4 ms·

Frankly it might be a bit confusing to Canadians, here we use the U.S. numeric conventions, but we tend to use a mix of SI and imperial units, and in this case

Frankly it might be a bit confusing to Canadians, here we use the U.S. numeric conventions, but we tend to use a mix of SI and imperial units, and in this case we'd use kilometres for ground distance, with thousands separated by commas. The UK also seems to prefer commas to separate thousands. I'm inoculated against confusion about this because I've done a lot of software and content localization, and have a grasp on the specifics for a lot of different cultures. I think the problem is exacerbated by the underuse of the SI system's prefixes. Why even talk about thousands of kilometres when you can speak in tens of megametres? Added: I figure it's getting to the point where there are too many genuine English locales to keep up. It takes a lot of energy for normal people to retain fluency in dialects and locales like en_US, en_IN, en_CA (thankfully rapidly merging with en_US), en_GB, en_AU, en_JM, en_MY, etc. etc. etc.. all at the same time. Maybe at some point there will be a great and natural convergence.

photojosh 9y ago
> Why even talk about thousands of kilometres when you can speak in tens of megametres? Probably because when you're speaking about them colloquially, you don't say "kilometres" you say "kays". That probably varies by locale too, I'm in en_AU. How is it over your way? I do like the nerdiness in the idea of saying "two megs" instead of "two thousand kays", but it's never going to happen.
- Coincoin 9y ago
  >I do like the nerdiness in the idea of saying "two megs" instead of "two thousand kays" But they are not the same!!oneoneone. Unless you are in the dog food prefixes camp. Are you?
  - photojosh 9y ago
    2 000 km = 2 Mm? You're not thinking of the mebi-, kibi-, etc debacle, are you?
    - Coincoin 9y ago
      Yes. I'm old school, 1K is 1024, 1M is 1024K, 64K is 65536 and I refuse to use kimblebits and such. Ah... screw it: https://www.xkcd.com/394/ https://www.xkcd.com/394/
      - photojosh 9y ago
        I'm with you, but it's a non-issue when it comes to non-computer units, which is what we're discussing here.
  - microcolonel 9y ago
    Decimal prefixes are standard prefixes for SI units.
- sergers 9y ago
  Western Canada, we use a short form pronunciation similar "Kay" too (pronounced like just saying the letter "K"). "K" is short form thousands as well written and pronunciated "k". Ex: 20,000 = 20k. But when talking about distance specifying units, you say the thousands and "k" as in short form kilometers. 20,000km is pronounced: "twenty thousand k" or kilometers. But if not specifying the unit, you could say I drove twenty "k", as in "I drove 20 thousand (kilometers)"
- microcolonel 9y ago
  > I'm in en_AU. How is it over your way? It's mixed here in en_CA (I've lived in Calgary, Vancouver, and Toronto at different points). In my experience, kay is used for kilometres when talking about manual travel/exercise (bicycle, running) as in "couch to 5k", but it's almost always klicks or kilometres when talking about driving, and usually only kilometres when talking about most other forms of transport.
  - photojosh 9y ago
    We occasionally use 'klicks' interchangeably with 'kay' or 'kays', but it's pretty rare.
    - myrandomcomment 9y ago
      It can be more confusing. US date - m/d/y. Distance in miles. If you are in the US military - d/m/y and klicks (km). Was in UK a few weeks ago and rented a car, mph for speed, everything else (except beer) in metric.
      - dx034 9y ago
        The UK is more complicated than that. Most of the signs are in metric but some distances are in yards and heights are in feet. Petrol prices are in litres but consumption is in mpg, even though there's no indication on how many gallons you actually fill up. In stores, everything has to be metric because of EU regulation but packaging for liquids is often in pints (e.g. milk, beer) and then gets translated into litres. Temperatures are usually in Celsius but are shown in F once it gets hot (100 degrees sounds better than 38). Even though I'm a fan of the metric system, being in the US is easier than the UK, at least measurements are consistent...
        wiredfool 9y ago
        And stone for weight of people.
        SAI_Peregrinus 9y ago
Coincoin 9y ago
I'm always surprised that en_CA and fr_CA are so different. We use spaces as separator and comma for the decimal. Also we use the 24h format while the ROC uses 12h. We do use 12h colloquially though. Dates are officially y-M-d but most people use d/M/y. It's funny how in Canada we have some specific remnants of the imperial system. Most people under 50 have no idea what a Fahrenheit is (myself included), except for pool water and oven temperature. Go figure.
- microcolonel 9y ago
  Dates are a complete mess, yeah. I've seen absolutely every single convention used in Canadian government and business documents. I personally use ISO 8601 wherever it's an option (contracts, personal documents, casual communications) because of how ridiculous all of the other options are.
  - jacobush 9y ago
    Agree about 8601 except that not ALL other options are silly. Writing the day with words is kind of nice in some writing, like "September 1 (Monday), 2017" is not too bad.
- microcolonel 9y ago
  The funny thing about the imperial remnants is that for almost all general tasks, Canadians still use pounds for weight (groceries, body mass, vehicle weight), but we don't use ounces. We use feet and inches to measure people, but metres for almost everything else, except nautical speed. Litres for gas in cars, sometimes gallons or pounds instead of litres for gas on boats. Pints for blood and beer, ounces for hard liquor, litres for all other service and retail fluids. People complain about inconsistency and lack of standards in the use of measurements in the U.S, but it is actually much more consistent there. It turns out that decimal units aren't really better for any practical purpose in a typical person's life, and it's certainly worse if you need to know both! Even in the U.S. of course, engineers, mechanics, plumbers and others still have to deal with a mix. Think metric-based and imperial-based bolts, metric v. imperial lumber sizing.
sergers 9y ago
Born in canada, West coast, lived here still for 30+ years. English as first language, but 2nd/3rd language for immigrant parents. I have very rarely seen space separator for thousand seperate, maybe one some bank drafts. Everyone I know, and I have used the comma seperate. Officially may be a Canadian thing, but not used really

