Comments
Tutorbin76 t1_ixh24w4 wrote
Just as well Americans don't use that awful French metric system.
Viva la Avoirdupois!
/s
ElfMage83 t1_ixh6l38 wrote
We also don't use imperial units, since we're not British after that tiny revolution in 1776.
bafta t1_ixhrs5q wrote
Shame ,you ended up with girly pints
ElfMage83 t1_ixht4mu wrote
And yet your former empire is a shadow of itself while we put boots on the moon. Catholic boots, even.
bafta t1_ixhtr1u wrote
Still got girly pints though
ElfMage83 t1_ixie3sh wrote
At least our beer doesn't taste like warm piss.
trashyratchet t1_ixl5d32 wrote
With the metric system.
ElfMage83 t1_ixlql4m wrote
Of course.
BrokenEye3 t1_ixgrxpd wrote
I can see why we don't call it that anymore
KahnGage t1_ixi4hx3 wrote
Au revoir to the avoirdupois.
Rootsboy79 t1_ixgusc1 wrote
I call it AFUs, American funny units.
ElfMage83 t1_ixh7ol3 wrote
Why on Earth would you think anyone except the British would use British imperial units?
snow_michael t1_ixocv7w wrote
AFUU is also appropriate
link_ganon t1_ixh7xk9 wrote
I have heard British people use these measurements as well, though informally.
WilliamofYellow t1_ixhy7y0 wrote
Which empire do you think the imperial system came from?
link_ganon t1_ixhyt7i wrote
The British officially are on the metric system…
WilliamofYellow t1_ixhznvf wrote
The US is "officially" metric as well, per the Metric Conversion Act of 1975. That doesn't mean people actually use metric units in daily life.
link_ganon t1_ixi06en wrote
In the UK they use both. Many people in the US think they do not use imperial at all.
Ameisen t1_ixie4e3 wrote
> Many people in the US think they do not use imperial at all.
Because they don't. The US never adopted Imperial measures, which are adopted in Britain 50 years after the American Revolution.
The United States customary units are similar to Imperial measures, and in many places identical, but only because they are both based upon earlier English units. There are significant differences between the systems.
(unless you mean that people in the US think that the British don't, and that's just untrue - we regularly make fun of them for using 'stone')
link_ganon t1_ixig70a wrote
Your last paragraph is what I meant. Many Americans are not informed about how and when English people use which measurement systems.
It’s not a big deal. It just is what it is. I’ve never heard of English people being teased for using stones. But that’s purely anecdotal
snow_michael t1_ixod7d8 wrote
We are 'officially' using a mixture
Pints of beer, litres of milk
Pounds and ounces for babies, kg for food
Barleycorns for shoes, cm for hats
Miles for distance, litres for petrol
Fahrenheit for summer temperatures, Celcius for winter (this is the one likely to die away first)
link_ganon t1_ixrc18c wrote
> Britain is officially metric, in line with the rest of Europe. However, imperial measures are still in use, especially for road distances, which are measured in miles. Imperial pints and gallons are 20 per cent larger than US measures.
https://www.visitbritain.com/us/en/plan-your-trip/practical-information/weights-and-measures#
You are “officially” on the metrics system. You’re just restating my original point, and arguing semantics for the sake of arguing.
[deleted] t1_ixguiku wrote
[deleted]
NPC8705 OP t1_ixgv6xj wrote
I found the word when I was reading the foot notes in one of the chapters of Herodotus, and it blew my mind lol
Charles_Whitman t1_ixihpay wrote
As one of my employees always says, there are two kinds of countries in the world. Those that use the metric system and those that have put a man on the moon.
trashyratchet t1_ixl50nu wrote
Except for the fact that the computers on the Apollo spacecraft used the metric system internally, then converted it for display so the astronauts could read it. Considering how precious every bit of processing power was on those computers, it makes that statement even more ridiculous. And yeah, I hear that silly statement made often here in the US. Those that use that ignorant meme tend to also use the phrase "measure twice, cut onc...shit" because it's a pain in the ass to subdivide.
snow_michael t1_ixodgw8 wrote
They are, regardless of what phrase they use, more likely to do "measure once, cut twice"
ZwischenzugZugzwang t1_ixorbum wrote
What a serious response to a lighthearted comment geez. You must be fun at parties
[deleted] t1_ixot1kr wrote
[removed]
Ameisen t1_ixidgmz wrote
Also the US Customary system's weights.
SweatyTax4669 t1_ixj11t6 wrote
That's a weird way to spell "Freedom Weights"
YouNeed2GrowUpMore t1_ixi1zkm wrote
A. It's "The United States of America", not "America" that uses the the ridiculous system
B. The USA actually uses the metric system (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmSJXC6_qQ8&), and converts dumbwards to freedom units
Ameisen t1_ixiemvo wrote
> A. It's "The United States of America", not "America" that uses the the ridiculous system
The colloquial name of the United States of America in English is 'America'.
The only people who care about this are people who originate in cultures where a continent model is used that doesn't distinguish North and South America as continents (and thus really shouldn't care about what it's called in English), or people who want to be edgy. There is zero ambiguity in English - nobody refers to 'America' as a continent because there is no single continent in the system English-speakers use. They use 'North American' or 'South American'.
> B. The USA actually uses the metric system (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmSJXC6_qQ8&), and converts dumbwards to freedom units
I find it utterly bizarre that anyone ever posts YouTube videos as evidence of anything when you can literally just link to the US Code instead. You're not wrong, but your argument is dumb... and you provided the stupidest source possible.
But what can be expected from someone who wrote A?
TheWrongFusebox t1_ixgnhry wrote
AKA cheese-eating surrender units
-Daetrax- t1_ixgp6vm wrote
Ironic considering the origin of SI units.
TheWrongFusebox t1_ixh24y0 wrote
Not so much irony as that was the joke. But clearly not a good one.
-Daetrax- t1_ixhue1z wrote
No, you were just wrong. Pounds and ounces are not SI units.
TheWrongFusebox t1_ixhxi0s wrote
> No, you were just wrong.
No, I wasn't.
> Pounds and ounces are not SI units.
I know.
-Daetrax- t1_ixhycnf wrote
Go ahead and reread your original comment buddy.
TheWrongFusebox t1_ixi6r34 wrote
I know what I wrote, chum.
DaemonRai t1_ixgoaup wrote
Wisconsin? Imperial units are what the US uses.
Ameisen t1_ixidv8y wrote
No, they are not. The US uses US customary units (technically, it doesn't have a name - the code simply specifies it as "traditional systems of weights and measures".
There are significant differences between British Imperial and USC.
DaemonRai t1_ixjiz5s wrote
Avoirdupois is a system of measuring weight based on the fact that sixteen ounces are in a pound. The metric system is based on grams, and the avoirdupois system is based on pounds. - That's freedom units they're talking about.
And from the Avoirdupois System Wikipedia page - In 1959, by international agreement, the definitions of the pound and ounce became standardized in countries which use the pound as a unit of mass. The International Avoirdupois Pound was then created. It is the everyday system of weights used in the United States. It is still used, in varying degrees, in everyday life in the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and some other former British colonies, despite their official adoption of the metric system.
Ameisen t1_ixk0ngl wrote
And those freedom units are a part of the USCS.
And the US doesn't use Imperial still. Imperial was only used in the Empire and Commonwealth.
snow_michael t1_ixocrjv wrote
We're quite happy you still think of yourselves as a colony of the British Empire :)
omiekley t1_ixh8ti4 wrote
Just means "to have some pounds" in English:)