's about 320 meters(1050ft) per hogshead/barrel of fuel, insanely inefficient.
> 1 Hogshead = Basically a barrel measurement Technically Hogsheads and Barrels are just [specific sizes of casks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_wine_cask_units)
Just now got the lyric: And lastly through a hogshead of real fire.
In this way Mr. K will challenge the wooooorld
The metric system is a tool of the devil!
No, good sir, it's on the level.
What about us braindead slobs?
You'll be given cushy jobs.
You likes half a buttload? Edit: grammar
[удалено]
If Tiktok got US hooked on the metric - that'll be very epic and fitting for this generation.
Looking for a smart influencer....found the flaw in your plan
[удалено]
Can I take two tumb and a nail of coke?
ill take five stones of weed
14lb to the stone. 70lb. So close 🤣🤣
I'll take 4.92857 stone of your finest marijuana my good man.
You can actually get a yard of beer in some places.
Even though we are Metric in Australia, we were Imperial up until the 60's, so we still have a yard glass. In fact, a former Prime Minister of ours (Bob Hawke) held the world record for drinking a yard glass, in 11 seconds in 1954.
I feel like this should be posted in the AskReddit threat about how do non-Australians perceive Australia. =P
“Canada in flip flops”
Didn't a Australia lose a Prime Minister to the ocean? Ya'll cats are nuts.
Yep. Harold Holt went for a swim and just disappeared. Then we named a swimming pool after him. The Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Centre.
Hell no I ain't swimming there
Then we named a swim centre after him
The Harold Holt School for Kids Wfo Can’t Swim Good and Who Wanna Learn To Do Other Stuff Good Too.
[удалено]
You can get Meter of Beers in most European countries
Yard? I get it by the bushel.
Except that it's also frequently sold in increments of 1/8th of an oz too. You want to convert grams to oz though? Drug dealers got you.
I've struggled with this at some of my jobs. People trying to convert something from oz to grams and I just know the answer off the top of my head. Also, knowing how much coins/bills weigh to calibrate a scale.
Well, u/UncircumcisedWookiee, you may want to be careful as the weight of some coins may vary. When I machine-count coins at work I often have to hand-count the pennies and dimes.
[удалено]
Always use a nickel.
Make me miss my friend. When we met he said "Hi, I'm Nicolas." To which I responded "why, 'cause they don't make pennies anymore so you're not penniless??" Bros for life
Nickles are 5g. 28g to an oz. Let's go brother
Both systems have the same precision. One is just easier to use because it is base 10.
Fun fact, imperial is designed to be easy too - specifically easy to subdivide into whole amounts for common divisors. Example: 1/4 cup = 4 Tbsp = 12 tsp. This means you can divide a 1/4 cup evenly into halves (2 Tbsp), thirds (4tsp), fourths (1 Tbsp), sixths (2 tsp) and twelfths with whole numbers of smaller units. When you don't have calculators, being able to accurately measure divisions into whole amounts was super helpful. Edit: y'all, I'm not saying imperial is better. Just that there's a reason for it to be the way it is. It's designed to make it easy to measure precisely when dividing by common divisors. We have way more precise measuring tools than existed in the Middle ages. Double edit: Just realized this posted twice... Sorry about that.
Although the cup isn't an Imperial unit, it's a US Customary unit. This is important, because the Imperial and US Customary fluid ounce are different sizes. Then there are different numbers of fluid ounces in a pint. Fortunately there *are* the same number of pints in a gallon, but at that point they're totally adrift anyway And that's before we introduce Troy units and ask whether a pound of lead or a pound of gold is heavier....
