• HiTekRedNek@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Consistently. Like the 500mL bottle of water I’m currently drinking in coastal Alabama?

    Like the 2 and 3L sodas sold in stores all across the USA as far back as I can remember? I’m about a month and a half away from 50 years old btw.

    Or maybe like how all our drugs medicines, over the counter, and yes, even the illegal ones, are all in milligrams or grams?

    Or our military using kilometers to measure distance across land, although calling it a klick because it’s faster to say than kilometer?

    Or how most of our weapons are measured in millimeters?

    That sort of consistency?

    • jagungal@aussie.zone
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      1 day ago

      The fact that you call kilometers “klicks” does my head in since the rest of the English speaking world shortens it to “kays”

    • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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      2 days ago

      Some of those are because international standards (the military and ammo, although the US military uses yards more than kilometers, but they do use both, probably because of international influence). Some are because science is run on metric (pharmacists).

      Litres though, yeah, idk. I’m assuming it’s because it’s easier to make a bottle in Litres and sell it around the world? Litres predate metric too, so it could be because of that? I never see poured liquids measured in Litres though, only bottles. Usually it’s pints or fluid ounces.

      I do have to congratulate illegal drugs for teaching metric to Americans probably better than our schools though. It’s an interesting dynamic.

      • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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        2 days ago

        Could also be a hold over from WW1 or WW2 that caused the weird drunk litres thing, would not put it past some dude in logistics getting bitched at by the French and that situation spiraling into litre measurements being standardized for drinks.