Fahrenheit usage around the world

[RC]

I found this quite funny:

[attachimg=#]

 

[Stephen B]

[size=11pt]

You are living dangerously, Reiska, this could open up a whole debate again on metric/imperial.

Let the games begin!  [big grin]

 

[jonathan-m]

haha the metric/imperial map is equally impressive, really

 

[mike68au]

I also find it funny..... and I also can't really understand why they are so resistant and stubborn to change.  

Just because it's familiar doesn't mean it's the better way, it's just the familiar way.  The sooner you go the better way the more familiar it will become.

 

[upscale]

I found this quite funny:

Actually, your world map is not representative of the real truth. I'm Canadian and almost always convert temperature and measurement in my head to Imperial values. That's what I grew up with and that's what I still use.

So please put an orange dot on your map somewhere in the Toronto area to represent me.  :

 

[Kev]

I'd say this could become a heated issue ... but we'd have no common way of commonly calibrating how hot [cool]

My 90 year old father is comfortable with Metric. He was born in Canada and grew up in the UK ... moving to Australia in 1965 - just as the Metric system was being introduced and the country was converting from pounds to dollars.

In all honesty the thing that perplexes me the most is that the US went to 100 cents in the dollar, but stay with feet and inches [eek]

 

[Frank Pellow]

I found this quite funny:

Actually, your world map is not representative of the real truth. I'm Canadian and almost always convert temperature and measurement in my head to Imperial values. That's what I grew up with and that's what I still use.

So please put an orange dot on your map somewhere in the Toronto area to represent me.  :

That's strange Upscale.  I am 12 years older than you and Canadian and favour Celsius and Metric over the archaic systems that they replaced.  I grew up with both systems but switched almost exclusively to Celsius/Metric about 1960. 

 

[mouppe]

I use Fahrenheit but am perfectly comfortable in both systems.

There seems to be an insinuation that using Celsius is superior to Fahrenheit because most countries use it which is ridiculous. Is anyone seriously suggesting that it's easier telling the weather in Celsius because freezing is zero degrees instead of 32 degrees?

And I certainly wouldn't describe Fahrenheit as "archaic" when it is still widely used by millions of people. I guarantee most thermometers in England are still read in Fahrenheit- more people there still measure body temperature in Fahrenheit than in Celsius.

 

[Frank Pellow]

I use Fahrenheit but am perfectly comfortable in both systems.

There seems to be an insinuation that using Celsius is superior to Fahrenheit because most countries use it which is ridiculous. Is anyone seriously suggesting that it's easier telling the weather in Celsius because freezing is zero degrees instead of 32 degrees?

And I certainly wouldn't describe Fahrenheit as "archaic" when it is still widely used by millions of people. I guarantee most thermometers in England are still read in Fahrenheit- more people there still measure body temperature in Fahrenheit than in Celsius.

Yes, I am seriously suggesting that.  And another thing that makes more sense is water boiling at 100 rather than 212.

And I stick with my claim that Fahrenhei is archaic.

 

[mouppe]

So water freezes at zero and boils at 100 and that makes sense to you. To me, I go outside and it's zero and I know it's bloody freezing, I go outside when it's 100 and it's bloody boiling.

 

[promark747]

I use Fahrenheit but am perfectly comfortable in both systems.

There seems to be an insinuation that using Celsius is superior to Fahrenheit because most countries use it which is ridiculous. Is anyone seriously suggesting that it's easier telling the weather in Celsius because freezing is zero degrees instead of 32 degrees?

And I certainly wouldn't describe Fahrenheit as "archaic" when it is still widely used by millions of people. I guarantee most thermometers in England are still read in Fahrenheit- more people there still measure body temperature in Fahrenheit than in Celsius.

Yes, I am seriously suggesting that.  And another thing that makes more sense is water boiling at 100 rather than 212.

And I stick with my claim that Fahrenhei is archaic.

Sorry, but that's nonsense.  Unlike the metric system vs. imperial, Celsius has no advantages over Fahrenheit (at least to non-scientists).

 

[Rob Z]

Yes, if we really need to do something that makes sense, we should start using degrees Kelvin.  [big grin]

 

[Kev]

232.77778 C doesn't have the same ring to it [blink]

 

[Rob Z]

232.77778 C doesn't have the same ring to it [blink]

That's true, but the metric system is touted as precise and accurate.  So let's be really precise and accurate. ;D

 

[upscale]

That's strange Upscale.  I am 12 years older than you and Canadian and favour Celsius and Metric over the archaic systems that they replaced.  I grew up with both systems but switched almost exclusively to Celsius/Metric about 1960.  

Guess it's a matter of environment then. I lived in Montreal from 1954 to 1966. There was absolutely no mention of celsius or metric the entire time I lived there. I was 16 when they started to phase celsius and metric into the schools I attended, but it was just a system that you learned, but it wasn't mandatory to use it.

In any event, even though I can use both, I use what I like and that's imperial across the board.

 

[Rick Christopherson]

I use Fahrenheit but am perfectly comfortable in both systems.

There seems to be an insinuation that using Celsius is superior to Fahrenheit because most countries use it which is ridiculous. Is anyone seriously suggesting that it's easier telling the weather in Celsius because freezing is zero degrees instead of 32 degrees?

And I certainly wouldn't describe Fahrenheit as "archaic" when it is still widely used by millions of people. I guarantee most thermometers in England are still read in Fahrenheit- more people there still measure body temperature in Fahrenheit than in Celsius.

Yes, I am seriously suggesting that.  And another thing that makes more sense is water boiling at 100 rather than 212.

And I stick with my claim that Fahrenhei is archaic.

When there is nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit for every 1 degree Celsius, yeah, for the average person, Fahrenheit is the more convenient system. When considering how nice the weather is and thinking about a span between 70 to 80 degrees F, the equivalent is only 6 degrees C. In order to have the same granularity in the temperatures, Celsius would require a decimal place number.

As for the 0 to 100 degree range, that's pretty much meaningless to the average person because it depends on where they live. In Toronto, water boils at 99.5 (211.1 F) degrees. In Denver, it is all the way down to 94.4 (201.9 F).  [big grin] [big grin]

 

[leer]

I also find it funny..... and I also can't really understand why they are so resistant and stubborn to change.  

Just because it's familiar doesn't mean it's the better way, it's just the familiar way.  The sooner you go the better way the more familiar it will become.

Oops -- I guess I treaded into a "USA not welcome" thread.

Funny, all the USA-bashing here, and yet it is under the "General Friendly Chat" forum ...

Some of you ought to realize that back 40-50 years ago, when we tried to start the move to metric, we had a population of about a 1/4 billion people.  It is pretty tough and expensive to take a huge country in a completely new direction.  I am an engineer and everything I did in college was metric-oriented.  But you do not change a country's general population overnight.  It will take generations to do that, if at all.  And regarding the switch to Celsius -- give me a break!  There is nothing inherently more accurate, smarter, or better about one temperature unit of measure over another.

But enough complaining -- I think I go saw some 2X4s and build something -- or for the rest of you - 50x100s ...

 

[Walk On Wood]

I find both systems of temperature measurement equally easy to use at -40

 

[Jonhilgen]

FYI, Anders Celsius originally had freezing water at 100, and boiling at zero...it's amazing what you remember from doing oral reports in high school.

http://energyquest.ca.gov/scientists/celsius.html

Jon

 

[peter halle]

I go outside and my hands get cold - its cold.  I sweat - its hot.  How hot is rated in the number of shirts I change. Hottest days might be 5 shirt days.  Today was not cold and not hot - it was ok.  It was a 0 shirt change day.  [big grin]

Peter