I'm five foot twenty-five centimetres tall

[pne]

I'm curious as to what sort of units you use to measure various things, especially since I've heard that some people will use a mixture of metric and non-metric units depending on the object (one example given was measuring distances in miles but speeds in kilometres per hour, or measuring short distances in inches and feet but longer ones in metres and kilometres).

If you answer "other", or want to add anything, please comment on this entry.

Edit to add: I'm also interested in how you'd measure the diagonal of (a) a television set and (b) a computer monitor. (For example, in Germany (a) is usually in cm while (b) is usually in inches.)

[Poll #270715]

Comments

[diffrentcolours]

I put "other" for a bunch of stuff where I've never had to measure it...

[bopeepsheep.livejournal.com]

Notes:
calculating WW Points first requires analysis of kilocalories (called calories) and grams of saturated fat in the meal.
our room thermometer gives both F and C, our bath one simply says "HOT".
how I expect to hear the weather and how I'd like to hear it are not the same, similarly how I would buy meat and how I am forced to buy it by legislation may not always coincide (depends on recipe whether I want imperial or metric).

[feste.livejournal.com]

Living in Canadia, a lot of our recipes have instructions in American imperial units. And we still use a lot of imperial units for things like height and distance. Also, my girlfriend is American. I can work with equal proficiency in metric or imperial for a lot of things.

[vampwillow]

*very* interesting poll, but so long I've forgotten which one's I answered 'other' for!

Food - measure Grams of carb
Cars - measure speed; not bothered about 'power' (whassat?)
Water - my water bill measures the size of my flat ;-)

some smallish measurements (cm/inch up to a yard/metre) I'm as likely to use one as the other; would depend on who I was talking with and what level of accuracy I wanted in the answer (eg. 1½" is not equal to 1.5")

[rho]

Gosh, people show up in the strangest places. Well, not that this is a strange place, or anything...

Likewise. In fact, the only "other" I put which wasn't an "I never measure this sort of thing" was for subatomic particles, where the answer is "both of the above, and others (u for instance)".

There were also a few where I could use more than one, but went with the one I'd be most comfortable with.

[senji.livejournal.com]

All of my others are 'I don't do that thing'

[tinyjo.livejournal.com]

I left out a bunch of ones that I've no idea what I'd measure them in. A lot of places though, how I measure is proscribed. You can only buy milk in pints in the supermarket, but when I'm measuring it out for a recipie I'm happy to measure in any unit the book tells me really.

[homicide-afp.livejournal.com]

>Gosh, people show up in the strangest places. Well, not that this is a strange place, or anything...

No they don't. It's just a figment of your imagination.

[marikochan.livejournal.com]

The only thing I would comment on (I had to put "other" for a lot because I don't generally measure them) is that I measure race distances in meters (yes, I call them that ;) ) and kilometers, but just about any other distance measure would be feet and miles.

[damned-colonial.livejournal.com]

Explanation of my answers:

I was born in Australia and lived 25 years there, then moved to Canada and have been here 3 years. Some of my answers are wacky because *now* I'd measure things the Canadian way, because I've adapted to the local system.

Energy content of meals: kJ in Australia, but now I've moved here I use kcal (but call them cal)

Person's height: imperial (5'6") for everyday purposes, metric (175cm) for medical or official purposes

Short distances: I'm often measuring them for craft projects, in which case I use centimetres for my own use, but inches if I'm following a pattern in inches. Also, the more approximate the measure the more likely I am to use inches, eg. "about four inches" but "11 centimetres"

Meat is labelled here in both lb and kg. I use both interchangeably, especially when working from a recipe that may use either measure depending on its origin (Australian recipes use g/kg, north american use lb)

Baking measures: depends on source of recipe

I buy milk in mL because I'm mildly lactose intolerant so I don't buy much milk :) Most people use L.

Beer: in Australia, beer is measured according to the regionally local glass size, which is officially defined in mL. Examples include "schooner" and "pony".

Water/electricity bills: I'm remembering from Australia. I don't look so closely here, I just pay them.

Paper size: A4 by choice - letter is evil! (but "standard" here, alas)

Farm size: I could go either way on farm size... acres if it's a small hobby farm, hectares for most commercial farms, km^2 for big cattle stations. Australian usage here; I don't know anything about farms in Canada.

