• kindenough
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    10 months ago

    Americans

    “I will put a foot up your ass!”

    Europeans

    “???”

  • @AngryishHumanoid@lemmy.world
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    4710 months ago

    Yeah but “smoot” is WAY more fun to say than most other units of measurements. It’s right up there with plancks, bees dicks, and megaFonzies.

  • @ABoxOfPhotons@lemmy.world
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    3010 months ago

    The irony is that in the US, Metric is the standard, used by all science, military, governmental etc sectors. It’s just that the average American is too insecure to acknowledge this fact.

    • @prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      This is utter horseshit. Anyone who doesn’t acknowledge that fact probably just didn’t know and you’re just projecting some “I’m better than you” nonsense.

      We learn the metric system in our schools. It’s part of our curriculum. We learn it in math classes, we learn it in science classes, we learn about it in history classes as well.

      The UK drives using MPH too, despite the metric system being the standard. Oh nooooo! An alternate measurement system that the masses understand and accept!

      For what it is worth, if you were curious, NIST adopted and recommends the SI standard.

      However what IS fun is the world adopting US customary measures intertwined with metrics units for new measurements that weren’t used before, electrical current/resistance stuff like that. Though, good luck getting anyone who likes to try to dunk on the USA like this to admit it. Any American who responds how you’re saying is just pissed that once again someone is trying to look down their nose at us for living our fucking lives.

      • @catastrophicblues@lemmy.ca
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        310 months ago

        We learn the metric system in our schools. It’s part of our curriculum. We learn it in math classes, we learn it in science classes, we learn about it in history classes as well.

        And apparently promptly have an episode of amnesia because every adult here seems to not know how to convert.

    • @Rato@lemmy.world
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      310 months ago

      The US Navy is an exception, and doesn’t use metric. Even their nuclear stuff uses the English Engineering System (Mostly imperial units.).

    • @dacreator@lemmy.world
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      210 months ago

      Insecure about what? Which side of the tape measure to use? Honestly I don’t think many Americans are or were ever made aware that metric is the standard.

      • Everyone who has ever served in any branch of the US military knows this fact.

        In 2020, US gvmnt estimates were 19.4m living vets in the nation. With a population of around 331m, that’s around 6%. If you include the number of non-vets civilians who’s jobs directly support the military, and who therefore are also required to use metric in their jobs, this number will be higher - I couldn’t find population estimates, but it’s at least a couple percent as the DoD alone employs a million civilians. NASA employs around 17k, and anyone working for a company who works with NASA is going to have to use metric. I’d be shocked if the number of Americans who aren’t having to use metric at work, and are therefore aware that it’s a standard here, wasn’t at least 10%.

        Nowhere near a majority, but certainly significant; over 20m people warrants “many,” surely?

  • @AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    It’s not our fault! Our Kg, and possibly our Meter stick, got stolen by pirates, and we never got a replacement!

    (This is mostly a joke)

    • @atx_aquarian@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot

      The smoot is a nonstandard, humorous unit of length created as part of an MIT fraternity pledge to Lambda Chi Alpha by Oliver R. Smoot, who in October 1958 lay down repeatedly on the Harvard Bridge between Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, so that his fraternity brothers could use his height to measure the length of the bridge.

      • @Jackcooper@lemmy.world
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        1210 months ago

        The 83 year old Smoot is still alive, and his career was as a chairman of two standardization organizations. Pretty funny.

  • @OpenStars@startrek.website
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    510 months ago

    Bold of you to assume that Americans are not so lazy as to refuse to measure anything at all. (Can confirm: am American) :-P

    As proof, just look at who wins the votes in an election vs. what actually happens next.