this post was submitted on 31 Mar 2024
62 points (81.6% liked)

Memes

45646 readers
1366 users here now

Rules:

  1. Be civil and nice.
  2. Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
62
Why still using the imperial system? (abananaforscale.com)
submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
107 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Do you people legit believe people used feet&inches, pounds&ounces for over 2000 years for no reason?

[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

And also ells, rods, cubits, paces, furlongs, oxgangs, lots, batmans... all with subtly different regional definitions (with regions sometimes as small as one village).

People used loosely defined measurements based on things like their own body parts or how much land they guessed their ox could plow on an average day. Things like mathematical convenience or precision were not all that important; being able to measure (or estimate) without tools was.