Canada has been using the metric system for quite a long time now. I remember learning it in school. As it’s based on the power of tens, and since I learned to count to ten at an early age thanks to my friends Ernie and Bert, it was pretty easy to get a handle on. But is it practical and how often is it really used in Canada?
In Canada the weather is usually reported in Celsius and most people seem comfortable with that. For instance I know zero is freezing and anything below that requires a pair of thermal underwear. Twenty-five degrees and above means you can leave the jacket at home. But when was the last time you went to the doctor because you were running a fever of 38.8888 degrees? We measure the snow in cm even though ten cm of snow sounds a lot more depressing than four inches. Yet, I can’t remember the last time I received a birth announcement that read: “Congratulations, it’s a boy, 3.58 kg and 53.34 cm long!” According to my driver’s license I am 157 cm tall. That sounds pretty tall for someone who has to buy her pants in the 5’4 and under store and still have them shortened.
There are times when metric measurements seem more widely used. Medications are usually prescribed in mg. Soda* (or as they say in Canada ‘pop’) is sold in two litre bottles. Most international sporting events like track and field and swimming are measured using the metric system. When American swimmer Michael Phelps was racking up medals at the Olympics a few years back, I don’t think anyone noticed he was doing it in metres.
Maybe Canada is a hybrid when it comes to the metric system versus the old imperial system. We may buy butter in 454 g containers and flour in 10 kg bags, but we want to measure our ingredients in cups and bake our cake in a 350 degree oven. We enter a 5k race to lose a couple of pounds. We’re okay with buying our gas by the litre to fill our cars. We just feel we pay too much for it. That’s true no matter how you measure it.
* I came across this handy guide to Canadian phrases and sayings. It was developed for international students studying in Canada but it may make a handy translation guide for both my Canadian and American readers.
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