American Reacts to How Canadians Measure Things
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- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- As an American I think it is long overdue that I finally learn about the systems of measurement used in Canada. As you might know Americans only use Imperial units and struggle heavily with the Metric system, but I am very interested to learn about how Canada measures things. If you enjoyed the video feel free to leave a comment, like, or subscribe for more!
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Most Canadians actually measure distance in time. How far is the next town...2 hours.
🤣🤣 Being from the Maritimes, I killed myself laughing at this. It is soooooo true. Especially here.
@@dougwilson4537 Yep! And we tend not to use north, south, east or west when giving directions. "You jus' takes dis here road to da red bridge but I think it's blue now but just keep headin' straight til ya gotta go left or right then go right til ya hit water which is too far ya gotta go right again jus' before dat and you'll be dere, b'ys!"
@@dougwilson4537 I am glad someone mentioned this, I thought it was just me. I live in Ontario
Same! Born and raised in BC...I always measure distance in time also, same with about 99% of the people I know. I also give directions by object/building (ie...hang a left right after Clapperton's, go about 1 hour, turn left at the old bridge, then right at Timmies...go another 10-15 min, if you get to the old stump you've gone too far).
Time when referencing driving distance (typically not counting traffic) and Klicks for an accurate reference lol no wonder foreign visitors get confused
I was taught the metric system in school growing up but like most Canadians born after the changes, we’ve adapted to both because of our parents and exposures to both units. We can’t bake in Celsius because our ovens and recipes are usually in Fahrenheit. Prices in stores are displayed in $/lb because it seems cheaper to the consumer since a $/kg number would be bigger. We don’t use kilometres per litre for fuel economy. We use litres per 100 km. We use cups in our recipes but can also have litres in the same recipe. Sometimes they throw a weight measurement in as well to throw you off. Like one cup of milk, 1 litre of water and 60 grams of butter.
Agree 100%
Well, grams is better for dry ingredients if you want a more accurate recipe and cups is for the liquids. That's what i was taught in cooking/baking classes
@@StarGazer3382 I get out my scale when required. Flour settles so weight measurement usually makes better results.
That would be super confusing
It’s still a requirement for all things for sale to be listed in metric. So while it’s true that prices are listed in $/lb stores also display it in $/kg in a much smaller font.
Us older Canadians who remember the change over still use both systems.
Yes!
Yes I think that's the issue.
Yeah exactly. But my kids who are in their 20's only use the metric system. They don't understand the Imperial system. I'm 53 and I never learned the Imperial system in shcool. My parents were using it so I did know some of it.
@@Trygvar13 I am 56 and remember the Imperial System taught in school. I think I was about in grade 4 when the change happened . Even 3 years makes a vast difference, my brother is the same age as you and he doesn’t remember the change over .
Yeah, badly. I’m 60 and basically illiterate in both.
What you have to keep in mind for Canadian measurements: if the government has their hand involved it'll be metric (gas, highway distance, medical, etc), but if it's left to the people it tends to remain imperial (discussing weight, height, baking, etc).
Exception: Ontario’s property tax and assessment system is in acres.
We're bilingual on many levels. We use the metric system when dealing with the world for trade but we can dumb it down a bit when dealing with our slower cousins. Lol.!! I was actually born in 1965 so I spent almost my first ten years learning the imperial system before changing. I do my personal height and weight in feet and pounds but distance in kilometers. Now, as a chef, I find recipes from all over the world so I'm used to working with both units.
Everything is 100% right. She forgot to mention temperatures of water is in F exemple temp of pool or ocean and body temperature can be both C or F depending on age of the person. It’s complex. This was your best reaction. It made me laugh out loud. It does sound completely nuts haha
The only water I've ever seen measured in F is on older house water heaters.
No, the only F temp we use in Canada is oven/cooking temp. Water? That wouldn't even make sense if the air temp is in Celsius , never heard F for water used iny life time. Maybe older people though.
@@JK-zz4ipI'm in my 30s and from Québec. Here, everyone uses fahrenheit for the pool or ocean temperature.
A couple of things. If we are driving a fair distance, many Canadians will say "oh, it's about a 2 hour drive or so". Forget miles/kilometers, we measure in time. Also, one time I was in a grocery store and a young lady who only knew the Metric System, just called out "Help". After people turned to look at her, she said "does anyone know how many grams are in 1 lb.? I was the youngest of the seniors there at that time and said 454 grams are in 1 lb. The young lady thanked me profusely and I grinned to myself because I knew something others didn't and I helped someone. It was a good day.
My age group (59) only used grams to buy drugs!...lol
Oh, I thought that was standard knowledge.
@obama potato there is actually 28.35 grams in an ounce. That is why her 454 is more correct. it is also easier to say 16 ounces to a lb.
@jesust.dud8 453.592 grams to pound, everybody got ripped off.
I only remember this because my first job was in a deli 😂
One thing she only mentioned lightly is that Imperial liquid measurements were different in the USA, and Canada. In Canada, a pint is 20 ounces, whereas in the USA, it is only 16. Thus, a pint of beer in Canada will be more beer! This works up to quarts, and gallons as well. The Canadian gallon is about 1/5 bigger. Interestingly, for irrigation, Canadians used US gallons. Before we switched to litres!
The UK made that change in 1824, 48 years after independence.
What do you mean by irrigation ?
@@mattybrunolucaszeneresalas9072 Irrigating farmland.
Oil barrels are 45 gallons in Canada and 55 gallons in the States, same sized barrel.
I grew up in the change. Conversion comes easily for me as i have used both systems in my occupations. My sons grew up with the metric system. When i use imperial in our discussions, they dont know how to interpret
And i always have to convert it for them. It is very much generational.
Exactly like me. Born in 1973 in Québec. At home we used imperial but I learned metric at school. So all the "home" or "personnal" measurements are imperial and everything "official" or in the society in general, is in metric.
