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15 June 2025

Stuff Americans say
Metric part 2

Stuff Americans say

An outdoor glass thermometer showing both Celsius and Fahrenheit scales, with greenery blurred in the background

U-Haul live chat screenshot in Google Chrome browser window. Lilyana (U-Haul, 9:29 AM): "Additional mileage will be billed at $0.40 per mile/km. If you go over they will be billed when you return the equipment". Customer (username redacted, 9:30 AM): "$0.40 per mile OR km? which one is it?" Lilyana (U-Haul, 9:31 AM): "It does not matter [redacted] 1 mile is .40 cents 1 KM is .40 cents". Customer (redacted): "You do realize that those two units of measuring distance are different, right? Nevermind. I will call customer support. Thanks."

Instagram Reels screenshot (O2-UK 4G, 10:29). Video thumbnail showing blurred pages of a book/recipe. Comment below (username redacted, 3w, laughing and thumbs-up reactions): "Would appreciate the American temps and measurements. As it is, this recipe is of no use."

Reddit post from r/memes by u/bruggekiller (3h, i.redd.it). Title: "Do it logical way people." Tagged Memes. Image comparing measurement systems. Left: "United States - Arbitrary Retarded Rollercoaster" with bar chart showing wildly varying conversion factors (12 Inches to a Foot, 3 Feet to a Yard, 1760 (off screen) Yards to a Mile, 16 Ounces to a Pound). Right: "The Rest of the World - Logical Smooth Sailing" with uniform bar chart (1000 for Millimetres to a Metre, Metres to a Kilometre, Grams to a Kilogram, Kilograms to a Tonne). Below: date format pyramids - US (month/day/year, irregular) vs rest of world (day/month/year, proper pyramid). Comment by ColtSon853 (1h, -6 downvotes): "You guys are just jealous that you can't talk bad about your government without getting prosecuted and how y'all's taxes are so high that you actually believe that you get free stuff like health Care"

Reddit comment thread. Chung_bungus (4h, -14 downvotes): "I mean more people use imperial than metric. The US is large population wise and it's more than the entirety of all metric countries combined. No one mentions Chinas measurement system or Russian and their cubits". dadaknun (4h): "Sorry to burst your bubble but India alone have a larger population than the US. And they use the metric system."

Reddit comment thread. La_mer_noire (13 hr. ago): "Freedom units are weird!" Total_Candidate_552 (13 hr. ago, -21 downvotes): "More precise." I_Rainbowlicious (12 hr. ago): "Nothing more precise about Fahrenheit at all". Total_Candidate_552 (11 hr. ago, -18 downvotes): "If I learned anything at all in college physics, I learned that due to significant numbers, thermometers that measure in Fahrenheit are more accurate than thermometers that measure in Kelvin." jabertsohn (9 hr. ago): "Bad news, it sounds like you learned nothing at all in college physics."

YouTube comment with Finnish-language interface ("muokattu"). Username redacted (14 t sitten, muokattu): "For those in European countries: Americans can use military time, this is because our military alone is big enough to defend at least our country (unlike yours) we choose not to use the 24 hour clock because it's bad. similar to how Celsius is bad as we are not water, we are people. I have no defense for other imperial units however :p"

Reddit post screenshot from r/Showerthoughts by u/nitarek (2 awards, 12d). Text: "Fahrenheit is basically asking humans how hot it feels. Celsius is basically asking water how hot it feels. Kelvin is basically asking atoms how hot it feels." Tagged Funny, Mindblowing.

Facebook post (username redacted, 18m, public). Text: "Just found out that a 5k marathon isn't a 5 mile run instead it's a 3 mile run if so why can't it just be called a 3k run marathon" with pensive emoji.

Vintage anti-metric propaganda illustration/poster in black and white. Drawing of a working man in overalls standing with industrial smokestacks in background, chained at the ankles to two ball-and-chain weights labelled "METRIC" and "SYSTEM". Text at top: "WHAT HAS HE DONE TO DESERVE THIS?"

YouTube comment thread with German-language interface ("vor ... Stunde/Minuten/Stunden"). Three comments with username redacted. First (vor 1 Stunde): "If we're using a flawed system of measurement - I don't see your country's flag on the moon." Second (vor 45 Minuten): "You criticizing the imperial system alot for someone who's country never reached the moon". Third (vor 7 Stunden): "Metric is for the weak and slow minded"

Twitter/X thread (mobile screenshot, 16:50). Top tweet (username with bird emoji): "2022 was the hottest year ever recorded in the United Kingdom since records began 364 years ago in 1659." Attached Met Office temperature map of UK showing Celsius temps: Stornoway 27, Aberdeen 27, Glasgow 29, Belfast 26, Newcastle 32, Manchester 36, Hull 38, Birmingham 37, Norwich 38, Cardiff 33, London 40, Southampton 27, Plymouth 27. Reply below: "That scale is misleading 38 is chilly."

