this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2025
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Americans will use anything but the metric system ... unless it's important.
Who says 3000 grams instead of 3 kg anyway.
People do it when they want to make the thing they’re presenting sound more impressive or bigger.
3000 megagigafemtograms!
THREE MILLION milligrams
This isn't a real thing, I've never heard anyone say "thousands of grams" in my whole life.
When people (and I mean, usually law enforcement) want to inflate the numbers on drug busts, they convert it to "doses" at some unknown conversion rate, or to "market value". Which kinda makes some sense, because it takes into account the purity level, but still sounds weird.
I'll have you know I have a whole 27343 cents in my bank account.
pff, rich kid /j
Drug math, keys are for coke.
I see millimeters listed by the thousands and hundreds all the time. It really annoys me.
For me (in my native language), this means 3g, not 3 kg. :)
3G? This is what I think of:
The difference is small, but 3g != 3G.
Yeah. I was just making a stupid joke.
A lot of times it's based on precision. Kinda makes sense to say 1,000 mm if the spec is +/- a mm or 2 imo
I have to say that I do this professionally. There is no reason at all to specify tolerances like that. You very much should use at least centimeters with the +/- in decimals. This is the whole point of the metric system. And it aggravates me. We are not stupid as manufacturers. It is very simple division. I am American and have to deal with German and Japanese tolerances quite literally every day. Sure, there are different required ISO tolerances based on millimeters, but as far as prints go? Every company usually specifies their own tolerances. Complying with ISO mostly means that you understand what they require overall. It is my professional opinion that not using the breadth of the metric system is absolutely absurd.
Every professional that deals with stuff that needs around 1mm precision uses mm. Metal roofing, gutters, any machining, etc. It is to prevent ambiguity. I used to build roofs and for like wooden beams we used meters and cm, but that was because a couple mm here and there rarely ever mattered. All in all using mm is usually the best choice.
What professional area? Because I don't recall ever seeing listings of thousands of mm.
Metal roofing thing (idk how to translate, am not british) are always in mm. We would buy them at like 5 meters long and measure for cutting using mm. https://limarija-sebastijan.hr/krovni-zidni-i-ostali-profilirani-limovi/trapezni-lim/ All the drawings for metal things are in mm. What is not is like diameter of the pipes. The store I linked sells rolls of sheet metal (again don't know how to translate) in cm, but all the other stores sell in mm. https://olx.ba/artikal/19038696/lim-u-rolni/# When you want custom bent stuff (like the metal.. things that go on the sides, or custom gutters) you make a drawing in mm (can't explain, but I'l draw one if you want).
I just said "professional" because the one I replied said it, without saying what profession. Roofing is a profession, and metal roofing stuff doing (again don't know how to translate) is also a profession.
And all the schematics I have seen for metal parts, and in cad software in general, is in mm. Tailoring is also in mm (https://tehnicki.lzmk.hr/clanak/kroj).
Maybe it is a US vs rest of the world thing ? Maybe I'm not expirienced enough to make such sweeping statements.
Again, you put thousands of mm because mixing cm and mm (and m) can lead to mistakes. I even remember cutting wrong because I heard like 2570 instead of 2507 (he's up there measuring, while I'm down cutting).
House blueprints are usually in meters. Window sizes are in cm.
I've been a machinist for over 20 years. Just no. You get specs from the customer, and yeah the tolerances are usually in mm. However, listing dimensions in thousands of mm makes no sense. The tolerances are always specified. If it wasn't for NDA, I could show you a print from Siemens Medical that shows this.
Sure. I'm not a professional machinist. I have worked on roofs and all sheet metal things are in mm. I have even worked for a company that makes those metal things and as a customer for another one. I also was by far the best at technical drawing in school, not to brag. And all the schematics for things I have seen are in mm, for example https://www.iclarified.com/images/news/48931/228250/228250-1280.png . Disclaimer, all the schematics that are not in, ugh, inches (or architecture).
Sure, if I made something for someone they can give me dimensions in Smoots for all I care. But I would transform it into mm, and would never buy tools that don't use mm.
For context, I am not in an english speaking country nor Myanmar.
Edit: Actually I have seen house schematics in mm as well. I thing they now give out in m, but use mm internally (depending on architecture firm).
I think you've missed my point here. Something that is 6,300 mm long should be listed as 6.3 meters. Doing otherwise completely eliminates the purpose of a pure decimal system. People don't even use the system properly, completely omitting things like decimeters.
When I asked the boss, who has been in the business for a couple generations, why it says here 4000 instead of 4m, he said what I am telling you. So you don't mix up measurements.
I guess that's my whole issue here. People don't use the system "properly."
You're right. People don't use the system properly, but that's how a lot of people do it is what I was saying. I can see how that would grind your gears (pun somewhat intended) as a machinist, since specs and tolerances are especially important in your line of work as I understand it
Concentrate like that is usually sold by the gram. I'm going to assume they phrased it like that so we stoners can immediately visualize it as 3000 1g pots.
Bingo