@@Samaelle73 I'm almost 30 years old, born in Quebec as well and I almost exclusively uses the metric personally, the few I still use are pounds (for personal weight) and F for pool temperature and baking. I also know the height in imperial but personally do not use it
I remember when the old textbooks were taken out of class!
Don't worry Tyler. When in Canada, just ask someone. There still are some Canadians that get confused as we use both systems. As a Canadian, I use both systems. Metric was first introduced to me in grade 8 (1967). Even though I learned it, I did not take it seriously and thought this was never going to work in Canada. Haha. As she had said, it was in the 70's that metric was implemented over time and not all at once. To this day, there are some things that are easier not to use metric. However, my children only know metric. Today, I use both as I cannot relate to the metric system. My recipes are in cups for example. Weather until recently, I figured out that 10°C is about 50°F, 15°C is about 60°F, 20°C is about 70°F. I still convert for the winter months to relate how cold it actually is. Lol. Size I can usually eyeball and weight I can feel. To me it is all relative to what you know. I do not take either very seriously, although, metric is more accurate. When driving a car, just meke sure your speedometer is at the recommended speed according to the signs posted. Or, for a US visitor, follow the speed the other cars are driving. Doctors use metric. When they weigh me, for example, I calculate it in lbs. when I get out of their office. At times, depending what it is, I still get a little confused. Thank goodness for Google. Lol.
The metric measurement that makes the most sense to me is weather in celsius because 0° is the freezing point of water, 20° is room temperature and anything above 30° is a very hot summer day.
Actually, the entire metric system is based on water. Water freezes at 0, and boils at 100. 1 decimetre squared is 1 litre, and 1 litre = 1kg if you've got pure water.
10 is cool, 20 is nice, 30 is hot, 0 is ice.
@@jasoncrobar724 Great rhyme to help people remember!
@@healed1337 The meter enters the chat:
I live on the Canadian Prairies. We gauge weather with celsius (which I learned experientially .. -20 isn’t too bad, -30 is cold, -40 is flippin cold); baking is done in fahrenheit; distance is in kilometers, height is in meters or feet and inches. We tend to use pounds for personal weight, but at the Dr.s office its in kilograms just like the grocery store. We measure milk in litres, but in baking for instance it depends on the recipe. Gas is litres. We have adapted pretty well, and those of us who had to learn metric in the 70s are doubly blessed because we know both metric and British imperial and we’ve learned to mentally convert them.
Yes most of our grid roads are spaced 1 mile apart so the people who live around them will never switch to measuring stuff like that in metric.
You really should do a reaction to the Gimli Glider. In 1983, an Air Canada flight from Montreal to Edmonton ran out of gas. A lot of factors were involved but it really came down to incorrect metric conversion - the flight left with 22,300 lbs of fuel instead of 22,300 kgs...about half of what they needed. It's a very cool story, especially how the pilots managed to land it safely. ruclips.net/video/3ffryZAd4Nw/видео.html
Actually it was supposed to be 22,300 kg not litres.
@@ottawapm Corrected. Thanks.
@@ottawapm 1 kg = 1litre actually, so he wasn't wrong. But that's another example of how useful metric system can be.
@Jiri Broz Jet A-1 actually weights 0.81 Kg/L the 1 Kg/L is for pure water at 20 C
@@derrickfoster644 Makes sense!
For cooking, it must be remembered that Canadians still have lots of cookbooks written using the imperial system; thus, they continue to still use these units when making some of their favourite recipes. This is why our measuring cups and spoons (tablespoon, etc.) also give the measurment in milliliters. Gradually, as the younger generation is buying newer cookbooks, the use of just milliliters is increasing. Eventually, perhaps in another 25 years, it will likely only exist in museums.
Good thing she didn't throw in a pinch or a dash for measurement when baking.lol
It should also be noted that a certain part of the population also uses weight (i.e. grams) in cooking as is done in much of Europe. This is more common amongst more recent immigrants.
In French cookbooks (from France) sometimes it's all in metric. Whenever the author is from Québec it's using both systems.
That and our stoves and most English language cookbooks are of US origin.
@@robertsitch1415 No, our stoves are made by many countries. These include Japan and Korea. Regardless, I am certain that all stoves sold in Canada today must have a Celsius option; if not they can't be sold here. In fact the selling of stoves is an international market and most of the world uses Celsius; thus, today, even stoves built in the US will have the Celsius option; in paticular, if they want to sell them abroad. The cost for this is essentially nothing as it simply amounts to providing the user the option in appliances that are now literally connected to the world.
Another fun fact: many Canadians measure the temperature outside in Celcius and INSIDE in F. Also, pool Temps are measured in F.
I also used to work in a deli so I know that 1 lb has 454 grams. I used to have to convert Oz to pounds to grams all of the time for my customers.
😂😂 this is the craziest thing about Canada. It’s hilarious how we just know which system to use depending on what we’re measuring. I have to admit that it’s always a surprise when I buy meats or cheese at the grocery counter. I have to always ask the person behind the counter to show me the quantity 😂
You ask for half a pound and they cut you about 225g 😁
Lunch meat, can I get 100gm. Oh chicken is 99 cents a pound, great deal!
Also, pretty much everyone I know can do general conversions between metric and imperial in their head with weight and distance. It might not be exact or specific, but it's never far off. I don't know too many people who are familiar with gallons or temperature conversions though - my dad's the only person I know who thinks imperial when talking about temperature.
I've asked for an inch of sliced meat at the deli. It works.
@@healed1337 temperature C to F double it then add 30 / 10C 10×2+30=50F close enough. And I think it's 3.78 litres =1gallon
I grew up during the change. All of this comes very easy to me.
But here in Saskatchewan we regularly measure travel distance by time. “How far is it to ?” “Oh, about 2 and a half hours.”
Also….. some people measure in beer. Hopefully jokingly….but not always. As in “that is about a 3 beer trip.” You will drink about 3 beer before you get there. Assuming a typical rate of consumption. This is more common in rural Saskatchewan and way more common 30+ years ago.
Measuring distance by time is not just a Saskatchewan thing. Most people I know in Ontario regularly describe travel time instead of distance, and the same with my family in both Nova Scotia and BC.
