Tell HN: Happy Birthday, Celsius - Canada marks 50 years of metric
todayinbc.com
todayinbc.com
The voluminous trade between the U.S.A. and Canada nevertheless still remains based upon a mix of SI and U.S. standards. On the Canadian side of the border leading into Canada, signs often remind U.S. drivers of the equivalent road speeds since speedometers in modern U.S. market cars have the miles-per-hour figure predominant unless updated by the driver when crossing.
SI is, of course, used throughout U.S. science-based industries and services, but rarely given by popular U.S. news sources, in U.S. recipes, or in U.S. weather reports. In Canada, SI is predominant in all of the above. Canadians chuckle when the Celsius temperatures given by U.S. weather reporters are given as ''Centigrade''.
Liquid measurements are a very different story. Given the changeover to litres at the gas pump that affected millions of consumers across generations, and given the closeness of 1 litre to 1 Imperial quart, the use of SI with liquids is pretty well complete other than in cooking recipes that usually still use teaspoons and tablespoons instead of millilitres, or grams for solids.
As someone who travels in both countries, I don't need to look at a retail grocery item's fine print to tell in which of the 2 countries I'd bought it when a quick look at the labeled mass/weight or volume informs me instantly.