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Deryn

Deryn

I don't have Mr. Google sitting in my head as I go about my daily life. I don't even carry a smartphone of any kind but I would hate for that to be my 'brain' anyway in every situation. I (as do most of us) manage but I was just trying to illustrate how hard it is to truly convert from one system to the other in reality. Yes, I can 'use' metric but not all of it is 'natural' to me even now after several decades. I am quick at some mental conversions - particularly if complete accuracy is not required - and not so fast at others (but in those cases, it may not be necessary to be fast).

 

The problem is not that one cannot convert from one to the other (and over time get better at it on the fly), it is that even bright people who learned one system or the other as children (and solidified that by using that system for decades before suddenly being told they have to switch to a 'foreign measurement language') may take many years to become so fluent in 'metric' in all the many dimensions required, that they no longer convert at all, but just 'think' in it constantly .. in other words, 'live' it with the old ways totally forgotten.

 

Of course, one of the reasons that (older) Canadians perhaps have had a long learning curve is that the US, which does not use metric measurements, is right next door and with so many things common to both of us, we have to keep both concepts in our heads making a complete transition more difficult. Younger Canadians were for the most part raised to think in metric but still, if they cross the border or buy some goods in Canada even today, may encounter situations where they have to mentally convert to the American system. Had both countries tried this conversion together it might have gone better for all of us - but they didn't.

Deryn

Deryn

I don't have Mr. Google sitting in my head as I go about my daily life. I don't even carry a smartphone of any kind but I would hate for that to be my 'brain' anyway in every situation. I (as do most of us) manage but I was just trying to illustrate how hard it is to truly convert from one system to the other in reality. Yes, I can 'use' metric but not all of it is 'natural' to me even now after several decades. I am quick at some mental conversions - particularly if complete accuracy is not required - and not so fast at others (but in those cases, it may not be necessary to be fast).

 

The problem is not that one cannot convert from one to the other (and over time get better at it on the fly), it is that even bright people who learned one system or the other as children (and solidified that by using that system for decades before suddenly being told they have to switch to a 'foreign measurement language') may take many years to become so fluent in 'metric' in all the many dimensions required, that they no longer convert at all, but just 'think' in it constantly .. in other words, 'live' it with the old ways totally forgotten.

 

Of course, one of the reasons that (older) Canadians perhaps have had a long learning curve is that the US, which does not use metric measurements, is right next door and with so many things common to both of us, we have to keep both concepts in our heads making a complete transition more difficult. Younger Canadians were for the most part raised to think in metric but still, if they cross the border or buy some goods in Canada even today, may encounter situations where they have to mentally convert to the American system. Had both countries tried this conversion together it might have gone better for all of us - but they didn't.

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