this post was submitted on 28 May 2024
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submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by brbposting to c/[email protected]
 

alt-textIt blows our hivemind that the United States doesn't use the ISO 216 paper size standard (A4, A5 and the gang).

Like, we consider ourselves worldly people and are aware of America's little idiosyncrasies like mass incarceration, the widespread availability of assault weapons and not being able to transfer money via your banking app, but come on - look how absolutely great it is to be European:

The American mind cannot comprehend this diagram

[Diagram of paper sizes as listed below]

ISO 216 A series papers formats

AO

A1

A3

A5

A7

A6

Et.

A4

Instead, Americans prostrate themselves to bizarrely-named paper types of seemingly random size: Letter, Legal, Tabloid (Ledger) and all other types of sordid nonsense. We're not even going to include a picture because this is a family-friendly finance blog.

Source: Financial Times

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 months ago (12 children)

Let's not even start with the metric system (used everywhere) and the imperial system (used in the usa and some african countries).

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago (2 children)

According to wikipedia: "Some imperial measurements remain in limited use in Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and South Africa." - so, not even "some", just one African country, and limited use.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 months ago (1 children)

PC LOAD LETTER? the fuck does that mean!?

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

The US also doesn't officially use the metric system sigh.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago (4 children)

The US officially uses the metric system...to define the US customary system of measurements.

E.g. 1 foot is defined as 0.3048 meters.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago (10 children)

Yes, yes we DO use the metric system officially. In the early 1970's the metric system was made the official standard for weights and measures.

What we didn't do was force everyone to use it at 3:11AM 11/21/1974. It was decided to take a longer approach and let the change happen naturally and it has happened.

Everything in the grocery store is marked with metric weights and volumes. We buy butter by the gram, soda pop by the liter and whisk(e)y buy the milliliter. And everyone is looking for that same missing 10mm socket/wrench. (Where does do those things go anyway?)

How much more metric do we really need to adopt?

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[–] Lucidlethargy 17 points 2 months ago (5 children)

Lol, people find the silliest things to be angry and indignant about.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I guess someone never used ISO 216.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago

I am just grateful paper isn’t measured in hands

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago

What the fuck, that was way more hilarious than a blog post about financial securities messaging ought to have been

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago

1.414, the magic number.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago (2 children)
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[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (15 children)

Not-super-fun fact: an 8.5 x 11 inch paper can be useful if you lack a ruler in an American office & you need to measure an inch or a foot.

If you fold the paper like in an image I'll try to attach, the hypotenuse is 12.01 inches.

Edit: then you fold the 12.01 inch side against the 11 inch side to get a 1.01 inch measurement

Not exact, but good enough if you need to know your neck size to buy a fancy shirt online - not that I would ever waste my corporation’s time that way!

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago (1 children)

And most people here know that an A4 is 21 (exactly) by 30 (roughly) cm, which you can use (surprisingly) use for measurement aswell.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (2 children)

21x29.7

This number is permanently stored in my memory, just like 1€ = 6.55957F

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