LOL.
Celsius is easier to use and remember once you know it because it use’s water as it’s reference. The only thing you really need to remember really is that 0 is when water goes from liquid to solid 37 is the average body temperature and 100 is when water boils.
Freezing at 0°c makes so much more sense
And that -40 C is equal -40 F. But who cares when it is that cold. LOL.
Water is not only the base for metric temperature but also: 1L of water is 1KG and also 10x10x10cm cube.
@@enzopalumbo2164 But keep in mind all the mindustry temperatures for Celsius and Fahrenheit do not match up
When Canada started converting to metric in the 70's, it was a time of high inflation. Packaging was quick to convert because it made shrinkflation easy. That is when the package size shrinks, allowing price increases to be less than otherwise. A quart of milk (1.14 liters) became 1 liter. A 5lb bag of sugar became 2Kg (4,4lbs) and a gallon of gas was 4.5 liters. The big thing that caused gas stations to convert was the gas pumps were mechinical. They only went up to 99.9 cents per unit. When gas went over a dollar per gallon stations had to set the price at half then charge customers double the pump price. For example, if gas was $1.05/gal, you set the pump at 52.5. If someone pumped $5, they were charged $10.
When it comes to bulk weight food like meat and produce, that is obvious why it is still promenently displayed in pounds since a kilogram is 2.2X the price in pounds, although some stores don't display pounds if they sell in price per 100g.
I should also point out that the dairies have once again shrunk the milk package. Small containters of milk have gone from half pint to 250ml, and now are 237ml or one US half pint. A US quart is smaller then a liter, while an Imperial quart is larger than a liter.
To add to what she was saying, everything construction related (wood, beams, floor size, etc.) is in imperial mostly because the US are our biggest trade partner and if we went metric for this we'd always have to convert everything or write both measuring systems on packaging and stuff and it's not worth the hassle. Also everyone in Canada knows what feet and inches are, even the younger generations, so it's really not worth changing.
I must admit that some things are weird still, like how we use celcius for literally everything expect for oven / bbq temperature lol
I use °F for pool/spa water too, and I still understand them for body temp, cuz my mom use it, but I use C to check my kids body temp, so they were stump the other day when the electronic thermometer was in F.
Depends on what kind of construction you are talking about. I work in commercial architecture and the standard there is to use metric measurements (in mm), and the building code is also entirely in metric. That said, a lot of building materials are sized to US Customary units and we just have to convert those into metric.
@canuckasaurus I'd say building code may be written in metric, but many standards are based on historical imperial measurements. 16 inch on center stud spacing, lumber sizing, etc.
Far easier to deal with material sizing/purchasing when your metric measurement standards match an equal imperial measurement... I still buy 2x4s at the local home depot.
@@canuckasaurus I was studying architecture in grad school when we switched to metric in design in Jan 1977. Easier to work in and we had things like design manuals for steel and timber elements with useful charts to convert.
As a rural Canadian, I know miles due to our grid roads typically being 1 or 2 miles between intersections, as well as farmland typically being broken into "sections", which are 1 mile by 1 mile.
NB, Canada. I use lbs for body weight, and feet and inches, as well as metric for height. I used to use imperial units for building and measuring things, but ive recently switched to using completely metric, its far easier. Everything else i grew up metric.
Btw, I'm 6'4" or 193cm (1.93m) beauty of the metric system there. Just shift the decimal point, and you have your answer.
I lived there last year and definitely noticed more older people using miles, which isn't as common as where I'm from in BC.
An easy way to understand Celsius is to remember 0 degrees Celius is the freezing/melting temp. So if it has a - in front it's a freezing temp and a + in front is a melting temperature
This video is really accurate haha.
Like the temperature outside is in C° but most of not all ovens are in F°. Measuring your body temp is usually F° too.
As for the weight and height thing she mentioned that a lot more younger ppl will use cm for height but as someone who’s 18 most if not almost all ppl my age use feet and inches, but we still all know our height in cm’s too if needed.
Same with weight most ppl use pounds (however I personally use Kg) but a lot of people do know both.
i hate it when ovens are in C! I can't figured them out LOL
Also in Canada, the temperature of your house (what your thermostat is set at) will most likely be in Celsius…your pool temperature will always always always always be measured in Fahrenheit.
I was in public school when the metric system was introduced, so I was raised with both (I'm 55). I never really thought about how situational measurements are in Canada. I work it exactly like Jen says in her video. I also never considered how much brain power it would take to manage both systems simultaneously, doing conversion on the go, in my head.
I was in primary school during the conversion and never got a full grasp on imperial measurements. I hated doing fractions so metric made so much more sense to me and was easy to figure out. Metric is what I use for everything, the only exception is in the kitchen since recipes and the oven are in imperial, it's easier to just go with it rather than convert. I never convert between systems , best to stick to one.
When you said you have absolutely no reference in your mind about Celcius, that is how we feel about body height and weight in metric. Our parents grew up using imperial for body weight and height and measured us in imperial, and we internalized that system, and I measure my kids in imperial. Doctors will mesure us in metric, and then convert the measurement in imperial if we ask for it.
As a Canadian millennial, I found it hard to switch to metres and centimetres for length because metres were "too big to be useful". I've since figured out that the decimetre exists and is the width of my palm with the thumb tucked under, and 1cm is the width of my pinkie, turned on its side... I still tend to think in feet and inches because of all the hobby carpentry I do though. (As mentioned in my other comment, we sell so much of our lumber to the U.S. that we keep all our building supplies in feet and inches and, my example was that I frame my home-made furniture, made from scrap dimensional lumber, using 3" #12 Robertson (square) screws.)
I was in high school when the change became official. It’s taken a long time for it to take over mostly because people simply don’t turn off or change how they think of distance, temperature or weight.
I finally think in Celsius when it comes to temperature but still think in pounds and ounces for weight.
