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by 85kk47 on April 23rd, 2009
I’m British, but unlike most Brits I can’t use the imperial system. Most Brits oppose the metric system because they get it confused with the EU. The rest of my family are exclusively imperial, yet I only understand metric (except for a yard because I know it’s nearly a metre).
If you said: “20 feet, 8 inches” I would have no idea; I wouldn’t even pause to work it out, I just wouldn’t know.
The same goes for 165 lb.
However, 45 mph I would understand because speed limits in Britain are in mph, but I prefer to think in km/h (speedometers in british cars are predominately mph, but must also show km/h). I know 50 mph is about 80 km/h, and 70 km/h is a little over 40 mph, so I would say it’s about 73 km/h.
Fahrenheit... absolutely no idea. Although here’s something to help you with °C:
30° is hot
20° is nice
10° is cold
0° is ice
When people ask how much I weigh I say: “82 kg”. When they ask what that is in imperial I’ll say: “6 tods, a clove and 6 pounds”. They’ll than ask what that is in stone so I tell them: “you’re the one who uses imperial measurements, you work it out”.
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You're reading Non-Americans: When you hear a measurement like "20 feet 8 inches" or "165 lb" or "45 mph" or "85 degrees Fahrenheit", do you have to pause for very long to mentally translate it to metric measurements, or are you bilingual?
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Comments
I still have to keep looking up what a stone is... it never sticks.
by Amorphous Blob on April 23rd, 2009