Travel Metric for Americans (AND Canadians)

Z is "2 meter man"!!

When we Americans travel abroad, we're definitely spoiled in that English is a very common second language for people around the world to learn. But one thing most foreign English speakers don't learn is Fahrenheit and feet and pounds and ounces. Since your foreign friends have gone and saved you all the trouble of having to learn another language, you'd think Americans could devote a tiny amount of energy to learn the planet's preferred measuring system, but they don't.

And what surprises me is how this completely crosses the political divide – like my prejudiced ass expects a traveling Texas republican to act like this, but educated, well-traveled, deep blue state people are similarly stubborn to making even the tiniest effort on this.

But why are Canadians in the title of the article? Ask a Canadian how tall they are and you'll have your answer. My dear cousins to the north can skip the first two sections, but don't miss the last. ❤️🇨🇦

 

Weather

Since chapter one in every language textbook is "introductions" and chapter two is "the weather*", I'll start there. This is about conversation, not about applying for a job as a scientist. You literally need to learn like a dozen fecking numbers – less than a single Duolingo lesson! 

100 water boils.
50  a very hot day in Saudi Arabia / a very hot hot tub
40  hot day in NYC / go to the hospital if your fever reaches this point / a mild hot tub
37  normal body temp
30  a hot day in San Francisco
26  room temp for those people who always complain that they're cold
20  room temp for sane people
19  Hawaiians and Floridians put on coats and complain that it's cold
10  most of the rest of the US puts on a coat
0   water freezes
<0  anything below 0 is just a windchill factor-fueled pissing match between northern states
-40 same as -40 Fahrenheit so this one’s a freebie

 

Speed

1000 Airplane
350  Bullet Train
100  US highway speed limit
20   moderate-effort bicycling
5    leisurely walking

 

Beyond that…

bust out Siri or Google and write down:

• How tall are you in centimeters? How many cm is your shortest friend? your tallest?
• If you're going shopping, it's probably helpful to know your waist, inseam, etc in cm, too.
• How much do you weigh in kilos? How much do you wish you weighed? :)
• How big is your apartment in square meters? How big is a large (and small) apartment in your town?

Lastly, for most purposes a meter and a yard are about the same length, if you can talk "football distances" you can easily talk meter distances. Likewise, a liter is almost exactly one quart and a half-kilo is around one pound, so that should make things easier, too. 



* unless you're learning Japanese, and then chapter two is "apologizing"