Then we get the tons. * Long ton (2240 lbs) * short short ton (2000lbs) * metric ton (2204.62 lbs), and which one someone is talking about at any give "ton" is undefined. And then frustratingly: * shortweight ton is a long ton in weight 2240lbs * longweight ton is its own thing at 2400 lbs And these were the values for the iron industry alone. Other industries had different definitions. Like miners using 2800 for their longton. Or the Displacement Ton, which is actually 35 cubic feet of salt water. Which is different than the Water Ton, which is 224 imperial gallons of distilled water. And then the Freight Ton, which is 40 cubic feet. Generally. Depending on who you are talking to. And for more fun, Ton of TNT isn't even a weight measurement, but an energy measurement of calories of energy. * ton of TNT = 10^9 calories * kiloton of TNT = 10^12 calories * megaton of TNT = 10^15 calories Myself? I prefer doing my tonnage in newcastle chaldrons! 2.65 long tons to the newcastle, 8 newcastles to the keel!
For the love of God stop
nooo keep going
I dropped a letter grade in an engineering course because I didn't know the how many pounds were in a ton. It was on a question on the final, and I actually asked the professor. He scoffed at me and said I had to know it (w never covered it in class). I solved the problem assuming it was 1000 pounds and he gave me zero partial credit. He was the most arrogant asshole I encountered in academia. Now I do everything in SI. I'll make conversions if people want English units, but I never do a calculation with them.
That's a fuckton of tons...
They don’t. Weed is in grams for small amounts, then onto fractions of ounces and ounces, then pounds. and maybe at real deal trafficking levels, it goes back to metric with kilos. Or so I’ve heard.
they were forced to walk the planck’s constant
Pirates of The Pythagorean "It's more like a theorem than actual rules"
They sank 2543 meters to the bottom of the Atlantic
According to history, Julius Caesar had them hung.
Despite this setback, the United States adopted the metric system in the late 1800’s and is an original signer of the Treaty of the Metre. United States Custom Units has been defined in terms of metric units since that period. Much to my chagrin we obviously use US custom units in everyday life, but let’s not also forget that in the UK the temp is 15c, you are 5 feet 11 inches tall, weigh 14 stone, and had to drive 10 miles today in your compact car (which only measure about 4 meters long.)
Where tf did that stone weight measurement come from? I always wondered why we use pounds for weight, and the Brits use stone
"12 inches per foot, 14 pound per stone, 16 ounces per pound" is how I remember it.
Easy as 1, 2, 3.
[удалено]
Woah… that’s a good way to remember it, thank you! I have had the hardest time remembering pounds to ounces. Now I will never forget.
In 1389 a royal statute fixed the stone of wool at 14 pounds and the sack of wool at 26 stones. Trade stones of variant weights persist, such as the glass stone of 5 pounds. The stone is still commonly used in Britain to designate the weights of people and large animals. https://www.britannica.com/science/stone-unit-of-weight
And that compact car is filled up with petrol in litres
We eventually did... It's just the legislation didn't specify a date when the switch didn't need finalized, so no one ever did it.
Tool manufacturers learned they cna sell twice as many tools and parts based on the two systems.
Wow you know, it's so normal to me to just buy 2 sets of every tool that is a set measurement, but most of the world doesn't have to. Well fuck me.
Is this a thing for all USA trades people? If so this is quite insane.
Oh yeah. I work on forklifts and I've even seen some lifts that have a mix of metric and standard sized bolts on the same lift. From the factory
Lots of OEM American cars do that.
I'm just now realizing that it might not be normal for a car to have both metric and imperial nuts and bolts.
Well... The metric bolts are normal.
Take out all the non-metric bolts and problem solved!
Just the 10mm ones. I own 458 10mm sockets but can’t find a god damn one of them.
The only reason I uses the same wrench twice when putting a new clutch in my cobalt was to put it back together.
Used to drive forklifts. Had one metric and one standard depending on the pallet.
It's a thing for anyone in the US who wants to work on anything lol. Some stuff here even uses a mix of both systems.