A tip for you Tyler when you want to know the temperature or have an idea. At 0 (32F)water freeses and at 100(212F) it boils. Both systems meet at -40 degrees. Just remember the 0 and 100. So -3 degrees is rather mild and pleasant winter day. A few week ago the temprature dropped to -37 or so. We still buy a pond of butter which is 454 gr. I lived the change. And use both. Don't ask me my hight in cm or weith in Kg. We buy water bottles and the are in ml but in weird quantiy, actually it is to match the equivalent on the US. You can find something like 931 ml. You buy 3.6 l of paint. Take care and keep going.
This actually makes perfect sense. As you said, the change is quite recent (as in people from that time are still alive and well, including myself).
1. Baking is done in Imperial because people are too lazy to convert old family recipes into metric units. Also, stoves (the non digital ones) used to come in F since they were imported from the States.
2. Same for height and weight, only in the last couple of decades home scales became digital where you can switch between F and C. Before the dominant measurement was F and inches for height.
3. Construction (wood) measurement is mostly done in Imperial because a lot of our wood is exported to US and therefore it's easier to just make it one measurement instead of having to split between domestic and export products.
However; now with the digital area at hand where most products come in both, and with the influx of immigrants that all use the metric system, I have noticed that the Imperial is being fazed out at a faster rate. I bet you that in the next 15 years it won't be as mixed up.
When buying construction materials we normally use the imperial system, (for example 2 by 4s), but you will actually see the metric measurements on the labels or even the receipts.
If the US would make an effort to change and sell products in metric it would change drastically within fewer than 5 years. Start explaining bra cup sizes to me on the package in cm and I will suddenly read those markings on the tape measure instead of the other side.
The other reason for keeping with the imperial system for recipes is that most metric recipes weigh the ingredients and that would be a complete shift in thinking for Canadians who bake and cook. We measure our wet and dry ingredients in cups or teaspoons in imperial and we would weigh dry ingredients in grams and use milligrams for liquid ingredients in a metric recipe. An egg is still an egg in both systems!
weight is not F and C temperature is. Weight is K and P
Yeah, I remember all the signs on the highway with both. And when new cars at the time came with both on the speedometer. It's kind of odd how we hold so strong to some of the ways of measuring. That video you watched was really good. She explained it very well.
Born and raised in BC. We measure weight in pounds if it's big, but we use kg if it's small. Temperature is celsius unless it's an oven, then it's fahrenheit. I learned how to cook using metric (litres), but most recipe books are imperial (cups) so both work. Road signs are in km, and usually cars are too, but there's a lot of American cars on the market with mph speedometers so it's not uncommon to drive them.
Fu ck faren Celsius are easier to imagine and easier to calculate never you gonna see me use faren i prefere die XD. Why mile imprecise they are.... Better when thing are edge...
WTH, 1 Kg is 2.2 lbs, why would you use that for smaller units?
For cooking, specially for baking (and anything else where precision matters) is not even a matter of imperial vs metric, imperial cookbooks use units of volume (cups, teaspoons, etc.) while metric recipe books use weight (grams) as units, so results are typically more consistent with the latter.
@@Imman1s using weight for cooking is such an inefficient idea. If I need 200g of something I need to scoop it out in a container, measure it on a zero-ed scale into a seperate container and then if its over the weight transfer it back to the original package. THEN I can dump the correctly measured amount into my mixture.
If I need 250ml of something I scoop it in a 250ml container, level it immediately and put it in my mixture.
Volumes are just plain better.
@@Essence1123 It is extremely annoying, and you won't be able to pull it out without a scale. But if you are cooking something that require precision, that's the way to go.
And no, volumes are more convenient, but they are not "better". There is a lot of density variations on what you scoop from a container, and that's even worse when you need to take in account things like humidity and temperature.
Which as I said before, is irrelevant for most people most of the time, but unavoidable for things like baking where a percent hydration difference has a large impact on the final product.
@@Essence1123 pretty disingenuous example. you add too much by weight but by volume you don’t go over the line and then pull out a spoon to remove the excess? You can just say you’re not used to it. Measuring by weight doesn’t mean you have to be 0,001g accurate. To me, scales are much faster. Put out a single bowl and add everything you need to combine, zero, add, zero, add, done and you haven’t dirtied spoons and measuring cups or anything to transfer it.
A cup of flour can vary wildly depending on how it’s packed.
And yes, I can eyeball grams just as much as I can eyeball a cup now.
The reason why measurements depend on what you are measuring here is because of two things. 1. The change to the metric system was pretty recent. 2. (Which is probably the biggest factor), most of our raw materials comes from the states which is measured in the imperial system when they make it, many products come from the states or are made FOR the states from either themselves or from other countries and then those products get shipped to canada. Additionally, pretty much any material or product we produce is exported to the states so we follow their measurement system for ease of trade. In short, because everything revolves around the states, their measurement system bleeds into ours (which is fine, no problems with that).
Also, side note for construction measurements, everything is measured in the imperial system EXCEPT when the construction involves civil work. Basically all civil construction (roads, sewers etc.) follows the metric system and any large commercial or industrial buildings are designed metrically. The reason is because the metric system is Canada’s official system so most of our building code and laws around construction are use the metric system except for smaller scale, typically residential purposes where they will use the imperial system because the available materials are measured imperially going back to the point from before.
Anyways, to sum up our reason for mixed usage of measurement in one sentence. It is because of America.
Cooking often still uses imperial because many recipes are either created before 1970 (grandma's cookies), or the recipe is American. Fahrenheit and celsius or cups/ml are both listed on the devices you use. Both pounds and kilograms are used in stores because older people prefer pounds, younger people prefer grams. Both are usually listed so you can simply just look at the sign and read your preferred system. Most things have both listed, like rulers have cm and inches.
Time for distance as other commenters say, but miles are still important in Saskatchewan because of our grid system of backroads. Much of the south half of the province is measured out by roads 1 mile apart east/west and 2 miles north/south. Specific directions are often given in miles because of this. "Go 2 miles west, turn north and another 1/2 mile, just past the old farm yard."
