Why do some Americans think..

..we in Britain use Kmph? I've heard references to us Brits using Kilometers in films and TV shows. This is news to me! Mph here!

 

because britain uses the metic system

 

not entirely we don't. Rooms are measured in feet and inches, some road signs are in yards, usually building height is in feet. Giving directions we will say "the shop is about 100 feet up the road on the right".

We use meters and centimetres for other things though. You see we don't just use the metric system, we have a mish mash. Nuts and bolts are metric usually.

oh and we use Celsius not Fahrenheit. And grams and kg!

 

I love that you have pointed this out, I’ma Brit and get frustrated when the whole of Europe gets bundled together and its assumed that all countries within this continental group are assumed to have the same standards.

In Britain anything tiny is measured in millimeters, anything bigger will be feet and inches.
nuts and bolts are metric, but the wood your bolting together will be feet and inches.
Our Aluminum has a "U" in it.
People are measured in feet and inches, weighed in pounds and stones.
We drive miles per hour and measure fuel at the pump in litres but fuel consumption in gallons of which we have not 2 but only one measurement for .... 4.54609 litres (the original and correct amount )
And of course drive on the right side of the road, which is the left.

quite simple really

 

Our aluminum has 2.

 

For any Americans that would like to visit lil ole England

Clapham - "Clap-em" not "Clap-Ham"

Gloucester - "Gloss-ter" not "Glow-ster"

Southwark - "Suth-ock" not "South-wark"

Herb - "Her-b" not "Erb" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs5H7cgcpkg

And theres many many more things!

 

I realized you used MPH on roads and so on when I watched "Shaun of the Dead", where Phillip mentioned it was only a 20mph zone when they were trying to get to the Winchester, lol. I Googled it, and found out all the info you just mentioned.

 

I mean to any extent we Americans use the metric system as well, just as you mentioned. Very small things are measured in millimeters, and we rarely use centimeters or meters. Everything else is inches, feet, yards, and miles.

I guess that Britain gets bundled up with Europe because it is, in fact, in Europe. But I knew that you guys used MPH, feet, etc.

 

We are in Europe, and regrettably we made a very bad decision in 1972, joining a certain "Union" which has its ups, but also its downs.

 

'Merica. Land of the burger. (And free. Don't forget that.)

 

Burgers, Hotdogs and Apple Pie. All from other nations but coined by the U.S.

Burgers and Hotdogs were German, and Apple Pie British. Ah well.

 

So? It tastes good so we eat a lot of it.

 

Just making the point "American as Apple Pie" makes no sense.

 

...and yet the British think Canadians use the imperial system.

 

Last time I checked you were on Metric!

 

Despite being in the UK I always use metric, it makes much more sense to me.
I just wished the country could decide which system we want to use and stick with it.

 

You know what.. Canada actually uses both in the trades. for example, I took apart an engine from Ford that had 5mm screws on the oil pan, while others were in inches.

 

My number one cause of annoyance...

When I'm on a computer forum and people are posting about their CPU or GPU temps, everyone one uses Celsius, and I have to convert it to Fahrenheit.

That drives me crazy.

 

Celsius is just the standard for measuring CPU/GPU temps. I'm American and don't even bother converting to imperial measurement because it's unnecessary.

 

I never knew any of that, but I never really thought about it either.

@SleepyPickup, there is always that one person using Fahrenheit for whom I have to convert to Celsius to understand. Which is interesting enough to me. I know what temperatures are safe for a pc in C, but I know what F temps feel like.