• Sop
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      16 hours ago

      The English do. Most other European do use meters.

    • Phuntis@sopuli.xyz
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      1 day ago

      well I mean technically a meter is a measuring device while a metre is the measurement so in the same way the american uses their foot you could say we use a meter to measure things

      • not_IOOP
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        23 hours ago

        wait, do they actually use their feet to measure things?

        • Sconrad122@lemmy.world
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          21 hours ago

          I’ve seen it done. Not for precision, but for rough estimates, I’ve seen someone toe-heel their way across a job site. Honestly, that and the fact that an inch is usually pretty close to the length of a finger knuckle are really the biggest redeeming qualities of the imperial system in terms of making quick length guesstimates

        • Phuntis@sopuli.xyz
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          22 hours ago

          no I highly doubt anyone does that but that’s what the meme here implies as a funny haha

          • EmptySlime
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            10 hours ago

            Nah I’ve definitely done a quick heel-toe walk across an area to get a ballpark of distance. Along with basically any other body part I could reasonably use to measure something when I don’t have a tape measure on me at that moment.

            I’ve also previously measured and I know that for example my bare foot is about 11 inches long heel to toe and that my shoe makes it about 12. I could do exactly the same thing with metric.

  • weeeeum@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    To be honest, everyone one did back then, often with different body parts. Feet were the “banana for scale” back in the day.

    Back then, very few measuring systems were accurate in favor of accessibility. Everyone’s got feet. Everyone walks (a mile is roughly 1000 steps), so on and so forth.

    Eventually measurements started being used for design, where accuracy was paramount, so archaic measurements became standardized.

    It sounds crazy but a lot of stuff back then was made with zero measurements. I’m into woodworking and back then they used references. You’d literally look at a board, and draw a line where it looks about right. Then you’d reference the rest of the components, so the sides may be 2/3 the length of the apron, and the top would be around waist height. Story sticks were also used, where you’d continually add marks to a stick whenever you needed to transfer a measurement. Its called story sticks since you’d make a new one for every project, and it tells a story on how the piece was made, from every measurement and marking.

    It’s also no coincidence that metric was designed right before the industrial revolution. I just wish everyone adopted it instead of slapping a bandaid onto old systems.

    Infodump over

      • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 day ago

        15 years ago, my friends and I were tripping on their porch and a cat came up. He had so many toes. They named him MillionToes. He was the Jack Bauer of cats—he had 24 toes. He came inside with us and played video games with us. I loved MillionToes.

          • Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            1 day ago

            Oooo you have a dactyl, nice!

            Yah, MillionToes was a wonderful lil boi. He came by quite a few times, usually just when we were tripping which we found hilarious. My friend laughed so hard he cried the first time he stopped by.