This mix of units happened because us older citizens had a hard time making the change. Certain things were forced like kilometers and Celsius, so we had to learn. But if we didn't have to, we stuck with what we already knew.
Eh to be fair, im sure it has more to do with the 330 Million people to the south of us who never adopted it, more so then the maybe 10-15M people left in Canada who never caught on to it.
With how intergrated our economy and markets are with the US, we will never be off the Imperial Units...and they will never not be on the Metric Units.
bs. I'm 70 and worked construction, electrician, and the conversion was easy. all drawings were metric, house to hi-rise. Within 6 months every tradesman would tell you they would never go back to Imperial.
Tyler just for reference for you. If it’s sold it has to be sold in metric. I’m older and have struggled with doing the switch from one to the other. My grandchildren learned the metric system at school so they are less versed in the old system. Just remember in Canada the metric system is the legal system so if I use something in my personal life ie cooking, my height, my weight the I’m still using imperial but if I have to buy it then I have to use the metric system. Our cars show speed in kilometre so it’s easy to follow speed limits
Switching from Imperial to metric in the 70’s was especially difficult for a lot of us who were already older. I was in my early 30’s so it wasn’t easy. Certain aspects of a person’s profession made it necessary to learn some measurements quickly. As a nurse I had to change from giving an injection from cc to ml. Thermometers were all converted to Celsius. When describing the length of a wound, you couldn’t say…the gash is2 inches long, it had to be in cm. But apart from work I still thought in Imperial. For example if someone told me it was x number of Kilometers from one place to another, it would not register with me unless they said miles. When I baked I measured in cups and ounces. This is why a lot of Canadians tend to use both systems.
I honestly think that part of Canada's continued use of imperial is based on proximity to the States. We watch shows from the U.S. So stuff like height and measurements we pick up from U.S.-made shows and books. Stuff like the weather is local so we adopted metric more easily.
Miles to kilometers: as a rough conversion, 2 miles is about 3 kilometers. Time is, as said below, also used for distance. Being in Toronto, though, you also have to specify the time of day. "If you go outside rush hour, and there are no big accidents, it should take 20 minutes. (Pack supplies otherwise!) The moral: always check google maps before going anywhere."
I've always found that the easiest conversion is 5 miles equals 8 km. Therefore, 50 miles per hour equals 80 km/h.
She is actually super accurate. Officially, we are on the metric system. However, we do use pounds for weight And all the other things she mentioned, and it does also depend on where you grew up and your age. On another note, a good way for you to think about kilometers and miles is that 1 km is roughly 62% of a mile.
I'm in my 40s so even though we switched in the 1970 I still grew up hearing both systems and sometimes have trouble visualizing one measurement until Im told in the other system. I know how fast km/h is while driving but need to picture Keanu staying above 50m/h to know how fast a car is going in miles (my husband worked in the car industry so bringing home cars that were originally sold and shipped in from the states was always a fun game of "how fast am I really going") I can visualize a mile in distance but have to pay attention to the GPS instructions of "turn NOW!" when they tell me 1.5km turn left because who know how far that really is. I'll measure things in cm but always have to google how tall I am when asked for my height in cm. kilogram?! Wtf? Lbs I can do...but grams make sense and ounces is nonsense. Was buying fish tanks last week and to visualize 5 gallons when they could just put 18L (and obviously 1L = 1 milk bag so 18 bags of milk is an easy equation)....and temperature? All I know is that 0c is 32f which makes no sense on the American side...0 should be the starting point
Yes! I’m in my late 30’s so grew up with metric, but my parents grew up with the imperial system so that’s how they referred to everything at home. I have a pretty good mental picture for both feet/inches AND cm/m for lengths or area, but long distances is km, or more often, time (it takes X mins/hours to get there). Weight is almost exclusively lbs, though I agree that oz confused me for a long time (I would always forget how many oz were in 1 lb…it’s 16), until I had my first baby, then I figured it out when measuring her weight (still have no idea what the equivalent would be in g/kg, though I know the conversion is 2.2 lbs=1 kg and could do the math). Basically almost everything “official” is metric, but the transition in the colloquial usage has been slow due to what we grew up with. Perhaps my kids, or grandkids, will exclusively use metric when they grow up as each generation transitions further away from the imperial system. I know my dad still uses F for their house temp, but I use C…just one example of how the younger generation has started to adapt to the change.
It's 4 litres split between 3 bags. So it's 1.3 litres per bag. It had something to do with the conversion. It was originally sold in a American gallon but when the switched over it was easier to just go to 4 litres than 3 for the new bag size. Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that's how it happened.
Growing up in the Netherlands I am used to metric system and when I moved back to Canada in 1980 I was glad to see that Canada was in the process of converting to the metric system. I was glad that I would not need to learn the imperial system. However, when the Free trade Agreement between US and Canada, Canada was told to slow down the conversion to the metric system. I am proud to say that I am a few of the baby boomers who measures my height and weight in cm and in kg.
When my brother was learning to cook he kept complaining that he couldn’t get his frozen chicken fingers to cook. Our ovens use Fahrenheit and he was logically (for a kid) using the Celsius temperature listed on the package
My dad was one of the last generation of Canadians to be taught the imperial system in school. He understands metric, but still uses imperial when speaking.
OMG, she is absolutely correct. I never even thought about how convoluted our measurement vocabulary has become. We must seem like weirdos to non-Canadians 😅
If you want to know Canadian weather, if the temp is over 0 celsius, you double the temp and add 30. This gives you a close ballpark Fahrenheit temp; so if it's 10 celsius, double it to 20, then add 30= 50 degrees fahrenheit.
