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Why do people who try to convince others to switch to metric focus so much on the conversions? (herbicide.fallcounty.omg.lol)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) by klymilark@herbicide.fallcounty.omg.lol to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

139 comments fedilink hide all child comments

It seems like a weird point to bring up. How often do y'all convert your measurements? It's not even a daily thing. If I'm measuring something, I either do it in inches, or feet, rarely yards. I've never once had to convert feet into miles, and I can't imagine I'm unique in this. When I have needed to, it's usually converting down (I.e. 1/3 of a foot), which imperial does handle better in more cases.

Like. I don't care if we switch, I do mostly use metric personally, it just seems like a weird point to be the most common pro-metric argument when it's also the one I'm least convinced by due to how metric is based off of base 10 numbering, which has so many problems with it.

Edit: After reading/responding a lot in the comments, it does seem like there's a fundamental difference in how distance is viewed in metric/imperial countries. I can't quite put my finger on how, but it seems the difference is bigger than 1 mile = 1.6km

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[–] TheV2@programming.dev 3 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

I see where you are coming from and I agree that the big advantage of the metric system is not specifically conversion or anything in particular, but in general that everything fits together due to the coherent units and ratio.

How often do y’all convert your measurements? It’s not even a daily thing.

It's not literally an active daily task, but the effortless conversion benefits your mental image of measurements in general and you don't even have to think about the conversion in the first place. I do not think you are unique in this though. When you live in a place that uses the imperial system (sorry for assuming. Correct me, if I'm wrong), your personal benefit of using the metric system is limited in your daily life.

[–] Kissaki@feddit.org 1 points 23 hours ago

but in general that everything fits together due to the coherent units and ratio

Isn't what you call coherent units and ratio just another word for conversions?

How do you differentiate them then?