[Systems of Measurement] Everyone's foot is a different length...

HalcyonDweller·1/12/2018, 7:27:27 PM·16 votes·2,875 views

Everyone's foot is a different length, many people even have two feet of different length. So why the fuck do we measure distance in feet? Is it seriously a good idea to base a system of measurement off of the the length of some dead king's fucking foot?

~~Unpopular opinion:~~

Edit: Popular opinion I guess, judging from the poll. Making the edit for some individuals who had an issue with that claim.

Metric System is far superior, the numbers make sense and doing the math in your head with metric system is way easier.

The Foot method - and Fahrenheit temperature for that matter - both seem entirely arbitrary and completely fucking stupid.

There should be a better reason for using a system of measurement than "but muh tradition / but muh being different!"

/rant

Discuss below.

113 Comments

Vei1/12/2018, 7:44:55 PM8 votes

the foot measurement doesn't actually use our feet as measurement I believe...

GlobDaBlob1/12/2018, 8:29:49 PM6 votes

"unpopular opinion"

no its not, you aren't making any bold statement here.

Risk of Fate1/12/2018, 7:34:22 PM5 votes

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Vacus1/12/2018, 8:11:10 PM5 votes

The length of a meter is no less arbitrary than the length of a foot. It was originally chosen as 1/10,000th the distance from the Equator to the North Pole (which is not actually exactly one meter).

If you wanted to have an actual unit of measurement defined somewhere in the universe, you would want your fundamental basis to be something like the Bohr distance. (Given that this is about 5.2*10^-11 meters, obviously, in common usage you would have a larger unit.) Or you could use one light-second (which again, the commonly-used unit would be much smaller than one full light-second). Something like that.

But as it is, the metric system is just "Take this arbitrary distance. Call it a meter. Ok, now multiply and divide it by 10 a lot." It's more internally consistent than the Imperial units, but bears no greater relationship to reality.

Destaice1/13/2018, 6:22:44 AM4 votes

Yeah it's almost like the imperial system is ingrained in our culture or something

Niyume1/13/2018, 1:55:42 AM3 votes

At the same time though, Standard is a lot easier to approximate than Metric. You can't just look at something and be like... "Oh, yeah, that's about 53cm!" -- but you can absolutely look at something and be like, "Oh yeah, that's a foot and a half"

I feel like both have their merits though. Metric is better for accuracy and scientific purposes (smaller measurements), while Standard is better for real world applications and general use (visible measurements).

... and it's not based on the length of someone's foot. Maybe at some point in time it was, but it's now a standardized length.

Don Spaghetti1/12/2018, 7:46:09 PM3 votes

The metric system makes calculations a lot simpler but I'm so used to the archaic Imperial system that I can't really complain about it. It's really easy for me to imagine what 95F feels like compared to 35C, even though they're the same. Same with 60mph vs 96kph.

The only things I have a good feel for with metric systems are measurements of distance and volume. But that's only because I used to run track and I buy soda/alcohol.

Camnopg1/13/2018, 4:34:37 AM3 votes

{quoted}

Everyone's foot is a different length, many people even have two feet of different length. So why the fuck do we measure distance in feet? Is it seriously a good idea to base a system of measurement off of the the length of some dead king's fucking foot?

~~Unpopular opinion:~~

Edit: Popular opinion I guess, judging from the poll. Making the edit for some individuals who had an issue with that claim.

Metric System is far superior, the numbers make sense and doing the math in your head with metric system is way easier.

The Foot method - and Fahrenheit temperature for that matter - both seem entirely arbitrary and completely fucking stupid.

There should be a better reason for using a system of measurement than "but muh tradition / but muh being different!"

/rant

Discuss below.

We were the first to the moon

ModJikker1/13/2018, 5:56:23 AM2 votes

Only reason foot is easy for me to use is I was raised with it. I don't really care which is used as I know both well

ChuShoe1/14/2018, 7:45:38 AM2 votes

The problem with switching to metric is that it's going to be very expensive. That's why it probably won't happen anytime in the future. As for why we use it in our colonies, I hsve no idea.

Proxy3451/14/2018, 1:23:01 PM2 votes

Its way easier to remember what 5'10 means than how tall 177cm really is even though they are the same height,that's why the imperial system is kept here lol

trashbagz1/12/2018, 11:38:05 PM1 votes

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