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We've already seen metric creep in a little bit: I'd imagine pretty much every American out there can conceptualize what 2 liters looks like. edit: in addition
by thearn4 10y ago
We've already seen metric creep in a little bit: I'd imagine pretty much every American out there can conceptualize what 2 liters looks like.
edit: in addition, military servicemembers should all have a good practical feel for 1km (one "klick").
- kiiski 10y agoWhy is that? I'm just curious, because I (finnish) can't associate two liters with anything of the top of my head. Everything is always one liter.
- bjterry 10y agoThe largest container of most soda brands available in American supermarkets is a 2L bottle.
- dogma1138 10y agoThe "family size" (or store size) soft drink bottles in Europe are usually 2L. Alternatively you can visualize 4 cans of energy drinks (bar the tiny redbull ones) or 4 small bottles of coke, or slightly more than 4 pints of beer ;) I'm actually wondering what is 1L? The only thing I can think off is either the medium milk bottles or the "meal size" soft drink bottles that some convenience stores stock. Unless Finland has a very different bottling system than even Sweden I think you need to think again.
- kiiski 10y agoThe 2L soft drinks are probably available, but I just never buy any of them. Milk, juice and yoghurt come in one liter packages.
- justinv 10y agoRight, but I'd imagine you can conceptualize the 2l bottle of coke that you see in the supermarket - even if you don't buy it/drink it.
- kiiski 10y agoSure, now that people mentioned them. That's why I said "can't associate .... of the top of my head". But that's not the point. The parent implied that there is something that's 2 liters that all Americans know, and I was curious as to what that is, because I, despite living in a metric country, couldn't think of anything.
- terinjokes 10y agoIt's far simpler for an American because soda in the US is widely available in three sizes: * 12 fl oz (355 mL) aluminum can * 20 fl oz (591 mL) plastic bottle * 2L plastic bottle Depending on the brand and store availability I've also seen 12 fl oz glass bottles, 1L bottles, and sometimes smaller sized cans as pretty standard sizes. Other types of drinks (such as energy drinks) can vary in what containers they use. In general, though, if you're buying soda for a family or for more than one drink/meal, you're going to be buying a 2L bottle (and refer to it as such).
- jdboyd 10y agoDo metric countries sell as many 2L soda bottles as the US does, relative to other soda sizes?
- noinsight 10y agoActually, the soda bottles in Finland are 1,5 L at most.
- dogma1138 10y agoFrom what I remember from most scandi supermarkets carton milks are 1 and 1.5L and plastic bottles are 2 and 2.5. As far as soft drinks go bottles like these http://www.premierexports.co.uk/1595-2155-thickbox/diet-coke-cherry-2l.jpg http://www.premierexports.co.uk/1595-2155-thickbox/diet-coke... are as far as I know standard across all of Europe and they are 2 liters.
- kiiski 10y agoI just went to my local S-Market and looked around a bit. The big soft drink bottles were all 1.5L (as noinsight said). Milk is available in 1.5L cartons too, but no plastic bottles of any kind. Of course, I do live in a pretty remote corner of the country, so maybe the selection isn't what it is in Helsinki.
- msbarnett 10y ago2L soda bottles are ubiquitous.
- noinsight 10y agoCoincidentally, not in Finland. The largest soda bottles are 1,5 L.
- imglorp 10y agoWe've been at this since the 70's. Honestly the problem is we needed to keep tooling for manufacturing (eg, Detroit).
- zanny 10y agoAt least Detroit seems to be solving itself. No more excuses soon, US!
- Animats 10y agoDetroit is mostly metric. Many US-built cars use all metric fasteners. For export, you have to use metric fasteners, because few outside the US have inch-sized tools. Imported cars are, of course, all metric. Aviation is mostly metric for the same reason. DoD is metric to be compatible with NATO. Housing, however, hasn't converted at all. Building dimensions, HVAC and plumbing in the US are still on inch units.
- ccozan 10y agoIn reverse, in Europe measuring pipes ( or tools for them) diameter in inches is quite normal and ubiquitous. In oil business a lot of stuff is also measured in imperial units. Let's not forget the monitor screen sizes. You can only get it in inches, so pretty every IT guy has a rough idea of how much is 14" and so on.
- lostlogin 10y agoYeah, the monitor one is a farce when you don't know aspect ratio though. And at some point the arguments over resolution start and then it gets truly awful. Monitors have scared me.
- occamrazor 10y agoExcept France, where even monitors and TVs are measured in cm.
- chiph 10y agoThe humble 2x4 piece of lumber will likely be the last major industrial component to change over in the US. Which actually measures 1-1/2" by 3-1/2", but let's not go there...