# Most forum members on here are from the US of A?



## Dragon Farm (Aug 7, 2009)

I used to think that this was UK forum site, with contributions from across the world. But it seems I am wrong. 

I am in my fourties and learnt metric in my primary and secondary school. I am guessing I am probably older than the average forum member here. 

So why does virtually everybody here give measurements in inches,feet, and fahrenheit ? Even people who obviously are still at college now are doing it ? Metric was introduced in the UK in the 1970's !

I think most of the members here believe they live in the states. 

The last straw is two threads on the feeder forum asking about roach _chow _!!!!

Off now to have a peanut butter and jello sandwich.


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

Most people are from the UK but a hell of a lot of us still measure in feet and inches and weight themselves in stone and pounds. Farenheight just seems to be common because it's how other places do it, plus most caresheets were probably American.

If I'm measuring something for cutting it's in mm as it's more accurate but if i want to know the size and weight of anything, I want it in feet and inches and stone / pounds / ounces etc... I also look for the weather in celcius.


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## Dragon Farm (Aug 7, 2009)

By "its how other places do it" you mean America ? Can we not think for ourselves, and use a better system ? Imperial measurements are just confusing. Especially measurements for weights and lengths. 

By the way I find 'vegetarians are retards' comment very offensive.


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## Lord Vetinari (Mar 4, 2011)

I'm 25, I work in engineering.... 

I still find stuff easier to visualise in ft and inches.... though it does depend on what it is. Rooms I can visualise in seconds if dimensions are given in ft - in m it takes me a bit longer. Distances up to about 100m I use m, anything beyond and I will use yrds. (Though thats mainly because of my job). If I buy screws I will use mm, but timber I still refer to in inches. Temperature I comfortably use both F and C... 

Better system? hmm very debatable. Metric makes most small engineering and precision tasks easier. (deviding by 10 is easier then 12 and decimels are easier then fractions). But it makes no diference on an everyday scale. 

I design roads for a living.... they are deisnged in km, m and mm. I then design signs for the exact same roads that use miles and yrds. 

We run a dual system in this country in reality. And it ain't that hard to get used to.

As meko said a lot of the original caresheets for commonly kept species where written in the 70's/80's when most of those writing them will have been using the imperial system. Or indeed written in the USA.

If you really want to use the metric system use it. If you read something in imperial then use google. Its kinda useful.


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

Dragon Farm said:


> *By "its how other places do it" you mean America ? *Can we not think for ourselves, and use a better system ? Imperial measurements are just confusing. Especially measurements for weights and lengths.


Yes American, and then I carried on with the sentence. 
I said it's common and that's how care sheets are written. So yes we can use a better system but why? it's generic so it doesn't matter which country you're from, whether it's Australia, America, Canada, UK, Denmark etc, you all work along the same lines. The temperature is measured in farenheight so there's no confusion wherever you are on any forum throughout the world - reptile keeping isn't confined to this forum!




> By the way I find 'vegetarians are retards' comment very offensive.


It's meant to be offensive.


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## Lord Vetinari (Mar 4, 2011)

Also....

what would it actually matter if everyone here was from the US?


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## Dragon Farm (Aug 7, 2009)

I have no problem with Americans. Obviously I wasn't seriously suggesting that this forum has mostly American members. Metric is a much simpler system, and most of us here would have been taught it at school. When I see the BBC weather I see it in celsius. Maybe it is different if you get your weather forecast from the Sun newspaper. I don't know. 

Re "Vegetarians are retards". All the vegetarians I know are pet owners too. 'Retard' is playground speak for mentally handicapped right ? Why not say "are retards and spastics". It would be on the same level. 

I feel sorry for you. What does it say about you that you have need to be deliberately offensive against a minority group ? All the vegetarians I know are pet owners too. Some of them keep reptiles. 

It would be nice if this if this forum was welcoming to all rather than allowing messages of hatred.


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## jmack (Jul 6, 2011)

Dragon Farm said:


> By "its how other places do it" you mean America ? Can we not think for ourselves, and use a better system ? Imperial measurements are just confusing. Especially measurements for weights and lengths.
> 
> By the way I find 'vegetarians are retards' comment very offensive.


i actually am american(havent really found an american forum that isnt :censor, and to me imperial isnt confusing at all, but i get lost and have to google all of the metric stuff, especially Celsius lol


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## colinm (Sep 20, 2008)

Perhaps you have spent too long in Portugal Mark :whistling2: Its a real hotchpotch here.

I do find it strange that the younger members still use imperial measurements.At work I use metric but at home I tend to use imperial but I guess I am near your age.


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## Tehanu (Nov 12, 2006)

What a barrel of laughs...


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

peanut butter and jello sandwich?

yeck!!:lol2:


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

i'm a metric illiterate...:whistling2:


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## colinm (Sep 20, 2008)

I blame the French or in particular Napoleon.


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

Weather for Portsmouth, OH
31°F

31... here... cold... there ... warm!


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## BenjaminBoaz (Jan 6, 2006)

problem is we get a lot of reptile products and information of keeping reps come from the states and they use F. Personally i always use C. I do use inches a lot but i think as i was born in the 70s and my parents and grandparents used inches its stuck with me. I use cm when im talking about small lengths but inches and feet when talking about longer ones. weighing myself id use stones.


