macoombi

I think we only use metric where the government or media have forced it on us.

For example, the news media gives temperature forecasts in Celcuis so the overwhelming majority use Celcuis for outside air temperature. Most older people still set their thermostats in their houses to Fahrenheit (I use Celcuis for that and I'm 37) and most people still use Fahrenheit to describe the temperature of a hot tub or pool.

We use kilometers and liters because the speed limits on the highways are in metric and gas is sold by the liter. Some car manufacturers have started advertising gas mileage in miles per gallon again. Trouble is that most of them are using the imperial gallon which is totally bogus since a) I've never bought gas in imperial gallons b) it inflates the number making the car look better. I think GM started this one.

I don't know anybody that knows both their height and weight in metric. The government can't force us to change our bathroom scales to metric.

HkCaGu

Down here in California, you can fill it out with cm and kg and the DMV's computer will convert automatically. This was over 15 years ago. This likely was due to large population from the south who might only know their height/weight in metric.

Fizzer

I think this captures it perfectly. Well worth the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9LfP...B6248D&index=3

CZBB

Canada had switched to metric long before this occurred. What happened was the 767-200 was the 1st aircraft delivered to Air Canada that was actually in metric for fuel. So the rampers did the normal conversion of litres [of JET A] to pounds instead of litres to kg; which is what the computer on the US made boeing expected. Seems to me this was a 'when Boeing switched to metric' not a 'when Canada switched to metric'.

Santander

I use cm and kgs to state my height/weight. Being British (and Canadian) it feels foreign to me to use metric sometimes but I feel if there's something the Europeans on the continent are doing right, it's the metric system. I'm not full metric because when I fly I'm forced to use knots, nautical miles and US gallons. I also use a few Imperial units on a day-to-day basis for pints in a bar, mpg and bhp. I think if you told someone your car's engine produced 150 kW of power in Canada, they'd either think you owned an electric car or look at you like you just escaped from the madhouse.

And of course, when I'm State-side I give my height in ft, weight in lbs (not stone) and use largely American spelling ("-or", "-ize", etc.) and vocabulary (elevator, 1st floor, etc.). I didn't always feel this way but I feel I've developed strong enough ties to the US that I owe them a bit of respect in that regard at least.

Gigantor

There are no states in Canada.
Shouldn't it be: Do Canadians use cm or feet to province their height?

Fizzer

And French Canadians can Provence theirs

painintheuk

I'm about gglave years old (-ish) but after living in several countries I'm perfectly comfortable in metric or imperial, and even can deal with Imperial vs. American as needed.

That said, Canadian publications using American spelling drives me CRAZY! I can sit reading a perfectly good investigative piece until I see color [sic] or center [sic] and I get a jolt and it interrupts my train of thought.

Dr. PITUK

seanthepilot

Having lived in several countries, I am now fluent in metric.

Height is cm, not m
Weight is Kg, per 100g at the supermarket, never lbs
Temp degrees C
Speed/Distance is Km

... and its, dy/mn/yr btw

Vasco

Agree. You have Microsoft Word's spelling correction to thank for that. Most people can't be bothered to change out of the default US English dictionary setting.

Santander

Having worked for a major newspaper and been a civil servant, it bothers me as well. "Or" spellings were actually quite common in publishing back in the days when saving every single letter was important, but it isn't the case anymore. MS Word perhaps played a role in "corrupting" the spelling of the general public, but it is no excuse for a respectable editor or writer in Canada not to follow Canadian OED spelling. The only exception I could think of is if you were writing for a primarily American audience.

The Canadian education system is too lazy to correct kids when they don't use OED spelling and it's created generations (not just one, several) of Canadians who haven't the faintest idea what is acceptable spelling in Canada. If it were up to me, I'd have all Canadian kids learn the differences between British and American spelling (which is a lot more than just "our/or") and which parts from each are acceptable in Canadian usage. That way, kids would be trained to use COED spelling at an early age and be able to switch over to standard UK or US spelling when they are abroad.