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^ yeah it's called Mercator's projection. Makes Greenland look as big as Africa when Africa is about 12 times larger.
Anyway yeah, America should convert to celsius, it makes more sense.
Quote:
The Fahrenheit scale was the primary temperature standard for climatic, industrial and medical purposes in English-speaking countries until the 1960s. In the late 1960s and 1970s, the Celsius scale replaced Fahrenheit in almost all of those countries — with the notable exception of the United States — typically during their metrication process.
Canadians are gifted for hyperbole doncha know. I was around at that time as well and it wasn't nearly that bad.
I assume our friend Chevy wasn't around in Nazi Germany, otherwise he wouldn't make these silly comparisons. It was likely a bit more stressful than filling your car up with litres instead of gallons.
I was not around when Nazi Germany was a world power. I don't think we're gifted with hyperbole. Remember, we're Canadians: nice, polite, and unassuming.
I stand by my assertions. I don't know where you were at the time, Acajack, but I was in Ontario, and we were not happy about the adoption of metric. Many felt that--and this would be of interest to you--Canada was adopting metric because it was invented in France, and it was the 1970s, and a Prime Minister from Quebec was in power, and Quebec was rumbling about separating, and thus if Canada adopted a French system of measurement, then maybe Quebec wouldn't be so hot on separation. I do remember that point of view being bandied about in Ontario coffee shops and pubs in the late 1970s--that we wouldn't have gone metric if it wasn't for Quebec and PM Trudeau (who, though he was from Quebec, was a federalist).
Now, you may disagree, and you may be correct. But I have yet to see a good reason why Canada converted. As I said, who the hell in Europe, Asia, Australia, or Africa cares whether I drive in MPH or km/h, buy my salami in grams instead of pounds, or put liters of gas in my car, rather than gallons?
The incidents I described really happened. The old lady buying (or trying to buy) cold cuts happened at a Toronto supermarket; I was behind her in the line and watched the event unfold. The story of the Car Cafe on Queen Street in Toronto was big news when their pumps were locked and its owner arrested by the Metric Police. (This news may not have made it outside of Toronto though. You can search the archives of the Toronto Star, Toronto Sun, and the Globe and Mail for confirmation.) The local storefront butcher had his scales seized and was not paid for them--I walked in shortly after the switchover, and was told, "We can't sell you anything--the government took our scales."
You can doubt my veracity, and that's fine. You have your memories of the switchover, I have mine.
Actually it was born in present day Germany but today American English is more popular so might as well just stick with it...
If English was 'born' in Germany then Germans would speak English - also if 'American English' is more popular then how comes every word in your statement is 'British English'? Apart from the odd 'dude' I read on here I think you will find that 95% of words used on this forum are words 'born' in the UK :-)
Some things like beer is still served in 'pints', so vestiges remain.
I walked into an Australian pub in Perth, asked for a pint, and got a proper 20-oz glass of beer. Nice to see that Australians remember what pints are!
Quote:
Overall I'm glad we switched. I don't think it requires such a heavy handed approach, eventually people will get used to it and accept it. I doubt there are many who would want to go back to the old system either.
I agree that such a heavy-handed approach was not required. Perhaps because of the approach the government took, most English-speaking Canadians still measure their height in feet and inches, and their weight in pounds. We use 2x4s in construction; my house sits on a lot measuring 50 feet by 100 feet. The Canadian Football League measures its playfields in yards, feet are marked on the outfield walls of the Toronto Blue Jays' baseball stadium, and horse races are still run in miles and furlongs. (Aside; I went to the track in Australia, and had to learn how to handicap in metric real fast!)
We often circumvent distances by road, by talking about time. From my location, Regina, Saskatchewan in six hours away. It's five hours from Toronto to Montreal. Eight hours from St. John's, Newfoundland to Port aux Basques, Newfoundland. And so on.
The heavy-handed approach caused a lot of opposition, and may explain that while Canada is officially metric, it is not often metric in practice.
I walked into an Australian pub in Perth, asked for a pint, and got a proper 20-oz glass of beer. Nice to see that Australians remember what pints are!
I agree that such a heavy-handed approach was not required. Perhaps because of the approach the government took, most English-speaking Canadians still measure their height in feet and inches, and their weight in pounds. We use 2x4s in construction; my house sits on a lot measuring 50 feet by 100 feet. The Canadian Football League measures its playfields in yards, feet are marked on the outfield walls of the Toronto Blue Jays' baseball stadium, and horse races are still run in miles and furlongs. (Aside; I went to the track in Australia, and had to learn how to handicap in metric real fast!)
We often circumvent distances by road, by talking about time. From my location, Regina, Saskatchewan in six hours away. It's five hours from Toronto to Montreal. Eight hours from St. John's, Newfoundland to Port aux Basques, Newfoundland. And so on.
The heavy-handed approach caused a lot of opposition, and may explain that while Canada is officially metric, it is not often metric in practice.
Drunken Lallans should clearly be the official English dialect to become the world language.
Sounds good to me. I can't really speak it but I do understand 95% of it.
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We all will be living on Greenland soon 
