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Sunday, October 17, 2010

Metric Conversions

Thermometer with Fahrenheit units on the outer...Image via WikipediaSo what's with Fahrenheit and Celsius

When I was in high school I remember memorizing the stupid equation, C=(F-32) x 5/9 (expletive?!), but I never expected having to worry about it again. WRONG! Everytime I call, or chat, or facebook our family on the other side of the pond, I have to cry because I don't know how to tell them. They always ask! You know..."How's the weather?" comes right after "How is everyone?"

I tried selecting Celsius on weatherchannel.com, but then I'm just left wondering what the temp is in Fahrenheit every morning.  For a while, I had a lovely outdoor thermometer which told me both.  It broke.

That part is really just a nuissance and I'm ranting...but have you ever wondered what gas setting 3 or 4 is?  That's the British way of deciding what oven temp to bake your cookies on... Or how about 200 Celsius for 30 minutes? So now not only am I translating recipes into English and converting from kilos to pounds, I need to figure out if they mean 350 or 375 Fahrenheit? You can just forget about me making a double batch!
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8 comments:

  1. That's got to be difficult to handle!

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  2. I use Celsius but my American friends use Fahrenheit and we're always stumped on how to explain it.

    CD

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  3. Yes I prefer Farenheit but now the weather reports use celcius. Maybe you should just say 'mild, hot or chilly' sometimes that seems just as accurate. I have a thermometer that says when you should put on the heat to avoid getting hypothermia. When it says 'comfortable' I laugh derisively because with Raynauds it is uncomfortably chilly! :O)

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  4. I was told in middle school that we'd all be switching over. I guess my teacher underestimated the American stubbornness for anything foreign- lol. But we learned both because metric is more accurate in science. I don't use it much anymore but when a friend moved to Canada I began paying more attention again. After it gets a certain degree below zero though-- it's too dang cold to matter what the differences are.

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  5. Two liter soda bottles mess with my brain...

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  6. I liked living in Australia where the metric system is used because I weighed so much less in kilos than pounds.

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  7. @ Missed Periods - lol! That's a perk I didn't think of...

    @ Alex - I do not understand two liter bottles either. But they're good for making rockets in science class.

    @ Dannette, Madeline, Clarissa and Golden Eagle - We have limited ourselves to a few descriptors now - very cold, cold, warm, hot, very hot & ridiculous!

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  8. The conversion is a big pain! I lived in a different country for a year, and all I knew was that 30 degrees Celsius was really HOT! What a pain with British ovens. Good luck with that! :)

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