We do such a shit job at teaching our own actual measuring system that nobody has an intuition what a pound feels like, what an inch and a foot look like and how to scale those up. So we resort to objects and comparisons instead of actual measurements.
It's not that it's hard to learn, it's that we don't have a strong intuition. It's not that difficult to know there are 12 inches in a foot and 3 feet in a yard or that metric is entirely based around factos of 10. But its the intuition of what an inch looks like, what a pound feels like to hold in you hand. Most people wouldn't be able to pick up an object and say, "that weighs about a pound" or look at an object and say "that's about 3 feet long" but a lot of people do have an intuition what an energy drink can looks and feels like and can imagine getting hit by one, a lot of people have picked up a pineapple at the grocery story, people have the intuition of how big a football field is or how big a city bus is.
13 Comments
ReginaPhalange@lemmy.world · 49 pts · 2y
Because Americans will use practically anything before they use metric.
blackbelt352@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 2y
We do such a shit job at teaching our own actual measuring system that nobody has an intuition what a pound feels like, what an inch and a foot look like and how to scale those up. So we resort to objects and comparisons instead of actual measurements.
makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml · 10 pts · 2y
I don't blame anyone for failing to teach imperial. It's surreal.
I grew up with both (gen x Australian), and when I lived through the transition, metric is a godsend.
Feet. Pound. Stone. All I see are objects. But they are easily objective to the imagination.
There are now only 2 countries left I believe, dragging their heels, and officially using Imperial
MotoAsh@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 2y
blackbelt352@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
It's not that it's hard to learn, it's that we don't have a strong intuition. It's not that difficult to know there are 12 inches in a foot and 3 feet in a yard or that metric is entirely based around factos of 10. But its the intuition of what an inch looks like, what a pound feels like to hold in you hand. Most people wouldn't be able to pick up an object and say, "that weighs about a pound" or look at an object and say "that's about 3 feet long" but a lot of people do have an intuition what an energy drink can looks and feels like and can imagine getting hit by one, a lot of people have picked up a pineapple at the grocery story, people have the intuition of how big a football field is or how big a city bus is.
MotoAsh@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
Sabata11792@ani.social · 8 pts · 2y
Our measuring system is so shit I rather use hamburgers as a distance than miles.
itsnotits@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
LesserAbe@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2y
It's true, all Americans jointly held the camera to take this picture then sat down together to write the headline
Anyolduser@lemmynsfw.com · 0 pts · 2y
That's right. We all got together and decided to write moronic headlines like this.
It definitely isn't just a handful of editors in a few newsrooms making these decisions on their own.
StaticFalconar@lemmy.world · -4 pts · 2y
As you prepare a cup of tea with a teaspoon of sugar...
pipows@lemmy.today · 4 pts · 2y
Sorry mate, but I prepare 350ml of tea with no sugar
mister_monster@monero.town · 9 pts · 2y
They're doing that to poke fun at the "energy drink can sized hail" news headline from the other day.
corus_kt@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2y
First time I've seen AP news flexing their sense of humor, honestly. Unless the photographer just went 'Nope, no other pictures'.
LesserAbe@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 2y
The energy drink just happened to be on the ground where the hail landed