"Half a pound of salami, please."

[George K]

Went to the grocery store today, and at the deli counter, I asked the clerk for half a pound of Genoa salami.

As he was slicing it, he said, "Fractions are so much easier. 'Half a pound, a quarter-pound, a pound.' Can you imagine how hard it would be if we were metric? I mean, 'Gimme 78 grams of salami, please?' I'd never be able to figure that out."

Well, no, you probably wouldn't and that's why you're working the deli counter at the local grocery store, rather than building exploding rockets for Elon Musk.

I didn't say that, but I thought it. I just smiled, and said, "No, actually it's easier," and walked away.

[Horace]

In fairness, he's the first dumb person to say fractions were easy for him.

[Mik]

I don’t have any problem with fractions and once I got used to it metric would be just as normal.

Adaptability is key to the successful primate.

[George K]

@Mik said in "Half a pound of salami, please.":

I don’t have any problem with fractions and once I got used to it metric would be just as normal.

Adaptability is key to the successful primate.

I mentioned this to Mrs. George today, and I asked her how long, as a nurse, did it take for her to get used to using milliliters, liter, kilograms, etc.

"About 15 minutes," she said.

But then, she used to drive an IABP (look it up), so there's that.

[Axtremus]

Had we settled on base-8 or even base-16 rather than base-10 number system, fractions and metric would both be easy.

[Renauda]

Either system works for me. Because I am over 60 and worked with O&G drilling equipment, my default preference is the imperial system.

[Doctor Phibes]

I find using imperial units rather cumbersome. It's hardly ever necessary now, as we're all using IEC, ISO standards and what have you. I still get reports to review which sometimes reference the old units. I send them back and tell them to replace their colonial imperial gibberish with the correct units.

[George K]

Interestingly, in medicine, everything is metric - other than weight. Patient weight, that is.

That may have changed in the last few years, however. I'm out of that loop.

[bachophile]

Weight is also metric. For example calculating body surface area in chemotherapy dosage.

I’m pretty much “bi” in the sense that I can switch in my head back and forth.
Although I still think when I order a pint of beer, I should be ordering half a liter, because you get more beer that way.

[Doctor Phibes]

@bachophile said in "Half a pound of salami, please.":

Although I still think when I order a pint of beer, I should be ordering half a liter, because you get more beer that way.

Go to England, you get more!

[bachophile]

Hey you are right, I didn’t know that.

[Copper]

In New England we used to be able to buy beer in a GIQ, Giant Imperial Quart. It was imported from Canada, I’m not sure if you can still buy a GIQ.

[LuFins Dad]

@Doctor-Phibes said in "Half a pound of salami, please.":

@bachophile said in "Half a pound of salami, please.":

Although I still think when I order a pint of beer, I should be ordering half a liter, because you get more beer that way.

Go to England, you get more!

More bad beer…

[George K]

I remember getting better MPG when I drove in Canada.

[Mik]

I can do much of it in my head going back and forth....weight, distance, milliliters. But when it comes to smaller measurements, I don't have that conversion logic upstairs yet because I haven't really had to use it. It's not that hard and it makes more sense to use base 10.

[LuFins Dad]

Fine, just so long as we base the length of a centimeter as the size of Rudolf VanWerdenstein’s knuckle on his middle finger. And a gram should be the measured weight of a single lock of a Hapsburg princess’s hair.

[LuFins Dad]

And a liter should be set at the exact amount of Bohemian Pilsner with an ABV of 5.2% it takes for me to drink in an hour to reach a blood alcohol level of .06.

I’m willing to sit through multiple tests…

[George K]

As long as we're talking metric...

When we say centimeter, we pronounce it CENtimeter.
When we say kilogram, we pronounce it KILogram.
When we say millimeter, we pronounce it MILlimeter.

But when it comes to distance, we most people say kilOmeter.

[Mik]

Ah yes, there is that little discrepancy.

[Doctor Phibes]

@LuFins-Dad said in "Half a pound of salami, please.":

@Doctor-Phibes said in "Half a pound of salami, please.":

@bachophile said in "Half a pound of salami, please.":

Although I still think when I order a pint of beer, I should be ordering half a liter, because you get more beer that way.

Go to England, you get more!

More bad beer…

I shouldn't worry - they'd probably be willing to serve it to you in a lady's glass.

In fact, they might insist.