All other "other" responses mean "I don't measure this" - especially ones related to cars, as I don't drive.

[uon.livejournal.com]

You can buy ponies of beer? Don't tell london.pm...

[christine.livejournal.com]

some of the things, I can measure multiple ways... for instance, short distances (ruler length), I am used to both inches and centimeters.

Also, when it comes to cooking, it is highly dependant on how much of an ingredient I'm using. For instance, I'll generally use a a tbsp to measure butter, but if I'm using a whole lot of it, I might measure by the stick (1/4 pound), or even by the pound. Same with sugar of flour (Could by by dry tsp/tbsp, cup, oz/lb).

So yeah... some of the things I'd prefer check boxes instead of radio buttons for, but I think you get the gist of my american ways :o)~

[damned-colonial.livejournal.com]

It's an extra small glass used in the northern states (so the beer doesn't get warm before you drink it all). I don't think London.pm would be interested in drinking beer from an eggcup.

[robnorth.livejournal.com]

Couple of notes:

1) In Canada, the barometric pressure is announced in kilopascals, not hectopascals (is that what they use over in Yoorup?).

2) We mostly measure house and house lot sizes in square feet still, much less often in square metres. Acres are usually only used if the lot is about 1/2 acre (~2500 m^2) or more).

3) Ounces is noted 'oz' from the Latin root, but in English, no Z. %-)

Cool poll!

[pne.livejournal.com]

1) In Canada, the barometric pressure is announced in kilopascals, not hectopascals (is that what they use over in Yoorup?).

Ah, hadn't come across that.

hPa are used by some who want to appear "legit", since it uses an SI unit with a prefix, yet the number is identical to using millibars (1 hPa = 1 mbar).

Millibar is more common in Germany, though, I'd say.

2) We mostly measure house and house lot sizes in square feet still

Ah, thanks. Didn't think of that unit.

3) Ounces is noted 'oz' from the Latin root, but in English, no Z. %-)

Oops, typo. Pity you can't edit polls. (It's spelled correctly in other places, though.)

Thanks!

[pthalo]

from this i see non-hungarian european countries are not as excited about dekagrams and decilitres as hungary is :)

[bride.livejournal.com]

I'm Canadian, so all the measurement units I use are completely higgledy-piggledy. =) Because of our proximity to the US and American culture, we've just learned to eyeball everything with American units.

My measuring cup-thing has three or four different scales on it, cups, fluid ounces, and SI. So, whatever the recipe is using, I can follow. And if I can't figure it out, I go online to do the conversions.

Temperature is in Celcius (except when the recipes give the oven temperature in Fahrenheit because we have both on our knobs), but height is in feet and inches, weight is also in pounds, distance is usually in SI, etc.

[bride.livejournal.com]

Re: Beer

I was thinking, "doesn't beer come in kegs?"... but then I realized he meant "individual servings". =D =D

[fweebles.livejournal.com]

I can't believe you didn't include kPa!
*never used anything else, except in chemistry class*

[fweebles.livejournal.com]

Height's not in feet in inches and what not when you go to get ID.
My driver's licence says I'm 183 cm tall, for instance. :)

[bride.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, official documents will be in SI, but I'd have to look it up to know how tall I was in cm (160cm). In regular conversation though, I say I'm 5'3". I should really try to think of these things in SI more often =)

[damerell.livejournal.com]

I measure screens in inches for either type.

I never worry about the energy contact of food.

Although a lot of my answers are Imperial, I would _always_ use metric units where any serious calculation was involved - like any European scientist or engineer.

dag, dl

[pne.livejournal.com]

So it seems!

In fact, the only reason I included dekagrams is because of you.

And decilitres in recipes is from a Swedish friend who gave me a recipe with things measured in dl - I can't recall seeing that in Germany. Do you use dl, too, then?

Re: dag, dl

[pthalo]

almost everything is in dl here. dl and dkg (i guess that's the hungarian abbreviation for dekagrams) but if you buy a 0,5L soft drink it's listed that way. (half a litre)

[davorg.livejournal.com]

To be pedantic, my thermometer would be marked in degress _Celsius_.

A Centrigrade scale is any scale that divides the range between the freezing and boiling points of water in 100 degrees.

