How to measure things like a Canadian

[MyronL]

Can we please stop beating around the bush on why in the USA we won’t ever accept the metric system? Anybody remember when President Ford tried to make it work? He was not reelected.

We all know it … the fault lies at the “feet” here of professional sports. I am never going to accept the notion that a pitchers’ mound is anything but 90 feet from home plate, or that Yogi curved a home run anything but 192 feet down the line around the foul pole in old Yankee Stadium. Who would dare asserting that a home run went "564 meters" into the stands? A football field is a hundred yards, in ten yard increments, and case closed. Nobody I know really gives a hoot about the actual dimensions of a hockey rink.

Kilometers? What the hell is a “Klick”? This isn't Vietnam. On my drive to the Osoyoos Rally last year when I crossed the border into Canada I nearly freaked out. Suddenly, didn’t know how fast I was driving! It took me several minutes of great anxiety, until it occurred to me that the dashboard instruments in the car were all digital, and could be converted like magic, to show everything in metric. I won’t give an inch on this, even if you give me a mile.

[alanmalk]

Originally Posted by C&G in FL

The populace of the US has resisted changing to the metric system primarily due to laziness.
...

Counting myself among the lazy (and proud of it), I would rather hike 10 kilometers than 10 miles.

[C&G in FL]

Originally Posted by alanmalk

Counting myself among the lazy (and proud of it), I would rather hike 10 kilometers than 10 miles.

Taken totally out of context. I was referring to mental laziness, not physical laziness! But I hear you!

[KirkB]

Originally Posted by MyronL

We all know it … the fault lies at the “feet” here of professional sports....

A football field is a hundred yards, in ten yard increments, and case closed. Nobody I know really gives a hoot about the actual dimensions of a hockey rink.

Myron, we haven't converted all sports to metric in Canada. A CFL football field is 110 yards, marked in yards. And real Canadian hockey players play a 200 foot hockey game. I doubt if anyone could tell you how long a hockey rink is in metres.

The real reason that the USA couldn't deal with metric, is they don't know how to spell metre.

[C&G in FL]

Originally Posted by KirkB

The real reason that the USA couldn't deal with metric, is they don't know how to spell metre.

Being one who is willing to point out irony and joke about (or is that aboot) a humorous comment, I would note that “metre” is the British spelling of this particular unit of length, and the irrational Imperial system can be attributed to which nation?

It seems that such a statement is contradictory, abandonment of the mother country’s system of measurement yet clinging to the “King’s English!” But to their credit, Canadians drive on the “correct” side of the road.

[J&B Mitt]

Originally Posted by sherminator

Our shop went metric for fasteners and drawing dimensions... I actually visualize better in metric...

Don't even get me going on First Angle vs Third Angle Projection.

Did any of you own a BSA or Austin Healey or whatever from back in the day? TWO different standards to govern the same oddball fastener sizes. "BS" indeed.

[Centex]

Originally Posted by J&B Mitt

....
Did any of you own a BSA or Austin Healey or whatever from back in the day? TWO different standards to govern the same oddball fastener sizes. "BS" indeed.

Yes! (BSA and Triumph motorcycles and MG and Triumph cars in my case; back in the day when each of those marques was a distinctly separate entity )

I refrained from mention of the old "BSW" aka 'Whitworth' standard, but since you brought it up, I've still got a set of Whitworth wrenches from my youth messing with those British vehicles. My 'vehicular Anglophilia' passed, but I have a 'never sell a tool policy', so there they sit in the workshop .

[J&B Mitt]

Originally Posted by Centex

Yes! My 'vehicular Anglophilia' passed, but I have a 'never sell a tool policy', so there they sit in the workshop .

'Vehicular Anglophiia' haha!

When I got rid of my last Triumph, I gave my whitworth tools to the next sucker, to dissuade me from ever buying another one. Took me three Triumphs to learn that the best thing about Triumphs were the tee shirts.

[75thRanger]

Had a MG conv in 66. Not a South TX car. On the hwy at 50 or 60 was ok. Get in town and at a lite and the temp went thru the roof. The fuel pump gave up and took about 2 mos to find another.

The wood between the top and the window just behind the windshield promptly rotted out. If raining, might as well had the top down.

After about 4 months or so I gave it to my nephew. He loved it.

[dfandrews]

My answer: "ditto".
I had an Austin Healey, and the wrenches went with the car at time of sale.
We are not going to discuss the Lucas electrical system, either.

[gbaglo]

My mechanic advised me to sell my Triumph TR3 as soon as possible. He could fix engine, etc. but the body and frame were little more than primer and paint. The rest was rust.

[dfandrews]

Originally Posted by gbaglo

My mechanic advised me to sell my Triumph TR3 as soon as possible. He could fix engine, etc. but the body and frame were little more than primer and paint. The rest was rust.

In the PNW, the land where everything is made of wood, you should have gotten a Morgan Plus 4!

[J&B Mitt]

Originally Posted by dfandrews

We are not going to discuss the Lucas electrical system, either.

Won't say a word...

[dfandrews]

Originally Posted by J&B Mitt

Won't say a word...

[escape artist]

Originally Posted by dfandrews

My answer: "ditto".
I had an Austin Healey, and the wrenches went with the car at time of sale.
We are not going to discuss the Lucas electrical system, either.

Hi: dfandrews... You must be discussing Joseph Lucas... Prince of darkness!!! Alf
escape artist N.S. of Lake Erie

[Mike Lewis]

How is land measured in Canada-- in acres or hectares?

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

How is land measured in Canada-- in acres or hectares?

Yes.

Officially, in hectares, although in news coverage and discussions acres are still commonly used. Out here in the west land was surveyed over a century ago in a grid of lines spaced at one mile, and the resulting "sections" are one square mile which happens to be 640 acres, and that divides down nicely into the usual quarters and other fractions, so it is particularly easy to keep using acres for land divided by that system. I don't think most people can really picture what either an acre or a hectare is, so in practice the units don't matter to most people.

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

Yes.

Officially, in hectares, although in news coverage and discussions acres are still commonly used. Out here in the west land was surveyed over a century ago in a grid of lines spaced at one mile, and the resulting "sections" are one square mile which happens to be 640 acres, and that divides down nicely into the usual quarters and other fractions, so it is particularly easy to keep using acres for land divided by that system. I don't think most people can really picture what either an acre or a hectare is, so in practice the units don't matter to most people.

The SW corner of our lot is the SW corner of the NE quarter quarter section. of Fremont township. And if there’s a problem with the fence line, I’ll call the Fence viewer. And that’s a real thing. Iowa boys talk acres, chains and rods. They know exactly what a quarter
Mile is because they have walked it roughing corn and flooring the old man’s 53 Chevy which by the way were all painted green because they could hide in the corn when the V8 ford buzzed by.
Iowa Dave

[RonB]

This has puzzled me for years:

1 US gallon = 0.83 Imperial gallon = 3.8 liters

In a country that uses the Imperial system of measurement, why not an actual Imperial gallon?

[Centex]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

... Out here in the west land was surveyed over a century ago in a grid of lines spaced at one mile, .....

Then, for another 'oddball' unit of measure, in Texas many land parcels derive from Mexican / Spanish Land Grants which refer to the distance unit "vara" (~33-1/3 inches).

Never a dull moment in man's never-ending quest of ways to measure things!