this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2026
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[–] darthelmet@lemmy.world 52 points 3 days ago (7 children)

What’s more ‘Murican than not understanding the metric system?

[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 24 points 3 days ago (3 children)

They don't understand imperial either though.

[–] Rolive@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

No it's simple see 16oz is 1.2 flasks which is easy to remember because it's based on King Ralph's favourite cup and Ralph famously died tripping over a cocksnake (unfortunate name but I won't censor history) and what do you trip with? That's right, your feet. And how many feet do you have? Exactly, 2. Hence 1.2 flasks to 1 16oz can.

[–] prime_number_314159@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That's a ridiculous mischaracterization. The word "Ounce" derives from a word meaning "one twelfth", so just like the inch to the foot, an ounce is either one sixteenth of a queen Anne pound of wine (which is itself based on the Queen Anne gallon of wine, or 231 cubic inches of wine), or one twentieth of an imperial pint, which is an eighth of an imperial gallon, which is ten water pounds.

Flasks are a unit of mercury weight, obviously.

[–] Arcka@midwest.social 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

This must be from AI since it is so confidently wrong.

Genuine curiosity, other than the Queen Anne pound of wine (a joke I meant to contrast the imperial gallon's definition) and saying "Queen Anne gallon of wine" instead of the "wine gallon" defined by Queen Anne in 1707 (now referred to as the "Queen Anne wine gallon"), which parts are incorrect?

[–] M137@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They don't understand insert basically anything either though.

[–] darthelmet@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago

Understanding things is COMMUNIST! We have the FREEDUMB to be completely illiterate!

[–] darthelmet@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Tbf does anybody? It's a pretty stupid system.

[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 4 points 2 days ago (4 children)

I mean, one would hope that a nation would know at least one system. If they tell me one more time "it just makes more sense" about stupid fahrenheit it will be too much.

The freezing and boiling points of MALT does not a good system make!

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It's a better system for weather, but that's about it. 0 is very cold, and 100 is very hot. No decimals needed.

[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

... Please stop. Its not only not true it is also very silly. No its not good for weather, 78 is not a temp for a room.

look at arizona and boil in the heat of the average house

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You're just jealous you're not made of malt

[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Oh then we both have terrible news today....

uh oh. you tell me mine. im pretty stupid

[–] darthelmet@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

THAT’S WHAT IT’S BASED ON?

[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago

One of my pet peeves is people thinking units of the past or people in the past were stupid, as opposed to just prioritizing different things.

The low end was based on the stabilizing temperature of a solution of water, ice and salt in a proportion lost to time. The benefit was that a water/ice/salt solution will stabilize it's temperature naturally until the ice melts, making it useful for calibrating something like a thermometer: "ice" can be below the freezing point, but you can use the solution to set a steady baseline: the liquid will be 0°F.
The next steady baseline was body temperature, available to anyone measuring.
The scale was then set so that the freezing and boiling points of water were 180° apart. This was useful because it put them on opposite sides of a dial.
It was before we decided that ten was the ultimate number that couldn't be beat, so people still played with circular symmetry, thirds and so one.

This meant you could calibrate your thermometer by setting 0 to bring, 100 to your body, and then pushing steam through it and adjusting the offset so that the intervals were right and you correct body temperature variance. Some specific numbers have changed over the years as we adjust the scale to be based on metric.

Not stupid or arbitrary, just prioritizing things we don't care about so much any more.

Celsius and the other are both based on absolute zero and a very specific change in energy levels in the medium, so it's ultimately moot. Neither is technically based on what they originally were.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_revision_of_the_SI

[–] argv_minus_one@mastodon.sdf.org 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 4 points 2 days ago

Oh sure, it just so happens to line up just so and comes from a time where malt (max saturation of salt in water) was common.

Fun thing though is that due to this its the one thing f is good at. No point salting a road at or below zero f. Yeap that's it, wooooo

[–] ouRKaoS@lemmy.today -1 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I've always explained °Fwith:

0° = Cold AF

100° = Hot AF

50° = Chilly, but manageable

[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 5 points 2 days ago

Why are you all like this?

