Weird Things about the USA

[billcoe]

Another weird thing about Canada:

 

 

 

OMG thats funny!

[pink]

[pink]

http://oceans.greenpeace.org/en/take-action/e-cards/blame-canada-and-espa-a Edited February 5, 2007 by pink

[G-spotter]

Q: How do you tell the difference between a Canadian and an American?

 

A: Tell the Canadian there isn't any difference.

[pink]

the canadian displays a maple leaf on their person so they are not mistaken for a yank.

 

don't we all live in america?

[murraysovereign]

I remember on climbing trip to the Canadian Rockies where this carpenter told us they sell everything in metric. The problem is a 4X8 piece of plywood gets some idiodic metric measure, but its a 4X8 piece of wood. If they wanted to be truely metric they would sell stuff in even metric measurements.

 

Face it you Canucks use english measurements whether you like it or not.

 

Actually, that carpenter was bullshitting you. A 4X8 sheet of plywood is exactly that - 4X8. It's not converted to any metric equivalent, it's just 4X8. And 2x4s are called 2x4s, even though they're not actually 2x4, but that's what everyone calls them anyhow, so that's what we call them, too. Same with 1x4s, and 2x12s, and 6x6s and on and on... And they're sold by the foot.

 

Where it gets strange is when you're working on various construction jobs and you need two different measuring tapes, or at least one tape with both metric and imperial measurements. Because if you're working on a residential construction job, all the blueprints and the materials and measurements are in imperial, but the next day you go across the street to work on an industrial/commercial construction job, and all the blueprints and measurements are in metric

 

And having done my share of both over the years, I'll take commercial jobs over residential any day, just so I don't have to waste my time subtracting 9 3/4" from 3' 2 3/8" - it's much quicker and easier and more accurate to just add and subtract whole numbers from one another, rather than pissing around with all those stupid bloody fractions.

 

For the life of me I'll never understand why, after the Revolution, you Yanks threw away every vestige of your British heritage with the sole exception of their completely idiotic system of weights and measures. Especially since your French allies in the war had such a self-evidently superior system. Of all the things Britain gave the world, why do you still insist on hanging on so stubbornly to the only one that makes absolutely no sense at all?

[foraker]

why do you still insist on hanging on so stubbornly to the only one that makes absolutely no sense at all?

 

because it's one of those things we're really really exceptionally good at...

[foraker]

pound, foot, yard.....that's where it's at.

 

without looking it up:

 

a)how many teaspoons in a gallon?

b)how many milliliters in a liter?

 

if you answered both correctly, how long did it take you to figure out (a) vs. (b)

 

if you still like english/imperial units, as yourself why you think it's easier, faster, and less error-prone to memorize tables of values than it is to know how to multiply and divide by 10.

[murraysovereign]

pound, foot, yard.....that's where it's at.

 

without looking it up:

 

a)how many teaspoons in a gallon?

b)how many milliliters in a liter?

 

if you answered both correctly, how long did it take you to figure out (a) vs. (b)

 

It gets even better when you start translating between different concepts, such as distance and volume and area. For instance, how many (a) cubic centimetres in a litre, vs how many (b) cubic inches in a gallon? Or if you have a square piece of land measuring 1 hectare, how many metres long will each side be; and if you have a square piece of land measuring one acre, how many feet long will each side be? (Hint: don't expect that last one to come up as a whole number, because it won't)

[G-spotter]

but murray, acres aren't square.

 

they are one rod wide and one-half mile long.

 

now, hydrology question, how many gallons are in an acre-foot?

 

[Dechristo]

if we converted to the metric system, no one could give us an inch, so we could take a mile.

 

"give him 2.54 centimeters, and he'll take 1.62 kilometers" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

 

 

Beside, I have an inch/foot trigonometric function calculator on my tool belt when I need it.

[Dechristo]

Another weird thing about Canada:

 

 

The French province performs the fellatio.

[bstach]

Another weird thing about Canada:

 

 

The French province performs the fellatio.

 

If you knew anything about Canadian politics, you'd know the rest of Canada has been sucking *Quebec's* dick since confederation.

[ken4ord]

All I have to say is FUCK THE METRIC SYSTEM

 

pound, foot, yard.....that's where it's at.

 

I remember on climbing trip to the Canadian Rockies where this carpenter told us they sell everything in metric. The problem is a 4X8 piece of plywood gets some idiodic metric measure, but its a 4X8 piece of wood. If they wanted to be truely metric they would sell stuff in even metric measurements.

 

Face it you Canucks use english measurements whether you like it or not.

 

 

 

Sorry but I think the metric system make way more sense than the "english" system. Ok I agree that it doesn't work so well when you take a 4X8 and try to convert it to metric, but it doesn't make sense for a manufacturer to change there tooling to make a metric sheet of plywood, yeah call it a 4X8 and call it good. English bolts sizes are stupid compared to metric, whole numbers are so much easier than fractions (like you said). Metric volumes are so much easier, than 16 ounces to a cup and 4 cups to quart bullshit. Temperature measurments in metric make way more sense to 0 degrees freezing, 100 degrees boiling, not the stupidity of 32 freezing and 212 boiling.

 

To say the "English" system is better than the metric system is like saying, 'Face it 100 foot Goldlines are a better rope to climb on no matter what'. Wake up and smell your 30ml of coffee.

[snoboy]

but murray, acres aren't square.

 

they are one rod wide and one-half mile long.

 

Actually they are 160 square rods, or 10 square chains..., or was that 1 chain by 1 furlong???