Thinking In Metric

I was raised in America but during my adult life I spent almost 20 years living in Europe. So I can visualize and feel in my gut 70 miles per hour just as clearly as I can visualize 120 kilometers per hour. I can speak either language. I’m completely bilingual. One yard is essentially equal to one meter. I don’t even have to think about this. The same with millimeters, whether you say 8 mm, 35 mm, or 150 mm. I just feel it.

And granted, there are some genuine mathematical advantages to the metric system.

In height above sea level I never did get good at using meters though. Feet above MSL just feels better. In temperature I know intellectually that 0 degrees C is where water freezes, 100 degrees C is the temperature at which water boils, and 20 to 22 degrees C is a comfortable room temperature (18 is better for me). In fact about half of the digital thermometers that I have around the house are set to display degrees Centigrade, with the others showing the room temperature in degrees Fahrenheit.

Living in the desert, I feel that degrees F is far more descriptive when it is really hot outside. For example, the difference between 95 degrees F and 105 degrees F is really enormous. 95 degrees F can feel pretty comfortable if the humidity is relatively low, you are in the shade, and there is a nice breeze blowing. But 105 degrees F is a killer any way that you look at it. When described in centigrade it is 37.8 degrees compared with 40.6 degrees. Centigrade just doesn’t seems as descriptive to me.
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