[–] qyron@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 days ago (2 children)

For Celsius

0º - water becomes solid - it's cold

25º - water is refreshing - ideal temperature

50º - water is scalding - dangerous

100º - water is boiling - guaranteed serious injure territory from this point forward

And, since nobody seems to reach an agreement...

For Kelvin

0º - matter has ceased to move; collapse of matter and reality as we understand it - it's cold

273.15º - water is remains solid - still cold

298.15º - water is a fluid, drinkable, safe to enter - ideal temperature

323.15º - water is capable of delivering serious injuries upon contact - dangerous

373.15º - water is passing into vapour form at high rythm - avoid proximity and all contact from this point forward

[–] forbiddencherry@lemmy.today 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

FYI: Kelvin doesn't use the degree symbol. It's not degrees Kelvin, just Kelvin.

[–] qyron@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 days ago

I'll leave as a testimony of my idiocy. May those seeking to demonstrate my ineptitude never lack evidence.

[–] Simon_Shitewood@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 days ago

25º - water is refreshing

Get the fuck out of here with your miserable warm water, water is refreshing between 3° and 10°C.

[–] amio@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

This is not the explanation you think it is, over there.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 0 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Tonnes of engineering white papers showing how much imperial measure errors cost US industry.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 1 points 1 day ago

And what size are those white papers, that's right US letter standard

[–] darthelmet@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Don’t you mean kilograms of white papers? :P

[–] ignominous_wombat@lemmy.ml 0 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Metric ton (1000 kg), not imperial/long ton (2240 lbs) or US/short ton (2000 lbs).

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Metric 1000kg is a tonne. There is no metric "ton".

[–] ignominous_wombat@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Both spellings are correct as far as I'm aware. Like how we call it the metric system and not système international d'unités, you can translate terms into your native language if desired.

If you want to be pedantic, do it elsewhere, because I honestly do not give a single shit.

[–] kamen@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

It's not even about the units - a fraction is unitless. 1/3 of something is more than 1/4 of the same something.

[–] skisnow@lemmy.ca -2 points 2 days ago (2 children)
[–] remon@ani.social 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Definitely don't quit your day job to become a bot detector.

[–] CanadianCarl@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz -1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That one is an even dumber mischaracterization. If you offer a bigger, but shittier burger than McDonald's, and people don't buy it, you can't just conclude that they didn't understand your burger was bigger.

[–] CanadianCarl@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz -1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The entire "AmErICANs dOnT kNoW 1/3>1/4!!" thing rests on AW'S declining sales not reversing from an ad campaign.

If tomorrow, Arby's starts offering 2 extra slices of meat with their sandwiches, and then you didn't buy them, would it make sense for me to run around saying "Haha Carl@sh.itjustworks doesn't know how addition works! He doesn't know when you add 2 to something you have more of it!"

[–] CanadianCarl@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I am not from the United States of Murica. There are 2 different A&W's. A&W Canada also only sells grass fed, and grass finished beef. Which are higher quality than regular beef.

It is over 1 hour drive to the nearest Arby's. I don't know anything about Arby's. That is like me saying you are missing out on $3 summer deal at Harvey's.

[–] Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz -1 points 1 day ago

Haha Carl@sh.itjustworks doesn't know how addition works! He isn't driving 2 hours to buy a gross-ass Arby's burger because he thinks when you add 2 to something you have the same amount!

[–] FistingEnthusiast@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Not understanding anything at all

[–] Fmstrat@lemmy.world -1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

As funny as it is, someone could just as accurately say to you "What's more Lemmy than commenting without understanding?"

This is a marketing statement against the smaller cans of other energy drinks on American shelves next to it. They are well under 500ml, usually closer to 250ml.

Nobody should buy this garbage anyway, but that's just my opinion.

[–] glimse@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Nooo they can't mean the most famous energy drink in the world with its uniquely small can that shares a shelf with it! They MUST mean the European Monster cans that exist on the other side of the planet!

[–] Varesti@lemmy.zip -4 points 2 days ago

The 151.1959447 gram burger has such a nice ring to it!

[–] MintyFresh@lemmy.world -1 points 2 days ago

I accidentally put my rental car into kph, and it really threw me. I glanced down and it said I was doing 119. Panic face for a minute there.