Both Kelvin and Celsius are Centigrade scales. Celsius is the one where 0 is placed at the freezing point of water.

[pne.livejournal.com]

Thanks; I'll try to remember that.

[diffrentcolours]

What, a post linked to from a community I run? ;p

[tungol.livejournal.com]

Things wanting comment:
Fever thermometer: I put fahrenheit, because I think it's more common, but I've used and owned both.
Distances between cities: Kilometres would be more likely, but miles wouldn't be unusual.
All the baking things: I use cups, tablespoons or teaspoons according to how much I need. I put cups for all of them except baking powder, where I put teaspoons.
Book parcel: I'm not sure what the post office weighs it in, but probably something metric here in Canada. But I put pounds, since it's the measurement I'd be most familiar with for things of that size.

Things where I put "other" because I don't normally measure them:
energy in a meal
power of a car engine
energy in a bomb
energy of a subatomic particle
wind speed
units I would buy meat in (I rarely buy meat.)
air pressure
tire pressure
all the questions to do with alcoholic drinks
both questions to do with pop
units on water bill
units on electricity bill

[tungol.livejournal.com]

Also, for small distances, I use quite a mixture of metric and imperial (what being Canadian does to your measurements!)
I measure very small things in millimetres
I'd say centimetre if something was about a centimetre, and inch if something was about an inch. I might distinguish between a centimetre and half an inch.
I'd use inches for things up to a foot, and I'd say one foot or two feet. I could probably use either three feet or a metre; I'm not sure which is more likely. Above that, I'm not sure when I'd use metric and when I'd use imperial for lengths or sizes of a few metres more... feet and inches for heights of people (except, as other Canadians have noted, for official stuff), but maybe metres for other things.

Interesting poll

[(Anonymous)]

It's an interesting poll. Didn't take part, but I think I'm surprisingly metric for someone born in the UK. Ever since I was little I ignored all imperial measurements (except miles, I guess), and now, when, very rarely, some measurement is given solely in imperial, I'm at a loss.

Just to give you an idea of what I would have put...

Food: calories (kcal)

Car: Don't care

Car speed: Don't care

Boat speed: Don't care

Temperature: Always has to be Celsius. Fever, bath, weather, whatever. My oven has no Fahrenheit scale, and I wouldn't dream of touching the knob if it did.

Earthquake: Richter

Height: It's nice and even in metric, but I memorised it in imperial so I don't sound like an idiot.

Weight: Kilos. My scales only have kilos. I've always used kilos. I have no idea what my weight is in stones and pounds - I always forget. But, I am not an idiot apparently if I say my weight in kilos.

Wind speed: I don't care too much. Kilometres and miles are equally natural to me.

Newborn baby: I don't know how much I weighed at birth. And I don't see the significance of other people telling me their birthweight. I'd prefer kilos.

Shopping: Almost all prepackaged food is metric, so when I buy fresh, I buy in kilos.

Paper: A4

House size, room size, office space: Square metres, please! If I see sqft, I divide by 10. If I measure the area of the floor to buy carpet, I'll use metres, because my measuring tape is metric... I think. Or maybe I just automatically ignore the inches...

Spectacles: +1.00 -4.50 -3.75 +4.25, that sort of thing.

Air pressure: Millibars, hectopascals, same thing.

Butter, petrol: Grams, litres.

Land: I don't care what people measure land in. I'd measure mine in hectares. 100m by 100m squares is good enough for me.

Volume: A can of coke is 330ml, sometimes 33cl. Same for a glass bottle. A plastic bottle can be 500ml, 1L, 1.25L, 1.5L or 2L.

Country: Square kilometres. Miles are natural to me, but square miles aren't.

Distances: Mostly metres, centimetres. If something is about the size of a foot, or half a foot, inch or half an inch, I'll use imperial.

My gas meter uses cuft, and I never look at my gas bill.

Screw this, I usually measure everything in metric, from sugar to milk to God knows what. I don't wanna be confused. If I measured tall buildings in metres, but other distances in feet, I wouldn't be able to relate the two that easily...

So, it's probably best to be consistent in whatever system you prefer. I couldn't be consistent in imperial because it is very often lacking alongside the metric measurement. So I chose the right system to be consistent in pretty early on. Good for me, huh.