For temp you just need to remember 3 things
1 water boils at 100 C or 212 F
2 water freezes at 0 C or 32 F
3 -40 C is the same as -40 F
So if it's -4, it's just under 32 by a couple of degrees. Probably 30 F. Hope this helps lol
And room temp is around 20c
Oh and 82F = 28C
And 61F = 16C
If you don't mind a little math 0c = 32f and then it's 1.8f for every Celsius
Actually -4C is 24.8F
no this is easier
0,1,2,3, o freezing. 1 is 10 cold 2 20 room temp 3 30 hot
Here is a way to make it easier to calculate Celsius to Fahrenheit Tyler. 5 degrees Celsius = 9 degrees Fahrenheit (this is nearly double). Like someone said in a comment, the freezing point is 0° Celsius so we adapted very fast to feeling the Celsius temperatures and the boiling point is 100° C.
Here is an example, 72° F, subtract 32 degrees for the freezing point and divide the difference by 2 and round it up a bit, the answer is 22° C
Or when you hear a Celsius temperature, just double up the value and add 32 degrees. You will always be very close to the real answer. Example : 20° C x 2 would be 40 + 32 = 72. The answer is actually 68 but it's close enough...
Hope this helps !
There are actually 2 different cups. There is the traditional US cup that is half a pint or 236. 6ml and the metric cup that is 1/4 of a litre or 250ml. I do believe most cups used today are 250ml but that is something to watch out for if using an older recipe.
Part of the reason for that is that US fluid oz are a bit different than British Imp fluid oz
I'm surprised I had to scroll down so far before I found this. One of my cookbooks for my bread machine has two measurements American and Canadian because of this.
And I loved when the speed limit signs changed, we could legally do 100(kmh) instead of 65(mph)or, 62 as it works out to…
There's a great image that pops up on Reddit every few months called 'How Canadians measure things.' That pretty accurately depicts the chaos that exists in Canada when it comes to measuring distance, weight, height, speed, etc.
For Celsius, it revolves around water - zero is the freezing point of water, so any minus temperature is cold (with snow/ice), while the high end is 100, which is the boiling point of water. 30 degrees C is close to 90 F, so anything 30 or over is a hot day.
I grew up many years after Canada made the switch, so I only officially learned metric. She is right about feet, inches, and pounds when talking about your own height and weight, even among younger people. I feel pretty confident about using centimetres for height, but my own weight is still strange for me to think about in kilograms. As for Fahrenheit, I feel exactly how you do about Celsius. It's more of just an oven setting than an actual temperature to me. Same with the baking measurements, I do use them, but I am really just following the recipe, I don't have a great idea of them conceptually. I honestly don't think Canada will ever be fully metric if the US does not switch, since we are such close neighbours. But I think we're definitely becoming more metric with the younger generations. When I visit the US with my parents they are usually very comfortable (they grew up right around the switch), whereas I am converting things to metric all the time.
weight in Kg is smaller than Lbs so I like to use Kg because it is flattering to my ego
For Fahrenheit, I just remember and use as reference; -40 is the same in both, freezing point of water, room temperature (20C 68F) and body temperature.
In Australia the term 2 × 4 is still used sometimes, loose translation is 50mm × 100mm
Ok... i will call bullshit on one thing in this video....
Absolutely no Canadian I know, who wants anyone to believe they are Canadian, says a 'bitter cold' day is -3c.
LOL..... at -3 sometimes I don't put on a jacket to go shovel some snow. That's almost melting. Not one single person I know, or have ever met, would say that -3c is 'bitter cold'. Who is this lady....?
Seriously. When it's -3 I think "Thank God. Finally, a nice mild day!"
You have to realize that we are the biggest trade partner to the US. Many cook books, tools, containers, packaged products, etc., come from the US. Official measurements are usually metric, while day-to-day measurements are practical or colloquial.
I'm a Canuck. Once in Atlanta an American asked me how I could endure such cold temperatures all year. He didn't believe me when I told him the actual temps. His reasoning was that when watching the national news ... Detroit and Chicago would be say 70 degrees but Toronto and Ottawa would only be 20 to 21 degrees. You have to be a Canuck to see the humour in this, eh.
Temperature in Celsius is the easiest to understand--it is so simple! Zero degrees C is the freezing point of water and 100 C is the boiling point of water.
Re. Temperature: Temperatures in the metric system are based on the freezing and melting points of water. Water freezes at zero degrees celcius and boils at 100 degrees celcius. Canada is a country of temperature extreems; where I live, ... and it is February, we recently had an overnight temperature of -35C. Bitter cold! A very hot summer day for us can be as high as 40C, which is very hot.
Celsius to Fahrenheit is 9/5 (so times the number by 9 and divide it by 5), and Fahrenheit to Celsius is 5/9 (so times the number by 5 and divide by 9) helps for travelling to the US since I am from Canada
Canadian measurements are determined by convenience and history. Length/width/height of objects is done in both metric and imperial, but because standards were originally written long before (ie stud distance being 16 inches on center), so those standards carry through, which is why construction sticks to imperial. Typically the bigger you go, the more you have a tendency to switch to meters, as they're bigger (1m is ~3ft). The height of a skyscraper will likely be in meters...
Cooking stays imperial because hundreds of years of imperial recipes passed down would be a pain to convert. Grandma's butter tart recipe can't be changed, so it's easier to measure a half teaspoon than to use milliliter measures to get 2.5ml. Temperature in cooking is a round number/scailing thing... most things cook at 325, 350, 375, 400, or 425 Fahrenheit, so at those temperatures, Fahrenheit is more granular. A typical metric cooking temperature conversion in cookbooks, etc. is 350 Fahrenheit is 180 Celsius. This is slightly off, as it is actually 356 Fahrenheit, so you're cooking a bit hotter. Grandma's pie crust is getting a bit too crispy.
as a 19 year old canadian and my dad is a structural engineer and just realising all the different ways we use each measurement system this 100% is true lol. its giving me an aneurism! like i know all about how to use the imperial system for construction uses but then can use metric for basically everything else. this must sound so confusing but for me its just first nature to say this in metric, that in imperial.
At 8:45 ... In fact, fuel economy in the metric system is a function of how much fuel you burn over a travelled distance versus the Imperial of how far you can drive with a unit of fuel. In metric, the fuel volume is the figure that changes and the distance travelled remains constant. With imperial, its the distance that changes and the fuel volume is constant. So in the metric system, if a vehicle's rating is 8 litres per 100 kilometres, that means you are burning that much fuel over that distance. Therefore, the lower the number of litres, the better the fuel economy. In short: Metric is litres burned over 100 kilometres, and Imperial is miles travelled with a gallon of fuel. ... Clear as mud.
