Canadians????or any other metric country???

Greg1959

Well-known Member
Y'all use the metric system for measuring...So, how do you
describe the fuel levels in your vehicle fuel tanks???

Do you say 1/2 tank or 1/4 tank of fuel? Or do you say 0.5
or 0.25 tank of fuel?
 
(quoted from post at 13:30:28 09/21/17) Y'all use the metric system for measuring...So, how do you
describe the fuel levels in your vehicle fuel tanks???

Do you say 1/2 tank or 1/4 tank of fuel? Or do you say 0.5
or 0.25 tank of fuel?
I have always said 1/2 a tank or 1/4 tank as the case may be. Even though the capacity of the tank is described in liters.
 
well if it is a 60 liter tank and it is 1/2 empty I would say it has 30 liters left in it but if it is only half full I would say there is 1/2 a tank of fuel left??
 
The USA is a Metric country in denial. I have had international students describe things as 8 tenths full. But more often in percentage like: 30% full, or 30% remaining. Often they say half or quarter as well. Some of it comes from the alalog nature of the gauge, with no markings. I have never seen a dash gauge with 4 liters remaining. But, now we have digital readouts that compute miles to empty (or km) at the averaged consumption rate. Jim
 
I'm all over the place,I say the field is 40acres the speed limit is 90 km/h but my old 89' Z24 used to do 120 mph and the glass i mean tank isn't 1/2 empty it's 1/2 full lol
 
We are really no different from yalls-- officially we are on the metric system but there is a vast "underground" use of inches ,feet, yards,miles. We were taken over by a abundant government run by a french Canadian . One of his bright ideas was to convert the country to metric to make it easy for the one province that was french. He also brought in a law that packaging must be English on one side and french on the other . Quebec is the french province that I am speaking of . It in reality is a different country -- some of them are very insulted to be called Canadian and at one time made a big stink about separating from Canada. Our leader at the time FIXED this by doing all this damage to our country and vast quantities of money were spent on Quebec as well.
If you live in ND or Minnesota --- Canadians arnt much different -- just a little further down a long cold snowy road .
 
Hi Greg, I am an old school Canadian and do everything in imperial measure even though I buy gasoline by the litre. I have a computer spread sheet to figure out the miles per gallon as litres per 100 km is meaningless to me. Temperatures are I know 30 C is hot, -17C is 0F.

Still buy butter by the pound even though it has 454 grams marked on the packaging. Butcher Shop, everything is marked in both lbs and grams or kilograms. I ask for 2 lbs of lean ground.
Lumber/ plywood is still sold as 2x4x8 and 4x8 sheet even though somewhere will be the sticker with the metric measurements.

However my children were totally schooled in metric and miles per gallon or 12 ft mean nothing to them.

My 2 cents
JimB
 
Hey, those decimals and fractions are tricky!
I once asked the person at the deli counter for "three-fourths of a pound" of something, and I got exactly 0.34 pound, no doubt as measured on the digital scale. (Well, at least the 3 and the 4 were in there somewhere, right?)
And no, it was not a "young person", as is often discussed on the board.
 
Amazing but not amusing, the number of people that don't grasp the concept of fractions.

How many times I've handed a tape measure to someone and got the "deer in the headlights" reaction.

"What does it say?"

"Ummmm... There are 2 little lines, a bigger one, some really little ones..."

"Never mind, here hold this end!"
 
Scroll down here and read Centash's reply, it's the only one that makes any sense relative to the post. Fractions and decimals have nothing to do with the metric system of measurement really, they are just two different mathematical systems that deal with portions (ie part of a whole). So 1/2 of a pail or 0.5 of a pail or 50% of a pail mean essentially the same thing, but none of them has anything to do with metric measurement. I'm surprised that some Canadians seem oblivious to this fact.
 
Hello Greg1959,

Well I grew up with the metric system, so the tank question you ask? 1/2 tank is the same as 0.5 right? Just a decimal, but that is all about the metric system. All Standard measurements end with a zero. Kilometer; Kilogram, Liter all are 1000 units. Meter 100 units It sure seams simple to me!
Yard = 36 inches.
Mile = 5280 feet. HA! but it ends with a zero#$%^&*(
Pound = 16 ounces
Gallon =128 fluid ounces NO zero here!
OH yes 1 Dollar has 100 units Woppie!!!
Its what your are use to but

Guido.
 
(quoted from post at 14:30:28 09/21/17) Y'all use the metric system for measuring...So, how do you
describe the fuel levels in your vehicle fuel tanks???

