Do you say "Turn right in 5,604 feet?"

[Xist]

No, you definitely say "Turn right in 1,000 meters!"

One of my friends is fun and sweet--until you contradict her. Then she is a condescending know-it-all. She shared a video on Facebook about everything wrong with American drivers and the guy in the video said "You don't say `Turn right in 5,604 feet,' you say `Turn right in 1,000 meters!'"

I have spent far more time in the U.S. than Germany, but I have never heard either. How about you guys?

This is not an Imperial versus Metric debate. I do not understand why people even think there is a debate:





Unless you need to convert anything. Fractions of an inch, 12 inches per foot, three feet per yard, 1,760 yards per mile, and how many miles per parsec?
Fractions of an ounce, 16 ounces per pound, unless you mean the other ounces. Then there are fourteen.
Why fourteen?!
2,000 pounds per ton. Ounces, pounds, and ton? Are those the only common units of weight?
Fractions of teaspoon, three teaspoons per tablespoon, two tablespoons per ounce--no, fluid ounces--eight ounces per cup, two cups per pint. It comes in pints! Two pints per quart, four quarts per gallon, and the gallon is the largest unit of volume.

Miles per gallon makes the most sense because we do not really use larger units of either type?

640 acres per square mile, 231 square inches per gallon.

It's a mad world.

People who insist the English system is better must not ever convert, but I have known many people who refused to do math.

Anyway, do you say "Turn right in 5,604 feet" or "Turn right in 1,000 meters?"

Have a great night!

[RedDevil]

https://www.zmescience.com/other/map...metric-system/


https://www.quora.com/Why-is-America...everybody-else

http://metricviews.org.uk/2018/02/me...mar-an-update/

If the US would adopt the metric system it would end all system conversions.

[Frank Lee]

I say, "Turn right.... THERE!"

[samwichse]

Originally Posted by Xist

Fractions of teaspoon, three teaspoons per tablespoon, two tablespoons per ounce--no, fluid ounces--eight ounces per cup, two cups per pint. It comes in pints! Two pints per quart, four quarts per gallon, and the gallon is the largest unit of volume.

Hey, what about the peck and the bushel?

[redpoint5]

5,600 feet is closer to a mile, and 1000M is exactly 1KM, so they aren't even close to similar distances. I'd say turn in a mile if that's how far the turn was, and I'd say turn in half a mile if that's how far the turn was.

Imperial is a PITA to work with. I'd happily abandon it.

I had a girlfriend once who gave me directions to her new place, saying I would need to turn right 100 ft past the stoplight. Turned out her estimation of 100ft was actually 1.8 miles. She's artistic, not engineering inclined.

[jakobnev]

231 square inches per gallon.

Only for flat gallons.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

5,600 feet is closer to a mile, and 1000M is exactly 1KM, so they aren't even close to similar distances. I'd say turn in a mile if that's how far the turn was, and I'd say turn in half a mile if that's how far the turn was.

Imperial is a PITA to work with. I'd happily abandon it.

I had a girlfriend once who gave me directions to her new place, saying I would need to turn right 100 ft past the stoplight. Turned out her estimation of 100ft was actually 1.8 miles. She's artistic, not engineering inclined.

Would you say that you have never said "Turn in 5,604 feet?"
Have you ever said "Turn in 1,000 meters?"

Someone laughed at the guy for not have the number of feet per mile wrong and the friend claimed that it did not make a difference. I pointed out that they chose these numbers because they were easily divided different ways, although I always wonder why 11 is a factor, but you can do many things with 11 x 480.

You can do fewer things with 5,604, which is 12 x 467. 467 is a prime.

My friend was a condescending know-it-all in her response.

I read a story where a significant other said "Make the next right", the guy made the next right, the SO asked "Why did you turn here?"
"You said to make the next right."
This argument escalated and, as I recall, he slept on the couch that night.

Originally Posted by jakobnev

Only for flat gallons.

There are round gallons?!

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by Xist

There are round gallons?!

A gallon comes in every shape you pour it in ...

[seifrob]

I think its natural to use any unit conveniently large. I would not say 1000 meters. I would say kilometer, also, I would not say 5604 feet, but I would use mile instead.
I dont know why (sort of usus maybe?) but distances smaller than km are given in meters, above in kilometers. At least my GPS seems to follow this pattern.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Xist

Would you say that you have never said "Turn in 5,604 feet?"
Have you ever said "Turn in 1,000 meters?"

There are round gallons?!

I have never uttered either of those phrases. As I said, I give directions in miles, or quarters of miles, or simply tell someone the next turn, or the turn after this. People are so bad at estimating distance that giving directions in some small unit like meters or feet is unhelpful.

You made a comparison of volume to area. I don't know if that was intentional or not, but it's entertaining.