imperial measurements

[squeak]

[I always found it a bit ridiculous that the US still uses Imperial and England doesn't. Measurements based on the length of the king's feet, and temperature based on the freezing point of the Thames outside of Greenwich? How American! 

I'm Canadian too, and I'll add a "True dat" to everything the Canadian PP's have said already. I used to get milk in a bag when I lived in Ontario, and now I get it in a 4 litre jug, which I kind of prefer- I don't have to change the milk bag every five minutes so frequently and try to use that stupid little cutter and then give up and just use scissors after mangling the bag a bit

/quote]

I used to get milk in bags when I lived in BC (bottles too in the '90's!). Maybe it's dairy specific? We had Island Farms, but in Ontario I get cartons from Dairyland or Beatrice. I swear my cousin picked up some bags in central Alberta when I was visiting last year. Maybe it was a plastic jug. But I thought there were bags.

Gallons confuse me for gas when I cross the border. I haven't a clue how to convert them to litres in my head. 

[One Goat to Rule Them All]

I always found it a bit ridiculous that the US still uses Imperial and England doesn't. Measurements based on the length of the king's feet, and temperature based on the freezing point of the Thames outside of Greenwich? How American! 

I'm Canadian too, and I'll add a "True dat" to everything the Canadian PP's have said already. I used to get milk in a bag when I lived in Ontario, and now I get it in a 4 litre jug, which I kind of prefer- I don't have to change the milk bag every five minutes so frequently and try to use that stupid little cutter and then give up and just use scissors after mangling the bag a bit

/quote]

I used to get milk in bags when I lived in BC (bottles too in the '90's!). Maybe it's dairy specific? We had Island Farms, but in Ontario I get cartons from Dairyland or Beatrice. I swear my cousin picked up some bags in central Alberta when I was visiting last year. Maybe it was a plastic jug. But I thought there were bags.

Gallons confuse me for gas when I cross the border. I haven't a clue how to convert them to litres in my head. 

I'm in XX now, and XXXXXXXXXXX comes in either jugs or cartons. The only place I've seen milk in a Bag is at the Real Canadian Superstore, the only foothold Loblaws has here. Maybe if they open more stores it'll take off here again!

Now that I think about it, my Grandma (who lives here too) was always saving the milk bags to freeze things in, so bagged milk must have been more widespread 20 years ago. I wonder why it went out of fashion here?

[sparksals]

I have a Pampered chef measuring cup that lets you put solids, particularly fats, in the one end to measure and then it has a plunger to push it out!  If you butter/margarine/shortening/lard is soft, it is easy to squish it in.

When I make bread, I make 8 loaves at a time.  Each one takes 1/4 cup butter so I fill the cup to the 1 cup mark and I can plunge out 1/4 cup at a time.

I have a couple of these too.  Love them.  One side is for measuring liquids, the other for messy things like butter, peanut butter, honey.  Put it in and push the plunger up to get everything out neatly.   Here is the pampered Chef Measure All Cup:   I have had mine for nearly 20 years and it is still going. 



 

This one is from BB&B for the same price.   

[Carnation]

Who remembers Bob Greene's "We Ain't Metric" campaign of the 1970's?

Who remembers 3 speed bikes being known as "English" bikes?  They came with a little case with bitty metric tools.

Right now, we have metric and standard road signs in the local college town, but that's the extent of it.

By the way, I just bought a cookbook from 1916 that calls for "butter, the size of a walnut."

[onikenbai]

Part of the problem of not using metric in Canada is that we're stuck between the US and UK imperial systems, which are not quite the same.  Some people use UK version because of history, and others use US because of proximity.  Having a 200 gallon tank here could either be imperial gallons or US gallons, and they are surprisingly off by quite a bit.  Metric is standard everywhere.  Yes, some countries use mL and some use dL, but the actual unit size doesn't change.

The only things I don't use metric for are body weight, height and cooking.

[marcel]

If you're used to metric, are you pretty much expected to be able to convert/multiply quantities in your head, since it's mostly by factors of 10?

This part of the OP, is a typical question from a person who is used to imperical.
Even though you do know it, there is still the problem of really understanding that unlike in the imperical system there are no conversion in metric. That is the reason why I always say that metric is objectively easier then imperical.

to clarify:
to measure distance/length
you use: inch, feet, yard, mile (conversions necessary)
we use:  meter (no conversions)
to measure volume
you use: cup, ounce, gallon
we use:  liter
OR
you use: cubic inch / cubic feet (I have seen thes being used)
we use:  m³ (=1000 liter)
to measure weight
you use: grain, ounce, pound, stone
we use: gram (1000 gram is 1 lieter of water)

As you can see, not only does the metric use one unit per variable, the different units for the variables are also clearly related to eachother.

The only thing you need to know is that
milli = 1/1000
centi = 1/100
deci = 1/10
deca = 10
hecto = 100
kilo = 1000

I grudgingly admit that metric is better for scientific purposes (I'm a chemist, so I pretty much have to ), but I really think Imperial is better for real life.  It's hard to cut things into 10 pieces, but pretty easy to eyeball 1/3s and halves, and by extension 1/12ths and 16ths.  And temperatures: 0C is the feezing point of water, but only if it's pure and at sea level.  0F, OTOH, tells you something no matter where you live: it's COLD.  And above 100F, yeah, it's HOT. 

I have to say though, my absolute favorite unit is the stone.  14 lbs.  Really?  It seems so delightfully random.     I really want a scale to measure my weight in stones.

Actually, the point of metric is that you can easily cut things into anything, there is no reason to limit yourself to tenths only.
1/3, 1/2, 18/ etc work just as well in metric as in imperial.
I find it odd that you believe that it is easier to need to converse variables in real life, instead of not having to do any conversions, within one variable

[marcel]

The differing uses of metric is fascinating!  I find it funny cuz when it was rammed down our throats in canada --- errrrr introduced, the reasoning was to be standardized with the rest of the world.  Interesting how metric countries use it differently!

On another note, I think the US is the only place to pronounce 'Z' as ZEE whereas the rest of the english world pronounces it ZED.

even though in practice people use it differently, the use of metric is still standardised in all those countries.

[katycoo]

Denmark uses an odd mix. We measure large quantities in litres (or decilitres = 1/10litre) or grams/kilograms and small quantities in teaspoons and tablespoons.

However, measuring spoons will have values written on them, so my teaspoons says that it's 5ml and my tablespoon that it's 15ml which makes it a lot easier when making large batches ("Right, so I need 10 tablespoons, that's 150ml so 1.5 dl!)

Intruigingly, we don't use decilitre in Australia.  Ever.  We would say 10 millilitres, despite them being the same thing.  How odd.

And now rereading the whole thread - I discover this point has already been discussed.  You you lot use centilitres too?

[MariaE]

Denmark uses an odd mix. We measure large quantities in litres (or decilitres = 1/10litre) or grams/kilograms and small quantities in teaspoons and tablespoons.

However, measuring spoons will have values written on them, so my teaspoons says that it's 5ml and my tablespoon that it's 15ml which makes it a lot easier when making large batches ("Right, so I need 10 tablespoons, that's 150ml so 1.5 dl!)

Intruigingly, we don't use decilitre in Australia.  Ever.  We would say 10 millilitres, despite them being the same thing.  How odd.

And now rereading the whole thread - I discover this point has already been discussed.  You you lot use centilitres too?

Funnily enough we don't outside the chemistry lab. In cooking we only use ml, dl and l.

[oz diva]

While I use metric for everything else, I still use imperial for height. I doesn't mean anything to me to say someone is 185 cm tall, I'm far happier if someone says they're 5'10".