Do you say 1/2 tank or 1/4 tank of fuel? Or do you say 0.5
or 0.25 tank of fuel?

The big move from the 'English system' to the metric system was(is) a joke, perpetrated by the politically correct, left-leaning swamp dwellers in D.C.! TOTALLY ridiculous and unnecessary, BUT that is not what's being taught in our schools! :evil:
 
US was only country where residents were not smart enough to learn how to convert, we also struggles with round abouts.
 
Well MJ, you might argue that the "move" to the metric system was ridiculous, and a lot of people would agree about changing
....... but you obviously don't know how simple and understandable the metric system really is because you've never bothered
to study or understand it. If you could only blank out what you know right now and learn the metric system, you'd be blown
away. The system itself is an almost perfect, or as close to perfect as one might get. Oh yeah, I know how easy it is to use
feet, inches, pounds, ounces, gallons, pints, etc for you and therefore it's a great system. Well, if you think moving from
the British system to the metric system is difficult, you'd have a hard time even imagining how tough it would be to move from
metric to the British system which really, makes no sense at all.
 
While I agree the OP had nothing to do with metric/imperial, my response does.

I heard today that Thomas Jefferson, as Secretary of State in the 1780s, was to meet with two fellows from France. They were sailing to America to introduce the Metric system to Mr. Jefferson, and were brining a metal rod one meter long and a brass cylinder of one kilogram as visual aids. Their sailing ship was caught in a storm and blown off course. They ended up in the Caribbean, and were captured by pirates, and never made it to America. Had they, one could quite easily see the logical Jefferson presenting this new logical measurement system to the fledgling government, and the wildly anti-Imperials people of the time just might have gobbled it up! Far fewer people here to convert back then, the whole continent may be calculating their tractor fuel efficiencies in hogsheads per hectare, or whatever those metric equivalents are...
 
[i:654c4848f0]US was only country where residents were not smart enough to learn how to convert, we also struggles with round abouts. [/i:654c4848f0]

Also the only country to have walked on the moon.
 
Well as Centash said for the measurement difference.
Now for the metric deal. There are so many different threads for a given bolt size you need a die or nut to check they will fit on some of them. If there was only 1 metric system it would also help since there is not just one. Why would anybody want to go with it.
 
(quoted from post at 16:26:19 09/21/17) [i:68728f17a8]US was only country where residents were not smart enough to learn how to convert, we also struggles with round abouts. [/i:68728f17a8]

Also the only country to have walked on the moon.
but a lot of the science was done in SI units as it is done now.
 
Don't try to confuse me with that ferrin' stuff....I have enough on my mind just keeping 100 links=chain=66ft=4 rods & a link =79.72 inches, & rod=16.5 ft, & a Vara=33 1/3 inches, & 80 chains=1 s. mile=5280 ft, & 6076.12ft =1 nautical mile= 1 minute of arc at great circle, & 6ft=fathom, & hands=?, & my head hurts!
 
Hello Crazy Horse,

I was schooled in Italy on the metric system. I came here to the states and had to learn to measure with a yard ruler rather then with a meter ruler. I always ask the people this question: if a pound has 16 ounces why the dollar has 100 units? Can you imagine 16 cents to a dollar? I put some numbers up on my answer to Greg, but many won't see it. Anyhow I have been through what you just described, and live to tell about it, HE! HE!

Guido.
 
The inch system has NF, NC, and NS (national special). I don't think the metric system is any worse. One nice thing about metric is that a bigger size fine thread will be the same as a smaller coarse, so you don't need a special tap for helicoils.
 
For the most part, we are partly metric. Most of our automotive hardware is metric, and has been since the 1980s. We still use acres, miles, pounds, and Fahrenheit, though.

So, what is it that makes you say that we are stupid for not converting? We have centuries old technology that has worked well for us for all of that time. Bear in mind that the United States of America has been the WORLD LEADER in technology. We have been the inventors for the entire world. We have been the standard to which others have looked up to.

I get sick of hearing how Europe or Japan is so much "better" than we are. Really?? Well, Europe is becoming one big welfare state with ridiculous taxes and the right "not to work." Japan, as far as I am concerned has never had a single original thought. They copy others and make things smaller and cheaper.

So, if you think Europe or any other place is so great, then tell me why people are willing to do almost anything to come here to the good old USA? I don't hear about other countries having immigration problems like we have. And, how many Americans are trying to "escape" to Canada or Mexico?