Twitter/X post (username redacted, 8h, Follow button). Text: "To all you celsius users who defend celsius by saying 'Oh, but 0 degrees is the temperature at which water freezes!', I hope you know how illogical that sounds".

Social media post/meme. Photo collage of two women at a party/event, with numbers "113" and "56" overlaid on them (referring to weights in kg). Below: photos of gold items and food. Comment: "found on facebook. 1st off, 113 doesn't look like that, if those women were 56lbs they wouldn't be alive!! 56lbs is the weight of a child, like a 5 year old, not 30 year olds" with angry emoji

Twitter/X post with German-language interface ("Abonnieren", "Post ubersetzen"). Jason Levin (@iamjasonlevin, verified): "Today, I am officially launching a boycott of Celsius. This is America. Our founding fathers did not sail halfway across the world to call it Celsius. America must break free from the oppressive European metric system. We must rename Celsius to Fahrenheit" with US flag and eagle emojis. #BoycottCelsius. Video thumbnail showing young man on a beach with microphone and text "www.boycottcelsius.com". 16:12, 01 Juli 25

Screenshot of a website/app form titled "Edit Height And Weight". Two radio buttons: "standard" (selected, highlighted in orange) and "metric". Height section: "12 inches per foot, 5ft = 60 inches" with ft and in input fields. Weight section: lbs input field. The imperial system is labelled "standard"

YouTube comment (username redacted, 8 hours ago). Comment: "What is all this kilometer / kilograms crap? Stop being such a PC millennial. These measurements are meaningless and impossible to visualize. Please use traditional miles and tons etc for your viewers who do not live in the EU. Thank you for posting"

Screenshot of boycottcelsius.com website. Title: "About our humble boycott". Text: "In America, we don't use Celsius. We use Fahrenheit. Why? Uh, hell if I know. Because we aren't European. Because we are free. Because we actually work during the summer. Who knows? Who cares? Nobody really knows the real reason why America switched from Celsius to Fahrenheit. And that's the beautiful thing. No one cares. We just know Fahrenheit is better. That's why it's about time Celsius switches to Fahrenheit too. Because Fahrenheit is better. So I beg of you my fellow Americans, if you're going to keep drinking Celsius this summer, at least have the decency to cover it up with a Fahrenheit koozie..." Signed "- Publius, 1776"

Instagram post with Spanish-language interface ("Comentarios", "Responder", "Ver traduccion"). Post by the.world.in.maps (Europe). Infographic: "PENIS SIZE ACROSS EUROPE" with colour-coded map showing average sizes in cm across European countries. Comment by m.andy_y_maddox (21 min): "That has to be millimeters or centimeters because it sure isn't inches."

TikTok/Instagram comment (1d). Comment: "Unpopular opinion: Fahrenheit makes way more sense than Celsius for measuring the temperature outside. Where temp is basically like a percentage (100 degrees is 100% aka very hot, 1 degree is 1% aka very cold)."

Facebook comment thread. Top: partial view of a post/meme with text "I put my oven on 25 degrees and it..." (cut off). Sorted by Most relevant. First comment (5h): "25 is below freezing and to the ones saying 'maybe it's Celsius' READ!! It clearly says degrees" with rolling eyes emoji. Second comment (16h): "people in the comments not understanding that Celsius is a thing" with embedded GIPHY GIF of man shrugging

TikTok/Instagram comment thread with Portuguese-language interface ("Responder", "Ver traducao"). Top comment: "Real the American metric system just makes so much more sense". Reply by alejandromazabel (1d): "I just don't understand why Europe insists on using the metric system. Being an Utah expat in Sarajevo, I find it so complicated for NO reason. Fahrenheit just makes way more sense. If it's 100 degrees, it's hot. If it's 50, it's nice. If it's 30, it's cold. Boom, easy. But in Celsius? Oh, it's 0 degrees, guess I have to Google if I need a jacket. And don't even get me started on kilometers. What even IS a kilometer? Just say miles like a normal person. And liters? Grams? It's like they WANT to make things harder." _hurda_david_ (1d): "U mean why americans dont use metric system like rest of the world". expatinamsterdam1 (10h, Autor): "@_hurda_david_ you make me feel smart"

Reddit post from r/amazonreviews by u/angelsgirl2002 (5h, i.redd.it). Title: "The American education system has failed us." Screenshot of an Amazon review: Amazon Customer, 4/5 stars, Verified Purchase. Title: "Not 2L." Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2022. Color: White. Review: "It is only 2000ml not 2 liters. It's smaller than it looks and says." One person found this helpful.

Tags:US metric·SAS·USA