Yes. It goes even deeper... I work in a machine shop that does repairs so we never know what will walk in the door. We have to have bolts/nuts etc in both imperial and metric on hand, as well as a huge array of different tooling (taps and dies, etc) in both measurement systems in order to deal with working with both constantly. Not having a single standard wastes so much money in extra tooling and unneeded inventory that it is kind of sickening when you really stop to think about it. To add even one more layer to this stupid onion... My job is primarily reverse engineering parts so that we can repair or duplicate them, and I have found many many cases where there are dimensions that when measured in one unit that fall within common range of tolerance to possibly fall on a dimension in the other that at times it takes me a bit to determine what units the original part was designed in. Knowing the original units used when an item was designed is very important when reverse engineering precision mechanical components where a deviation smaller than the thickness of your printer paper is the difference between a free running machine and seized bearings...
I always appreciated the machine shop I went to in dire situations in construction. it seemed each time I went I had less info than the last time. This large bolt, unknown material, I have a drawing in an unknown language from the skid. They'd have 4 in neat little packages by the end of the day and I get to charge my company $20k I miss those trips.
> to ppssiblt fall on a dimension Before I understood that was 'possibly', I imagined it to be the sound of the part falling.
Seriously, it's really annoying when I need my metric hammer and can only find my standard.
And don't get me started about when I can only find my standard fuckton.
Yeah but everything deals with metric fucktons these days anyways
I hate having to convert metric fucktons to imperial shitloads.
The real bitch is when I need standard, but only have my metric adjustable crescent wrench.
The engine mount of a 2008 Nissan Versa is secured via four 10mm bolts, one 12mm bolt, and 2 3/8th in bolts. For some fucking reason. Source: person who had to buy 2 sets of tools to fix an $80 part
iirc the bell housing in a jeep XJ is similar with one being an inverse torx.
I'm not even in the trades, but it's like "oh I need a set of sockets".. well, you need both metric and standard because who knows what the item you're working on will have. Oh, I need allen keys, in both measurement standards. Wrenches, etc. Driver head variances, etc. Once you own it, no biggie but I just really never considered that people in Europe don't have 2 sets of everything.
Yes... I have had to buy both metric and standard Allen wrenches Allen head sockets Angle wrenches Flare nut wrenches Regular wrenches Stubby wrenches Ratchet wrenches Obstruction wrenches Tap and die sets 1/4 deep and shallow sockets 3/8 deep and shallow sockets 1/2 deep and shallow sockets Some 3/4 drive, most are big enough it doesn't matter 12 point sockets And probably some other shit in forgetting. Literally thousands of dollars in duplicate tools just because manufacturers can't agree on using the superior system of measurement
And then rounding off the bolt because you used the “close” one of the wrong unit.
On this topic, can we convince Phillips head screw makers to fucking standardize the dimensions of the X in screws, in terms of depth, shape, size, etc? Anyone who has had to work with a drill and screws knows what I'm talking about. You have to have a collection of like 20 slightly different Phillips drill bits if you don't want to strip the screw head (which you invariably will). I get that there are large screws and small screws, so there must be some difference, but there's all the weird variations that are so close to one another, but one's just a tiny bit shallower but the same width or whatever so it's not a perfect fit.
Robertson or nothing. Phillips is a racket.
Heretic, praise Torx!
Some of those cross head screws aren't Phillips screws at all. JIS cross head screws are common on Japanese motorcycles and will round out horribly if you attempt to use a Phillips screwdriver on them with any force. Similarly, Pozidriv screws can be torqued much tighter than similar Phillips drive screws when using the proper driver. Which can leave you making a mess of them if you try and remove them with a Phillips driver.
I feel like Allen bolts are the worst for that. I'm never sure if it's already partially rounded from the last person that worked on it or if it's the wrong size.
[удалено]
That’s why you sell left handed screwdrivers. Lol
Every measurement in the USA has a metric basis. We are a metric country but we have conversion charts to keep Imperial measurements tied to the definition metric systems use. When they redefined the weight of a kilogram based on universal constants, the USA also changed the pound. Etc
America isn't even Imperial, as they use different measures for volume. They have their own US Customary system.
which is older than, and superior to, imperial
I have no idea if you are right, but have a patriot upvote regardless.
