Peanuts by Charles Schulz for October 14, 2021

a little over two and one-half of those centimeters make one inch

Sally, Sally.

I was part of this generation of kids that learned the metric system (several years in a row, in fact), before the US dropped adoption. The only thing that seems to have caught on is the 2-liter soda bottle.

The ‘joy’ of being a child in school in the UK in the 70s and early 80s is that I am ‘dual fuel’ – I can work in both metric and imperial, and centigrade and Fahrenheit. The ‘problem’ comes when you visit the US and find a pint and a gallon are different sizes to those in the UK (16floz/128floz in US to 20/160floz in the UK). So then a gallon becomes 3.785 litres in the US and 4.546 litres in the UK. Now if THAT didn’t send Sally over the edge, nothing would!

Answer the question Sally!

Two useful little jingles I learned long after they would have been of use to me: “Two and a quarter pounds of jam weigh about a kilogram” and “A meter measures three foot three; it’s longer than a yard, you see.”

I liked it, Sal

I remember this strip.

The metric system is no laughing matter! (Snicker)

Perhaps, like the metric system, common core math will pass …

It’s interesting how the U.S. uses the metric system for some things and the old English system for other things. Ask a lot of U.S. citizens (regular people and not medical people or scientists or other industries who use metric measurements) about what they know about the metric system and they will probably tell you about the 2-litre bottle. Good job Pepsi-Cola. At least you tried. And DuPont who had a hand in this. And Pepsi-Cola drinkers since they are partly responsible.

Nice attempt at levity there, Sally…

Don’t give them an inch!

What will you do if a millimeter comes slithering in?

I once made up a test to show the benefit of cooperation. The test had a number of letters and numbers such as 7 d ___ in a w. The answer, of course is 7 days in a week.

A number of these questions involved measurements such as 3 f ___ in a y.

My niece from Ireland, did poorly on the test. In metric everything is 10 ___ in a ___.

School is no place for humour. Now get back to memorizing facts.

The last bastion of Imperial measurement is in the aviation community.

Attitude is measured in feet as are runway lengths.

Distances are measured in nautical miles and airspeed in knots. This makes sense since a nautical mile is one degree of arc on the Earth’s surface. It’s about 15% longer than the statute mile. So it’s pretty much by accident that it got its name. The etymology of knot comes from trailing a rope with knots on it in the water to estimate a ship’s speed.

Temperatures, however, are measured in degrees Celsius. Temperature is used to calculate aircraft performance like how much runway is needed for takeoff. When the pilot tells you that the temperature in Cleveland is 60 degrees, the calculation is 15C * 2 +30. That is NOT the formula you learned in grade school, but for temperatures found on a backyard thermometer, it’s close enough. P.S. 15C = 59F.

You tell em, Sally ;)

I loved your joke, Sally! I hate metric!

Wait until you have to learn weight in stone!

Puns are strictly forbidden in school, Sally!

My college physics teacher once drew an ellipse on the blackboard (they had blackboards in those days) with a bunch of short vertical lines sticking up from it. When we asked him what it was, he said…

Wait for it…

“It’s a dyne centimeter.”

If Charlie Brown had responded like that he would be on his way to the principals office.

First: THIS IS AMAZING! https://peanuts-search.com/

Second: Yeah, I remember the big push for metric. Not just for kids. IIRC it was everywhere. Nice try.

Give ‘em a foot

Pressure is another measurement with lots of units, e.g., inches or mm of water, inches or mm of mercury, bars, atmospheres. Very difficult to deal with

I bet the teacher said, “Knock it off, Sally!”

Every class needs a clown.