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## colinm (Sep 20, 2008)

HABU said:


> image
> 
> Weather for Portsmouth, OH
> 31°F
> ...


Quite nice here 13c :Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

colinm said:


> Quite nice here 13c :Na_Na_Na_Na:



it was 16 here last week... my eyeballs froze...:lol2:


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

what did the brits use before the metric fad hit?


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## HABU (Mar 21, 2007)

Imperial and USA Measurement Systems & History

Following is an explanation of the Imperial System, the USA system, and their history. This is part of a set of pages on the metric, USA and Imperial systems of measurement; to see the main page (and other related pages), click on Metric System Conversion.

Aside from the metric system, there are two other main systems of measurement in use today: the Imperial system of measurement and the USA system of measurement. The two systems are often confused with each other and sometimes one or the other terms are used to collectively refer to both systems (in particular, Europeans often use the term Imperial system to refer to either systems). However, despite similarities between the two, they are different systems. To properly explain their relationship, one needs to consider the history behind them.

Both the Imperial system and the USA system of measurement are based on the older English units of measurement. Prior to 1066 the English units included Anglo-Saxon measures (likely of ancient Germanic origin). After the Norman conquest (Battle of Hastings in 1066), the Normans re-introduced Roman measures, resulting in a system including ancient Anglo-Saxon measures and Roman measures. These units were standardised by the Magna Carta of 1215 and were periodically reviewed and updated (notably in 1496, 1588 and 1758). The UK Weights and Measures Act of 1824 was one such review, which not only modified the types and sizes of the units, but renamed them from the English units of measurement to the Imperial System of Measurement. This new standard was then introduced throughout the UK and its colonies at this time.

However, the USA had become independent prior to this and consequently did not adopt the Imperial system of measurement. Instead, they had developed their own measurement standards, based on the English units system which was used throughout the States prior to independence. As a result, the older English units developed into the USA system of measurement in the USA and into the Imperial system of measurement in the UK and countries colonised by the UK.

Although the measurements in the metric system are derived from scientific principles, the English units measurements (and the subsequent USA and Imperial measurements) are based on nature and everyday activities. For example, a league is based on the distance that can be walked in an hour. Sailors (in days gone by) would drop a weighted rope into the water, lowering it by lengths (where each length was measured by holding the rope between their outstretched hands) until the weight at the end of the rope touched the seabed. This led to the definition of the fathom as the distance from the fingertips of one hand to the fingertips of the other, when the hands are held straight out to the sides. A grain (used to measure small quantities of precious metals) is the weight of a grain of wheat or barleycorn.

Such natural measures were well suited in a simple agricultural society. However, as trade and commerce grew, it was necessary to have more consistent measures (after all, not all grains of wheat have the same weight and not all sailors have the same length of arm). Consequently, metal weights and lengths were produced to represent exact measures; these metal representations where then used to produce official scales and measurements to ensure that trade was based on standard quantities. For larger measures (e.g. a mile) it was impractical to build a metal equivalent, so they were redefined to be multiples of the smaller measures. It is for this reason that the mile was changed in 1595 under Queen Elizabeth I's reign from the Roman standard of 5000 feet to 5280 feet (which is 8 furlongs, each furlong equal to 10 chains, each chain equal to 22 yards and each yard equal to 3 feet).

Despite the development and standardisation of the English units of measure, their roots in ancient agriculture and trade have resulted in a diverse and relatively complex set of measurements. The various trades each developed their own measures, so in many cases the measure would depend on what it was being used for: a barrel of oil is not the same size as a barrel of wine (there are in fact eight different barrel sizes officially recognised). Likewise there are both fluid ounces and weight ounces, with different types of weight ounces (depending on what was being weighed). This complexity was not eliminated when the English system evolved into the Imperial and USA systems, with the result that these systems have approximately 300 different units of measurement. In comparison, the metric system has only 7 basic units of measurement (which can be increased or decreased in multiples of 10 to make larger or smaller units, or combined to make more complex units).


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## BenjaminBoaz (Jan 6, 2006)

Habu's learnt to copy and past...another first for his town.:2thumb:


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## colinm (Sep 20, 2008)

Certainly the old imperial units were interesting and the reasons behind the measurements intriguing.But the metric system is easier to use for this dumbed down world. : victory:


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

Dragon Farm said:


> I have no problem with Americans. Obviously I wasn't seriously suggesting that this forum has mostly American members. Metric is a much simpler system, and most of us here would have been taught it at school. When I see the BBC weather I see it in celsius. Maybe it is different if you get your weather forecast from the Sun newspaper. I don't know.
> 
> .


You're a bit of an idiot really aren't you.

The weather is measured in Celsius here, but where did I say anything about the weather except in my first post where I said it was measured in Celsius? You mentioned Fahrenheit, which is clearly in reference to the temperature of a vivarium; so the reference to temperature in post two, is on subject.

But it's all irrelevant because you lost any argument you may have had when you brought newspapers into it to try and insult me, when all you did was show your limited intelligence.


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