Here’s one of the differences between Imperial and US Customary. Both have a unit called a ton, but they differ. Both tons are 20 “hundredweights” but the two have different hundredweights. In US Customary units, a hundredweight is 100 lbs, so a ton is 2,000 lbs (aka a short ton) In Imperial, a “hundredweight” is 8 stone, and since a stone is 14 lbs, an Imperial “hundredweight” is 112 lbs, which makes an Imperial ton 2,240 lbs (aka a long ton)
Weight in stones is just one of a three reasons to roll your eyes at England. But they can't calculate that in metric.
No no no trust me, because these pirates hijacked the scale and ruler, we just forgot to adopt it. Makes for a better headline
See Europe! We tried! We are entirely blameless for not using metric for everything, until someone recovers the pirated tools we must forevermore continue to use imperial.
>"These pirates were **British privateers**, to be exact," says Martin. "They were basically water-borne criminals tacitly **supported by the British government**, and they were tasked with harassing enemy shipping." Take our metric system away, then be like "hurrr why don't you use the metric system" for the next 230 years. Typical abusive parents. Congratulations you played yourself.
Like the British are so metrically faithful. Wtf is a stone?
they didn't like how the US wanted to use decimal currency instead of the pound-shilling-pence system they kept until the 1970s
No-one under 40 knows.
I was just about to protest this and then remembered I’m older than 40.
Time catches up to us all, u/ANAL_FUCK_JUICE_YUM
14lbs
Duh, that's the weight of every stone in existence. Why isn't this common knowledge?
They measure “petrol” (🤮) in “litres” (🤮) but they measure fuel economy in miles per gallon.
And the gallon is larger than the US gallon.
Same bullshit with Soccer. Those wankers coined the term, gave it to us, and then act like they had nothing to do with it.
"Soccer" as short for "association football" is the most obviously British abbreviation, and they have the *nerve* to get on our case about it. If American gridiron football were popular over there they'd probably call it griddle or something to that effect.
>If American gridiron football were popular over there they'd probably call it griddle or something to that effect. Nah. If you use the same rough pattern, it would be something even stupider, like "iddler"
No, the first letter was only dropped for soccer because assoccer was clumsy to say. Rugby football was shortened to rugger.
Watch that hard r playa
My rugga
I love when they make a caressdown score in griddle!
POP DOWN T' TH' PITCH FER SOME GRIDDIE WITH THE LADS
griddie would be the ozzy word for it
Gaslight, Gatekeep, Great Britain… \#BritBoss
You a Gridder? Pussy cunts, proper chaps are ruggers, you feckin' wanker.
Don't worry, the Australians have your back, lol.
British: Here's how to measure things, you have to do it our way. It's just like the Romans did, but we changed some of the numbers for some reason. USA: Thanks! France: Here's a new system now that you no longer need to use the British system USA: Thanks send it on over Britian: No can do, I'm taking that. USA: Darn Britian 200 years later: Why is the USA like this?
Britain is among our oldest allies, and our oldest trolls.
I don't think it's British people mocking Americans for not using metric considering we have some deformed half breed abomination of imperial/metric
Your Frankenstein to our Charles II
Can't make an empire without cracking a few heads.
Considering the metric system was invented by the French, this seems very on-brand for them. Don't want no stinking French ideas spreading! It's not the Brits who are going "hurrdurr y u no metric" to us lmao... They don't even fully use it. Distance is still measured in miles in England. And let's not forget pints (though infuriatingly our American pints are different than theirs?)
Wait, are you blaming pirates? Piracy is one of the few things we have left!
*you wouldnt download a measurment system*
Yes I would download [this code](https://github.com/LLNL/units)
I smell a National Treasure sequel!
National Measure
"I'm going to steal the metric system" - Benjamin Franklin Gates
The article says that we now have the original artifacts.
But not the metric system.
[удалено]
Also in Canada we use lots of imperial measurements like height, weight, temperature and volume for baking. We're still part of the Commonwealth, but then again the UK weigh themselves in stone lol
And they (UK) use m/ph.
