Americans, in general, don’t use the metric system. We learn it in middle school. I know this because Amber had to learn it last fall I think and she had some odd phrase to help her remember the prefixes – something about King Henry, I think. I have to admit that it was a lesson my husband had to help with because I’m not any better at it than she is. I measure distance in inches, feet and miles, liquids by the cups, quarts and gallons, spices by the tablespoon or teaspoon. I know a meter’s about 3 feet, but that’s it.
However, tomorrow, metric matters. My husband and I are running in the Pirates Charities 5K. Yes, it’s 3.1 miles, and when I run through town or at the track I count miles, but tomorrow it’s kilometers. It should be fun, if a little chillier than I would like. In addition to the commemorative t-shirt we also get complimentary tickets for a baseball game. We’re thinking about going Sunday afternoon.
So I was looking up kilometers today on Wikipedia, just to see if it had anything interesting to say. Apparently only Americans spell it that way; for the rest of the world it’s kilometres. Also, only three countries haven’t officially adopted the metric system, the US, Liberia and Burma.
I thought the U.S. was going to go metric many years ago. I guess they gave up on that idea. I got pretty good at miles/kilometers conversion when I used to travel in Canada.
Have a great run!
Lee
An A to Z Co-Host
Tossing It Out
Twitter: @AprilA2Z
I got used to the metric system when we lived in France but have forgotten it already. Good luck with the run!
All the best for tomorrow. 🙂
I find the metric system easier and more logical. What can be simpler than dividing by 10? Sheesh. But most folks resist change and the US Congress is no different. As a science major I learned metric in college back in the’70s. At that time we thought it would be implemented by 2000.
Yeah, I’m one of those who resist change. 🙂
Canada converted to metric when I was in the second grade. I found a booklet about helping Metric Man save the world in my old school papers!
Well in Swedish it’s kilometer 😉
Amber always tells me not to trust Wikipedia! 🙂
I wish the USA would get around to converting to the metric system. It’s so much easier to calculate once you get used to the units.
My foot is twelve inches, so it makes it easy to guess how long things are. If we went metric, I’d actually have to buy a measuring tape.
Good luck with the 5K!
I need to learn kilometres. I want to do more travelling and I’d hate to look rather foolish not knowing how far away something was (or worse, how fast I should be driving!) I know things would be converted for me, but I hate just going by what some device is telling me. Sadly, I’m terrible at math and conversion is nothing but! *sigh*
Nice to “meet” you! Enjoy the challenge!
Jen
Plus we kilometer folks spell it kilometre 😀 And meter = metre. Except we spell a meter, like gas or water meter, like ‘meter’ 😛
I should actually add that I was speaking only for British-English countries re: the ‘metre’ thing 😉
IN Asia, it is all about the kilometre.
I’m torn right now, whether to go metric or …American in my fantasy settings. Since I’ll eventually have contraptions and steam power, it seems only fitting to go metric. The problem is the language. If I ever say millimetre, it implies “milli” means thousandth. I’m probably over thinking this 😛
I love that you two did this together!