Face it. They are coming here for our superior education system, our superior medical technology, and our better standard of living.
 
So I guess you love the round abouts at Mt. Vernon??? I will bring my semi down with a 48 foot spread axle grain hopper on it and you can go around a lap or two an see how you like them. I hate those things. They are not made with trucks in mind. In Europe where they are loved there are few large trucks off the main highways.
 
Ok, I'm Canadian and Ihate the stupid metric system. Been resisting it since it was imposed on us what 50 years ago? Sure millimeters are very precise for measuring bearings and other small parts but the part that really annoys me is land measurement. All our land is in acres, 640 to a section and 160 acres per quarter. How many hectares? I have no idea. That section measures a mile on each side. Or some odd number of kilometres. Crossroads are a mile apart East and West. 2 miles apart North and South. It becomes a problem when herbicide companies slip up and offer only the metric measures for the application formula. For example I can easily figure how many litres per acre I need to apply but how many litres per hectare? Thank goodness most of them mark clearly on the jug or case, "this treats X number of acres.
 
I haven't seen mention of what I consider is a major metric shot in the foot - the naming of units after people

First example

You can get an idea of what psi entail and size

Try pascal for the same thing - are we honouring his height or his weight or - - ?

And from working on a Mitsubishi so much for factors of 10

1 kg/m = 7.233 ft lbs = 9.807 MN

And those extra taps and dies I had to buy to match the tap set standard metric to Fiat Allis standard metric

And plenty more if you go look

My 2 cents worth
 
(quoted from post at 22:44:37 09/21/17) Quite a few are coming to Canada...... Ben
ep, the illegals in the USA trying to escape to Canada.............great!
 
> 1 kg/m = 7.233 ft lbs = 9.807 MN

Kilogram is a unit of mass. Newton is a unit of force. Totally different. A pound, on the other hand, can be EITHER a unit of mass OR a unit of force.

A pound of force is not "equal" to a pound of mass. And a kilogram does not "equal" 9.8 Newtons. Here on earth, an object with a mass of one pound happens to have a weight of one pound. Once you leave the earth's gravity, that's no longer true. Likewise, a one kilogram mass weighs 9.8 Newtons on earth, elsewhere in the universe it's something else.

Why does a kilogram mass weigh 9.8 Newtons? Because a Newton is the amount of force required to accelerate a one kilogram mass at one meter per second squared. F=ma. In order to make F=ma work in with English units, you have to throw in a conversion factor, because a pound of force is NOT the same thing as a pound of mass.
 
Greg, I assume you're not serious and are just trying to stir the pot. Does your fuel gauge read in units of gallons or liters? Of course not. It's a relative indicator, unlike, say, your voltmeter or temperature gauge.

Now it's clear that metric and English units involve different thought processes when you compare English and metric tape measures. The English tape measure is broken down into fractional units while the metric tape is in millimeters. Finding the midpoint of a measurement involves totally different thought processes for the two tapes. Metric, just divide the millimeters by two. Finding the midpoint of, say 13-13/16 inches is a bit more complicated. Let's see, half of 13 is 6-1/2. Half of 13/16 is 13/32. 1/2 is 16/32, so add 6-16/32 to 13/32 gives us 6-29/32. Ouch.
 
I spent a summer years ago in Europe on a mission trip. The metric system is easy to use and simple, The problem comes in trying to convert back-and-forth between metric and what we are used to. Just use the system and don't try to convert and it makes it a lot easier.

On a sidenote, I was servicing my 1951 Farmall last week with the original manual and was surprised to see references to metric measurements in it.
 
The true imperial mass is called a "slug". A pound "mass" weighs one pound at sea level (32.2 f/s^2=9.81m/s^2). It gets really complicated when trying to figure out the mass needed for dynamic structural accelerations when you use both a pound "force" and a pound "mass".
 
OT answer sorta: I was on a business trip to Toronto once and picked up the rental car easy enough and headed out of the airport. Get out and onto an open road and the first thing I see is a speed limit sign.....100??????.......Wow is this for real? In short, looking closer at my speedometer, it was calibrated in Klicks and MPH. The 100 was the Klicks part. The dim MPH number was 60.
 
(quoted from post at 15:30:28 09/21/17) Y'all use the metric system for measuring...So, how do you
describe the fuel levels in your vehicle fuel tanks???

Do you say 1/2 tank or 1/4 tank of fuel? Or do you say 0.5
or 0.25 tank of fuel?


