Americans will measure with anything but the metric system.

Flying Squid@lemmy.worldmod to Lemmy Shitpost@lemmy.world – 442 points –
36

Yeah but "smoot" is WAY more fun to say than most other units of measurements. It's right up there with plancks, bees dicks, and megaFonzies.

There should be a scholarship for people with funny sounding names.

I didn't think SNL could still be funny!

Turns out they can be, when they put comedians in charge

I don't think I've watched it since Tina Fey and Amy Poehler did Weekend Update and even then, I mostly just watched it for that part and TV's Funhouse.

Nate Bargatze is one of my favorite comedians at the moment. He did so well hosting. Honestly the only SNL episode I watched lately lol.

The irony is that in the US, Metric is the standard, used by all science, military, governmental etc sectors. It's just that the average American is too insecure to acknowledge this fact.

This is utter horseshit. Anyone who doesn’t acknowledge that fact probably just didn’t know and you’re just projecting some “I’m better than you” nonsense.

We learn the metric system in our schools. It’s part of our curriculum. We learn it in math classes, we learn it in science classes, we learn about it in history classes as well.

The UK drives using MPH too, despite the metric system being the standard. Oh nooooo! An alternate measurement system that the masses understand and accept!

For what it is worth, if you were curious, NIST adopted and recommends the SI standard.

However what IS fun is the world adopting US customary measures intertwined with metrics units for new measurements that weren’t used before, electrical current/resistance stuff like that. Though, good luck getting anyone who likes to try to dunk on the USA like this to admit it. Any American who responds how you’re saying is just pissed that once again someone is trying to look down their nose at us for living our fucking lives.

We learn the metric system in our schools. It’s part of our curriculum. We learn it in math classes, we learn it in science classes, we learn about it in history classes as well.

And apparently promptly have an episode of amnesia because every adult here seems to not know how to convert.

The US Navy is an exception, and doesn't use metric. Even their nuclear stuff uses the English Engineering System (Mostly imperial units.).

Ha, I've walked that bridge. I also like all the random trophies under the Boston Longfellow bridge.

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/the-man-behind-bostons-secret-trophy-room/2562003/

What was the prank?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot

The smoot is a nonstandard, humorous unit of length created as part of an MIT fraternity pledge to Lambda Chi Alpha by Oliver R. Smoot, who in October 1958 lay down repeatedly on the Harvard Bridge between Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, so that his fraternity brothers could use his height to measure the length of the bridge.

The 83 year old Smoot is still alive, and his career was as a chairman of two standardization organizations. Pretty funny.

Bold of you to assume that Americans are not so lazy as to refuse to measure anything at all. (Can confirm: am American) :-P

As proof, just look at who wins the votes in an election vs. what actually happens next.