I'm 65 and they were just starting to teach the metric system so I use the imperial system because that's what I know except for driving because I have no choice. Younger people use mostly metric because that's what they were taught in school.
I'm in my mid 50s. And pretty much everything this lady said is true for me. The only anomaly for me is for outdoor temp, I use Celsius, but for indoor temp I need to use Fahrenheit . Also need to use F for pool temp. I think this is all based on my dad always talking about the temp in the pool and house in F and I've got it mapped to comfort in my head this way. But outdoor is based on weather reports on TV, which is C.
1.6 kilometers = 1 mile
Inches and feet are also use in distances. House or building measurements are in feet as well. For example, a building can be 60 feet by 80 feet = 4800 square feet. I work in insurance in the province of Quebec.
Some Americans may be helped by considering a few Olympic track events - races are always measured in metres, but a few are based on imperial measures: i.e. - the 400 metre track is a quarter mile. The 800 m race is a half mile.
Gas performance is measured as liters per 100 kilometres (l/100 km), same as in Europe. It makes it easier to calculate how many liters you need for a trip. Or how many km’s you can drive with x liters. You just multiply by your rated l/100km. If car gets 5l/100km, and trying to see how many liters you would need for a 400 km trip, you would need 5x400/100=20 liters.
as a canadian civil engineering student, we learn how to do the math in both system. i draw blueprints in feet and do the math in SI. Ive gotten pretty good as remembering all the ratios and can do the math quickly without googling it. also, many people still use mpg for car distance.
Most younger Canadians don't understand Fahrenheit. The only reason we bake in Fahrenheit is because major appliances are built for the US market and sold in Canada as well.
Yeah I honestly don't know why our system is so mixed up. I didn't even realize it was for the longest time. As a kid I just thought that everyone measured height in feet and inches, and it took me a while to catch on to how weird it was. The result is, I don't have a very good grasp on either system and am confused about how they convert. I can visualize a meter and an inch easily, but struggle with a centimeter. Yards are almost never used except to measure distance of a golf ball when you hit it and I have zero concept of how far a yard is off the top of my head. When I cook, I mainly just use teaspoons, tablespoons and cups and whenever I have to use grams or kg I have to break out a scale because I can't estimate it. As others have mentioned, we more commonly measure distance in time (which is just really bizarre) saying things like "It's just a five minute drive," or "It's about 2 hours away." And then of course there's time itself, which we tend to categorize into AM and PM rather than use 24 hour time. I am still endlessly confused with 24 hour time and I never know off the top of my head what 20:00 is for example. I just have to start counting up from 12 until I figure it out.
I've been wondering for a while whether I should try and get a full grasp of the metric system, but I feel like it would just confuse people around here if I started saying my height or weight in metric. It's one of the weirdest and least talked about parts of Canada because everyone just assumes we're fully metric, but really 99% of people are half and half.
In construction, English is imperial but in French we use metric. (I'm an architect) But on the field, workers tend to talk about inches.
I think a lot of the reason both systems are used has to do with the legal actions when we switched.
The government made laws during the transition that set legal deadlines for businesses to switch to metric. About 4 or 5 years later there was a lawsuit by a small business owner who claimed that the switch was costing him both customers (because they didn't understand the weight of the meat he sold) and money to switch his equipment to metric. The court ruled that he could not be forced to switch. Idk if this only applied to small businesses or all businesses, but manufacturers did not switch back and I have noticed that grocery stores often display prices/unit in metric in large print and imperial in small print.
There are 3 reasons we often use the imperial system for some things. 1, our electronics, or stores use them still. If your oven is in F you aren't going to use C.
2, upbringing. It's what our parents, and community used.
3, despite how much better the metric system fits together, some of the measurements aren't as easy to use when measuring things in a middle area. Going from ml, to litres, isn't as easy as using cups. For hight, well I'm 5ft 7, or roughly 170cm. It's easier to comprehend when you break that into smaller numbers. Picture 5 bananas, and 7 kiwis lined up, can you picture how long that would be about? Now picture 170 grapes. A lot harder, isn't it?
In short, most things are officially metric but common practice, especially in day to day things, didn't really convert. There was a lot of resistance in the 70's and retailers weren't interested in annoying their customers so they posted Imperial measures and prices as well as the officially required metric ones.
Born in 1973 in Québec. At home we used imperial but I learned metric at school. So all the "home" or "personnal" measurements are imperial and everything "official" or in the society in general, is in metric.
About baking liquids. See a pint of any liquid is likely to weigh a pound so you can use weight to measure any liquids.
When I talking to my American friends and I explain the metric system to them I give them the following:
Water freezes at 0°C and boils at 100° C. Body temperature is 37°C ( 98.6°F). -40°C = -40°F. (°C X9/5) + 32 = °F
A Kilometer is ~5/8 of a mile. 50 m/h = 80 km/h
A Kilogram is 2.2 pounds.
A lot of Canadians grew up using the Imperial System before they switched to the metric system in the 70's. So we end up using both.
The American gallon is smaller than the Imperial (British Gallon). I Imperial gallon = 0.83 US gallons Now to bagged milk in Canada. 3 bags of milk in the 70's was 1 Imperial Gallon, When we went Metric the size of the bags changed to 3 bags = 0.8 US gallons. The price didn't change.
fun fact. 1L (approx 0.25 Gallons i believe this is also called a pint) of water also weighs 1Kg (2.2 Lbs) and fills a 10x10x10 cm cube of space (approx 4inches per side). water freezes at 0 degrees C (32 F) but is -40 C once frozen. -40 F and C are the same temp. so in other words snow connects us all. 😁
Really enjoy your videos, content, commentary, curiosity. Thanks!
