• theragu40@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I was taught both.

    Just like I was taught both metric and imperial.

    I use both temp scales, though fahrenheit is more common.

    I use both measurements scales, though imperial is more common.

    One thing I’ve never understood though. Metric is more precise for measurements (at least without needing to involve fractional measures). I totally get why it’s superior for a lot of things, and indeed it is used in many places for this exact reason.

    Why would anyone say Celsius is better? Apart from freezing and boiling temps seeming somewhat arbitrary with fahrenheit, does it not allow for much higher precision with regards to temperature identification without resorting to decimals? Isn’t this the same rationale used with metric vs imperial? It seems like a double standard to me, because remembering two temperatures (for boiling and freezing) seems like a small price to pay for a more precise system.

    • WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Because precision has nothing to do with it and it’s all about being easy to convert between different units and having sensible zero and 100-points for temperature?

      • theragu40@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        How often do you convert temperature to different units? Isn’t that what we are stupid for doing?

        And I would like to know why precision is irrelevant for temperature but relevant for other things.

        I’m being genuine, I’m not trying to shit on you. I’m pretty open about liking the metric system, and I think the reason we don’t use it is largely the extreme administrative costs of doing so more than anyone thinking imperial is actually better. I think most agree it’s pretty clearly worse.

        But I legitimately don’t understand how people can argue Celsius over fahrenheit when the arguments for fahrenheit largely match those for the metric system.

        • WhiskyTangoFoxtrot@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          How often do you convert temperature to different units? Isn’t that what we are stupid for doing?

          I was talking about Metric as a whole, where the units of measurement for distance, mass, etc. are easily convertible and the unit for temperature has sensible zero- and 100-points. I would have thought that was obvious.

          • theragu40@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Why would you talk about metric as a whole in response to a question asking about Celsius in particular? I very openly stated that I understand why metric in general is used for measurements of length, weight, and volume and asked specifically why people argue that Celsius is superior when its weaknesses in comparison to fahrenheit are similar to imperial’s weaknesses in comparison to metric.

            I would have thought that was obvious.

      • Pipoca@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Fahrenheit has a fairly sensible 0 - just as Celsius is the temp of ice water, Fahrenheit is the temp of salty ice water.

    • zik@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Celsius is better because it’s the standard used by almost the entire world. If you’re talking with anyone but Americans or you’re working in science then you’re using Celsius.

      The rest is just arbitrary - you can get used to either system.

        • zik@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          That’s not at all what I’m saying. I’m saying there’s little to no difference in practical use, except for the convenience of using a standard. Standards make life much easier because you’re talking the same language as everyone else. When you’re pretty much the only country still using Fahrenheit maybe it’s time to think about using the global standard?