this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2024
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[–] [email protected] 64 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (15 children)

Honestly? I’ve only lived in countries with Celsius and Celsius is how I feel. I know exactly how hot or cold a day is gonna be if I look up the temperature. Thats how I know what clothes to wear!!! But Fahrenheit confuses the shit out of me. Every time I visit the US, I always convert the temp back to Celsius when someone tells me the temp.

I know Fahrenheit has more degrees and that can give you more datapoints. But cmon. The temp only goes up to, like, 50 C anyways lol. How many degrees do you need 🤣. Can you really differentiate between 61 and 62 F? Now, 60 to 65 F might be believable, but that’s like 15 to 18 C so, that much difference is shown even in Celsius.

I’m not saying Celsius is better, or that Americans should convert to it. Actually, if I was God-Emperor, I’d force us all to use Kelvin,, given it begins with Absolute Zero and I’m a sucker for shit like that.

But variety is the spice of life. For Americans, Fahrenheit is how they feel. For most of the rest of us, it’s Celsius.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago (4 children)

It's more about the number range in ordinary use than the granularity.

Ordinary daily temperatures in F run from about 0-100. Numbers outside of this range are extreme weather.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 6 months ago

Numbers outside of this range are extreme weather.

Hot Weather: This argument might have been valid like a century ago but it clearly hasn’t been valid for billions of people around the world (including parts of the US) that regularly sees temperature crossing 38 C (100 F) in the summer. This includes Middle East, Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia and I’m sure more places too.

Like, it’s not extreme if it’s expected every year. And I’m not taking 39 C. Where I lived, it reached 49 C (120 F) every single summer. That is summer.

Cold Weather: And this is also true for so many people around the world who live in places where temperature, every winter, goes below -18 C (0 F). Like, that’s not a billion people, but that’s still in the millions (Canada, Russia, Scandinavia etc.) We’d have to use the - sign every winter no matter which system we use, Celsius or Fahrenheit. Just like the billion+ people I talked about above.

People used to the Celsius system, especially those living in areas where it frequently goes below freezing, are well versed with the - symbol. We know the difference between -5 and -10 like we know between 0 and 5.

Again, Americans can keep their F and their LBs and their Miles and their every other unique charm. But it’s also funny when they try to prove that it’s somehow better or more natural. Like, it’s natural and rational to you.

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