In my efforts at teaching reason to the unwashed American masses, I
try to instill that idea that metric is not about conversion. The
first reaction from just about anyone when describing something in SI
terms is "how much is that in ... <feet,pounds,inches,miles,
whatever>". The best (and only) way to truly learn it is by citing
reference points and examples (5 g is the mass of a US nickel (5ยข), 1
kg is the mass of a liter of water (2 kg is the mass of a 2 L bottle
of pop <whoa!>), 50 meters is the length of an olympic swimming
pool... 30 is hot, 20 is nice, 10 is cool, 0 is ice...
Ask anyone why their first reaction is to convert. How did they
learn their fahrenheit, feet and pounds in the first place? It wasn't
by converting from some baby-speak system of measurement.. it was by
example and context, just like you said.
Total immersion is the only way to do it, just like learning a
language. No difference at all.
Yea, Mike, tonight on NBC nightly news they were talking about the
female five-time olympic swimmer at age 41 and highlighting the record-
breaking times it's taking her to swim 50 meters. <Period>
On 07 Jul 2008, at 18:54, Michael Palumbo wrote:
All,
I'm sitting at a bar in the Philadelphia Airport, awaiting a flight
to Germany. The TVs are all tuned to ESPN, sports TV. They're
talking Olympic events, specifically swimming. All swimming events
are in meters, and the announcers are using the proper terminology
without issue. They even went so far as to comment on proper times,
in seconds, per 10 meters.
Americans might not know feet to meter conversions, but they get
meters in this context.
-Mike