As to today's topic on measurement, as a Canadian who grew up learning Imperial and switching to Metric later, I have often thought it makes sense to use Imperial when measuring smaller units, height or weight of a person, size of a room, temperature of an oven, ingredients for a single cake. When talking about larger units, height of a mountain, weight of a truck, size of a building, temperature of the atmosphere, or making a cake to feed 100, it makes more sense to use Metric as the standard because it is more useful scientifically because of it is neatly based in 10.
I hope children never lose the intimate, and I would say romantic, concept of feet and inches, cups and teaspoons to be replaced by the cold constrains of exactitude without need.
BTW Tyler, I do have to mention, I would think tge random is in tge number of feet in a mile, eh?
Peace and Love!
Now here is something we should consider changing in Canada. Instead of saying "I am not going to budge an inch" should be change that to "I am not going to budge 2.54 cms". The other is "I wouldn't touch him with a 3.3 meter pole" formally "I wouldn't touch him with a 10 foot pole". Also, being near the border with the US, I often shop there and have noticed soda pop containers in 1, 2 and 3 liter sizes. Also note that industry in the US employs the metric system already. Just something to think about.
I live in Manitoba, I have yet to see a bag of milk at any stores I've been too.still not sure who does that here.. we will often call it a gallon of milk as that's the larger size that the plastic jugs come in. even though they are labeled in Litters.
Also we will say "a couple of miles down the road", in rural areas fields are often made to fit within a square mile, so each road is a mile apart.
Bounce fact, we have municipalities rather then Counties.
Allow me to explain by telling yo story in Canadian.
“I live in Alberta, and buddy and I decided to go for rip to T-O (Toronto). Now that’s about a 3-day drive, so we got up early, packed up the car and went for gas. It was $1.12 a litre, and Joe said to me; “Well that’s the cheapest gas we’re gonna get for a while. Because booze was going to be cheaper here too, except beer, we decided to pick up a 26er of Vodka (26oz bottle) and a 40 of rum (40 oz bottle). The store had a sale on 1 litre bottles of Vodka, so I ended up grabbing them. But while in the store, this jerk got in my face. He wasn’t that big, maybe 5-foot-6, 190 pounds. I asked what his problem was, but he just kept breaking at me. So we get outside, and I’m on him like a tonne of bricks. I’ve got his shirt over his head and just lay in’ into him. Bam. Bam. That’s when the cops showed up so we booked it. I swear, I did the 500meter dash in like 5 seconds. Anyway, Joe and I hit the road, dong about 140 klicks (Kilometer’s) when I notice there is the car about 3 meters of my back end…just kissing my ass. That’s when I realized I was in a school zone, an should have dropped to 50 Kilometers an hour. I tried to to talk myself out of the ticket. I swear, I was talking a million miles an hour, but the cop hit with a $250 ticket.”
There. Does that help? 😂😂😂
Here in europe it is the other way around. I struggle to imagine what something is in F or lbs or feet. We use C for everything, however, for wood, we do actually use 2x4 and 2x2 (that would be inches) for the width of things, but then meter for the length.
Also, we use " for screen and TV sizes, mostly due to importing them I guess? So a TV would be 55" and a computer display or laptop would be a 13" etc.
But apart from screen sizes and wood thickness, its all metric regardless of generation or context.
railroad in Canada still uses the imperial system. drive down the highway in kilometers, gps tells you to turn in meters. get on the highrails and now you are traveling in miles and feet
The best reference for Celsius is fresh water freezes at 0 and boils at 100, the body is about 37% of the way to boiling at 37*C ..
Also if I remember correct 1 gram of water is 1 cubed centimeter and takes 1 joule energy to heat 1*C making the math super nice
the 1 gram = 1cc = 1 mL etc technically not any more, but effectively yes
Metric is used for official, scientific, or vast scales. For personally important things it's imperial. (The US system is not "imperial" but "US system of weights and measures".)
The 1.6km per mile is easier to remember as 8/5. 80 km equals 50 miles. 55 mph is 88 km/h. 40km (5×8) is 25 miles (5×5).
I enjoy your videos and comments, also the imperial system is larger in gallon and few others than American units
America actually tried to use the metric system, but, the Government quickly scrapped it when it became evident that Americans were having difficulty adjusting to it and went back to using imperial. There are a few things or places in the US I believe that use metric but there really isn't a whole lot that uses it. Our cars up here in Canada use km's on our odometers but, use km/h for speed but are also capable of using mph at just a push of a button or by looking at the at the speedometer as it has both km/h and mph on it.
Easy way to remember Celsius for Weather.
30 degrees Celsius is a really hot day
0 degrees Celsius that's where it starts to snow because water freezes at 0 degrees Celsisus
-30 degrees Celsius is a really cold day
Now you can keep going both ways and it will be following the same pattern.
-45 degrees Celsius is super freaking cold and 45 degrees Celsius is so freaking hot.
10 to 15 degrees Celsius is where you put a small jacket or hoodie
-10 to -15 is about the average winter day
part of the reason for the mix is because of america being next door, for example my stove is in F because its from a store that is from the us, so i couldnt use C for cooking even if i want to.
General rule of thumb is if you're measuring the world around you, you use metric, and if you're measuring yourself, you use imperial.
We use both but it depends on what we are doing. As an adult I’m used to all forms of measurement. Tyler’s reactions are funny. Most imperial I get. But there are some I just never used.
For weight, some Canadians even use the British Stone. 1 Stone = 14 lbs. For example, I weigh 190lbs, so in Stone, I weigh 13 Stone & 127.9 ounces.
Tyler if you struggle with temperature take the celcius temperature double it and add 30 it is not an exact calculation, like you will get 90f for 30c when it is actually 87 or 88 but what really is the noticable difference in how it feels and is a quick calculation that is close enough
A kilometre is 5/8th's of a mile. 62 mph is 100 kph. That's about all you need. For temps, simply take the celsius number, multiply by 1.8 and add 32. So, 20 Celsius x 1.8 = 36, add 32 and you get 68 degrees Fahrenheit.