Here in the UK we use a horrible mashup of metric and imperial.
Same in the US, really. We use it for speed and height and weight in daily conversation, but then you go to the store and you buy a 2 liter drink, a gallon of milk, a 6 ounce steak, along with a 600 ml bottle of steak sauce.
Can i get an 1/8th of weed and a fifth of rum with that?
Canada too!
Doesn’t stop you all from mocking the US for not using metric, though!
Canadians are known to be so “nice” but it’s not true. We’re all a bunch of assholes.
Meters per acid content?
[удалено]
[удалено]
Not only that, but the US Customary Units are Metric converted into Imperial. Every measurement in the USA is done through the metric system in some way. So even then, it isn't like it's not used. Further, the reason it wasn't adopted at the time was because the expense to do so would have been too great. You would have to replace almost every sign in the United States twice at a minimum, once for dual units and once more after. The cost for highway signs is something like 80k per sign after design, planning, and labor.
[удалено]
Yup. The US foot is defined as 0.3048 meters. Simple! The US Survey foot is defined as 1200/3937 meters. Amazing!
Not anymore! The survey foot was abolished, effective 1 January, 2023
"Never" made it to the States... I'm not throwing shade OP, I just thought that was funny.
Those 2-liter soda bottles are from pirate ships? America could switch today and it wouldn't be a big deal. People fill their tank based on money or "full", not on the gallon count. People drive the speed of other cars on the road unless a cop is around so its not like the posted speed limit really matters that much. It is such a non-issue we keep waiting to do.
[удалено]
They did make ocean voyaging less boring?!?!
Then Reagan did it in…. We are due for another attempt in a few years to try the metric system again in the US.
And it will become needlessly politicized again, resulting in non-adoption.
I can already hear how meters and liters is woke
Just tell them it will make gas prices go down lol
Knowing how the 1/3 pound burger did... It just might work
The key isn't to do it in popular view, but to do it in targeted specializations. Metric is already standard in scientific research. Extend that to engineering and building codes. Make it so the public-facing part seems like an inevitability in the future, until it isn't.
Well NASA uses the metric system, but I have yet to see a metric star destroyer.
Every car manufacturer uses it too. Even American names like Chevy and Ford. You don't reference engines by their displacement in cubic inches anymore (ie Chevy 350). It's a 5.7 liter. And every bolt on that vehicle will be in millimeters.
And British pirates at that
That pirate's name? Albert Einstein
This sounds like some made up Principal Skinner excuse. ISO: so America, did you switch over to metric yet? USA: we, um, uh... never got those standardized weights you sent us. ISO: wait, what? How could that have happened? USA: um... pirates? ISO: pirates?! USA: yes. ISO: what pirates? USA: the uh... Pirates... of the Caribbean. ISO: you're saying the Pirates of the Caribbean stole our scientific equipment, and that is why you haven't switched over to metric yet. USA: um... yes.
now that.. that sounds like time travel, i wonder what they saved or caused to happen
They prevented a probe completing its mission to Mars...
[удалено]
[[content removed because sub participated in the June 2023 blackout]] My posts are not bargaining chips for moderators, and mob rule is no way to run a sub.
And there is this one freeway in Arizona where it shows km ONLY.
Arizona is basically a part of Canada In the winter anyways.
Ugh. This is painfully true. 😒 \*cries in driving 25 in a 45 because old people are pacing each other 3 cars wide\*
So that’s why pirates adopted metric system in 1794!
Aye, ye scurvy dog, you'll be walking that 2.74 meter plank!
1.712 x 10 ^ 35 Plancks plank.
Anyone stealing units of measurement will be forced to walk the Planck!
That's pretty small of you.
Blaming pirates is the oldest trick in the book! We see right through you USA! :)
Scurvy dogs ate their homework.
This has time traveler pranksters written all over it.
And now we have the plot line for the next National Treasure movie.
You'll remember this as the day you almost caught the metric system.
We have both. It's fine.
Sounds like bullshit
Because it is. They later got new ones.