Millimetre's or Centimetre's

[I.C.D (Ian)]

G'Day All,
Millimetre or Centimetre what should it be, I am a millimetre / inch man right from the start but the boss (wife) user centimetre and some times it can be very frustrating trying to convert centimetre to millimetre or inch and keep the peace .
Is their anyone else out their with this problem in world or am I alone ?

[DeanoNZL (Adrian)]

Hi Ian,
as someone stated in an earlier post, "Centimetre is a kitchen unit."
To which I laughed & laughed
Millimeter & meter units are the most common in building & "guy" things.
Hope to not draw too much flak from this.
CS

[Kal (Andrew)]

100% metric guy, but I guess that is just due to me going through school well after the change from imperial!

[Glenhuon (Bill)]

While I grew up with imperial units, most of my working life in engineering was with metric. As an engineer once told me "Centimetres are dressmakers units" Converting is easy,25.4mm / inch or 2.54 centimetres/inch. Just do it, but thats probably years of practice.

Bill

[Lee]

Originally Posted by Glenhuon

While I grew up with imperial units, most of my working life in engineering was with metric. As an engineer once told me "Centimetres are dressmakers units"

Bill

Yep - if you walk into a hardware/workshop, and request a 70cm piece of whatever, you have lost all cred!

[wasyoungonce (Brendan)]

Tell her that in this house we obey the laws of SI units

(taken from the Homer Simpson line "In this House we obey the laws of thermodynamics").

http://improvidentlackwit.com/lackwi...thermodynamics


err that's meters! so 1mm is .001m

[bloodhound31]

I was schooled in the metric system, but working in the forces with the aviation trade, the imperial system is king.

As a rule now, I use feet and inches for building big stuff, and millimetres and centimetres for the small stuff.

Baz.

[astroron (Ron)]

Didnt we just have a thread that went on what seemed like forever on this subject? just a little while ago

[programmer]

Originally Posted by Ian

G'Day All,
Millimetre or Centimetre what should it be, I am a millimetre / inch man right from the start but the boss (wife) user centimetre and some times it can be very frustrating trying to convert centimetre to millimetre or inch and keep the peace .
Is their anyone else out their with this problem in world or am I alone ?

As already implied, the centimetre is not a 'real' unit of measurement. You might as well use decimetres as well (10 cm). Also depends on what you're measuring, and the accuracy required. Wouldn't want to measure sheet metal thickness in cm I guess you mean around-the-house stuff.

I'm confused by your question though, is it a matter of cm vs. mm or metric vs. imperial?

While we're on a nit-picking thread though, it's not "centimetre's" but "centimetres" That's like the sign "Cheap Tomatoe's" at my green-grocer!

I'll get my coat.

[leon]

I cant see why people have so much trouble with the metric system, it would have to be the easiest form of measurement. and i was brought up, and schooled with the imperial system, just move the decimal point.

Leon

[JimmyH155]

I say again that centimeters are housewives units. If I see written in the AS & T, contributers talking about "On my 15cm scope....." I SCREAM with pain. I then have to multiply it by 10, and convert to inches. We're scientists, aren't we - so lets use the correct units.

[AJames]

Originally Posted by Ian

G'Day All,
Millimetre or Centimetre what should it be, I am a millimetre / inch man right from the start but the boss (wife) user centimetre and some times it can be very frustrating trying to convert centimetre to millimetre or inch and keep the peace .
Is their anyone else out their with this problem in world or am I alone ?

How about a compromise?
It should all be in decimetres for me! Also easy to remember, as it is about the distance between the thumb and forefinger.

Thinking about it, I think a 4.0 decimetre telescope mirror is about my ideal size.

This also applies for the humble unit of decilitre for my vino (and my morning glass of water), because it is about the amount that should be put in a wine glass at any one time.

Another dumb question. Why do the French and all metric countries like Australia spell metre, while them damn Yanks insist on spelling it as the meter (applies to litre versus the liter) and amazingly they don't even want to use the metric system? Pretty dumb eh?

[rogerg (Roger)]

I quite commonly swap between units of measurement part sentance. I switch them around all the time. Just yesterday I was in the hardware store and asked for a piece of aluminium that was 3 inches long, 2cm high and 3mm thick. After I said it I thought to my self "gez, hope he knows what I'm on about".

I used to swap hands I used for playing tennis part way through a game too, when it sutied me, just seemed an obvious optimal way to reach the ball in time.

Perhaps both come from being left-handed, making my brain all muddled up

[GrahamL]

I was all inches and yards up until year 3 . when our teacher said right .bring all your text books up to the front .. we are going to change to the metric system.. still does my head in ..at times.. and my father is an engineer ... I have changed to mm though .. i think .. well sometimes anyway

[OneOfOne (Trevor)]

Originally Posted by rogerg

I quite commonly swap between units of measurement part sentance. I switch them around all the time. Just yesterday I was in the hardware store and asked for a piece of aluminium that was 3 inches long, 2cm high and 3mm thick. [snip]

Actually, the current Royal Auto has a little ditty from Ireland (naturally) where they have not quite gone fully metric. They mention a sign that says something like "speed limit 50kph for next 5 miles"...