1/2 or 1/4 is still commonly used regardless of the system of measurement.

We still finish baling a field and end up with 1/2 a bale.

We still get halfway back to the yard when the tractor breaks.

A quarter 1/4 still fits in a vending machine.

A pizza sliced 4 times still yields 8 pieces that are 1/8 of the pie.

The only good I can say that came out of the metric system is while the rest of you law abiding citizens are driving 60MPH we get to drive 100KPH which equals 62.14 MPH.
 
jimg ....... I'll reword one of your sentences to make it more accurate .....

They copy others and make things smaller and cheaper.

They copy others and make things better.

Want some proof? Buy a Japanese designed car (regardless of where it is manufactured).
 
(quoted from post at 20:07:21 09/21/17) Ok, I'm Canadian and Ihate the stupid metric system. Been resisting it since it was imposed on us what 50 years ago? Sure millimeters are very precise for measuring bearings and other small parts but the part that really annoys me is land measurement. All our land is in acres, 640 to a section and 160 acres per quarter. How many hectares? I have no idea. That section measures a mile on each side. Or some odd number of kilometres. Crossroads are a mile apart East and West. 2 miles apart North and South. It becomes a problem when herbicide companies slip up and offer only the metric measures for the application formula. For example I can easily figure how many litres per acre I need to apply but how many litres per hectare? Thank goodness most of them mark clearly on the jug or case, "this treats X number of acres.
and I see you use the British spelling for liters....which makes no reals sense to me.
 
I bet the Romans had these same arguments about how much better Roman numerals are compared to those awful new Arabic numbers.
 
> The true imperial mass is called a "slug". A pound "mass" weighs one pound at sea level (32.2 f/s^2=9.81m/s^2). It gets really complicated when trying to figure out the mass needed for dynamic structural accelerations when you use both a pound "force" and a pound "mass".

Yes, I'm aware of the slug unit, but all my engineering courses back in the late 70s used lbf and lbm. The only CE courses I took, statics and dynamics, were all SI at the time.
 
Actually Mark, one could argue that a metric tape measure is marked off in fractional portions too, but more specifically only using tens as the multiplication/division factor. So most metric tapes would number the centimeters, each one being marked off into ten equal portions or 1/10 of a centimeter (millimeters). And then every ten centimeters would be a decimeter (a seldom-used unit which would probably not be marked) and then ten decimeters would make up a meter and so on. This reply of mine has nothing to do with the original post of course, I'm just jamming something into the middle of it all.
 
I was told in the first grade (1978) that when I graduate from high school the U.S. would be converted to the metric system. Here it is 2017 and I buy gasoline by the gallon and pop by the liter. My teacher missed that prediction by a few decades.

My school didn't even teach the standard system till I entered high school and took shop classes.
 
Tractorguy ...... is it true that the US military (all branches) and their space programs are exclusively metric? Just something that I was told ......
 
(quoted from post at 06:17:15 09/22/17)
(quoted from post at 20:07:21 09/21/17)
and I see you use the British spelling for liters....which makes no reals sense to me.
Funny, spell check seemed to think litre was wrong too but thats how we spell it here. Our gas is priced in litres and even I have become fairly comfortable with that. $1 a litre does not sound as bad as $4.50 a gallon. :-(
 

[i:041b54b94f]"So, if you think Europe or any other place is so great, then tell me why people are willing to do almost anything to come here to the good old USA? I don't hear about other countries having immigration problems like we have."[/i:041b54b94f]

Europe is not great because of the metric system, I don't think it is great at all. It's a socialist system that is swirling the bowl to total failure and domination by those from outside the EU, unless they choose to wake up and do something about it. I do think the metric measurement system is easier... 10 mm socket too small? Grab an 11 mm or a 12. As someone said, don't try to convert between the two systems.

You must not have been paying attention to the news. Europe is having a terrible problem with the Syrians and other middle-Easterners invading their shores and once in the EU, going anywhere they choose.
 
I am a semi-convert to metric out of necessity like a lot of you. I resisted and still do but not as much. In building wooden model ships of
the Columbus era, I find that the metric side of my scale is much easier to use than the SAE for the reason W_B gave. Our problem is that
we didn't grow up with it so, like the language we use with 3 or 4 different words that mean the same thing, it's foreign to us.

Course what gets my goat is when you are working on your GM truck and need a metric wrench in one hand and an SAE in the other.
 

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