photojosh 9y ago

> Why even talk about thousands of kilometres when you can speak in tens of megametres? Probably because when you're speaking about them colloquially, you don't say "kilometres" you say "kays". That probably varies by locale too, I'm in en_AU. How is it over your way? I do like the nerdiness in the idea of saying "two megs" instead of "two thousand kays", but it's never going to happen.

Coincoin 9y ago
>I do like the nerdiness in the idea of saying "two megs" instead of "two thousand kays" But they are not the same!!oneoneone. Unless you are in the dog food prefixes camp. Are you?
- photojosh 9y ago
  2 000 km = 2 Mm? You're not thinking of the mebi-, kibi-, etc debacle, are you?
  - Coincoin 9y ago
    Yes. I'm old school, 1K is 1024, 1M is 1024K, 64K is 65536 and I refuse to use kimblebits and such. Ah... screw it: https://www.xkcd.com/394/ https://www.xkcd.com/394/
    - photojosh 9y ago
      I'm with you, but it's a non-issue when it comes to non-computer units, which is what we're discussing here.
- microcolonel 9y ago
  Decimal prefixes are standard prefixes for SI units.
sergers 9y ago
Western Canada, we use a short form pronunciation similar "Kay" too (pronounced like just saying the letter "K"). "K" is short form thousands as well written and pronunciated "k". Ex: 20,000 = 20k. But when talking about distance specifying units, you say the thousands and "k" as in short form kilometers. 20,000km is pronounced: "twenty thousand k" or kilometers. But if not specifying the unit, you could say I drove twenty "k", as in "I drove 20 thousand (kilometers)"
microcolonel 9y ago
> I'm in en_AU. How is it over your way? It's mixed here in en_CA (I've lived in Calgary, Vancouver, and Toronto at different points). In my experience, kay is used for kilometres when talking about manual travel/exercise (bicycle, running) as in "couch to 5k", but it's almost always klicks or kilometres when talking about driving, and usually only kilometres when talking about most other forms of transport.
- photojosh 9y ago
  We occasionally use 'klicks' interchangeably with 'kay' or 'kays', but it's pretty rare.
  - myrandomcomment 9y ago
    It can be more confusing. US date - m/d/y. Distance in miles. If you are in the US military - d/m/y and klicks (km). Was in UK a few weeks ago and rented a car, mph for speed, everything else (except beer) in metric.
    - dx034 9y ago
      The UK is more complicated than that. Most of the signs are in metric but some distances are in yards and heights are in feet. Petrol prices are in litres but consumption is in mpg, even though there's no indication on how many gallons you actually fill up. In stores, everything has to be metric because of EU regulation but packaging for liquids is often in pints (e.g. milk, beer) and then gets translated into litres. Temperatures are usually in Celsius but are shown in F once it gets hot (100 degrees sounds better than 38). Even though I'm a fan of the metric system, being in the US is easier than the UK, at least measurements are consistent...
      - wiredfool 9y ago
        And stone for weight of people.
      - SAI_Peregrinus 9y ago

Coincoin 9y ago

I'm always surprised that en_CA and fr_CA are so different. We use spaces as separator and comma for the decimal. Also we use the 24h format while the ROC uses 12h. We do use 12h colloquially though. Dates are officially y-M-d but most people use d/M/y. It's funny how in Canada we have some specific remnants of the imperial system. Most people under 50 have no idea what a Fahrenheit is (myself included), except for pool water and oven temperature. Go figure.

microcolonel 9y ago
Dates are a complete mess, yeah. I've seen absolutely every single convention used in Canadian government and business documents. I personally use ISO 8601 wherever it's an option (contracts, personal documents, casual communications) because of how ridiculous all of the other options are.
- jacobush 9y ago
  Agree about 8601 except that not ALL other options are silly. Writing the day with words is kind of nice in some writing, like "September 1 (Monday), 2017" is not too bad.
microcolonel 9y ago
The funny thing about the imperial remnants is that for almost all general tasks, Canadians still use pounds for weight (groceries, body mass, vehicle weight), but we don't use ounces. We use feet and inches to measure people, but metres for almost everything else, except nautical speed. Litres for gas in cars, sometimes gallons or pounds instead of litres for gas on boats. Pints for blood and beer, ounces for hard liquor, litres for all other service and retail fluids. People complain about inconsistency and lack of standards in the use of measurements in the U.S, but it is actually much more consistent there. It turns out that decimal units aren't really better for any practical purpose in a typical person's life, and it's certainly worse if you need to know both! Even in the U.S. of course, engineers, mechanics, plumbers and others still have to deal with a mix. Think metric-based and imperial-based bolts, metric v. imperial lumber sizing.

sergers 9y ago

Born in canada, West coast, lived here still for 30+ years. English as first language, but 2nd/3rd language for immigrant parents. I have very rarely seen space separator for thousand seperate, maybe one some bank drafts. Everyone I know, and I have used the comma seperate. Officially may be a Canadian thing, but not used really