Honestly? I’ve only lived in countries with Celsius and Celsius is how I feel. I know exactly how hot or cold a day is gonna be if I look up the temperature. Thats how I know what clothes to wear!!!
But Fahrenheit confuses the shit out of me. Every time I visit the US, I always convert the temp back to Celsius when someone tells me the temp.
I know Fahrenheit has more degrees and that can give you more datapoints. But cmon. The temp only goes up to, like, 50 C anyways lol. How many degrees do you need 🤣. Can you really differentiate between 61 and 62 F? Now, 60 to 65 F might be believable, but that’s like 15 to 18 C so, that much difference is shown even in Celsius.
I’m not saying Celsius is better, or that Americans should convert to it. Actually, if I was God-Emperor, I’d force us all to use Kelvin, given it begins with Absolute Zero and I’m a sucker for shit like that.
But variety is the spice of life. For Americans, Fahrenheit is how they feel. For most of the rest of us, it’s Celsius.
Numbers outside of this range are extreme weather.
Hot Weather: This argument might have been valid like a century ago but it clearly hasn’t been valid for billions of people around the world (including parts of the US) that regularly sees temperature crossing 38 C (100 F) in the summer. This includes Middle East, Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia and I’m sure more places too.
Like, it’s not extreme if it’s expected every year. And I’m not taking 39 C. Where I lived, it reached 49 C (120 F) every single summer. That is summer.
Cold Weather: And this is also true for so many people around the world who live in places where temperature, every winter, goes below -18 C (0 F). Like, that’s not a billion people, but that’s still in the millions (Canada, Russia, Scandinavia etc.) We’d have to use the - sign every winter no matter which system we use, Celsius or Fahrenheit. Just like the billion+ people I talked about above.
People used to the Celsius system, especially those living in areas where it frequently goes below freezing, are well versed with the - symbol. We know the difference between -5 and -10 like we know between 0 and 5.
Again, Americans can keep their F and their LBs and their Miles and their every other unique charm. But it’s also funny when they try to prove that it’s somehow better or more natural. Like, it’s natural and rational to you.
People used to the Celsius system, especially those living in areas where it frequently goes below freezing, are well versed with the - symbol. We know the difference between -5 and -10 like we know between 0 and 5.
Looking at some of the literacy stats coming out of American education, I’m not surprised that some Americans think that the concept of a negative number is an undue inconvenience.
Are people even capable of accurately perceiving a difference of 1 or 2 degrees in either system? I’m putting on a jacket if it’s 9 or 7 celcius outside anyway. Struggling to think of any human day to day situations where a difference of a degree or two changes the way most people act or feel.
If you need granularity, you can still get infinite granularity with decimals in either system.
the temperature also isn’t the only thing that matters, it also matters what the weather is like, how much moisture is in the air, and how windy it is.
With no wind you can have like -5°C and it’s perfectly fine if you just wear some fluffy clothing, but if the wind starts picking up it can be +5°C and you’ll feel like you’re going to die.
One of the conclusions on why I like Fahrenheit over Celsius for weather is it’s ironically the most base 10 like for a non-SI scale. A phrase like “it’s going to be in the 70s today” has so much information in it. Usually with no weather changes like a front coming in, you’ll know that during the day it’ll be pleasant. At night the temperature range will drop by around 10 degrees and you’ll know you’ll likely need a light jacket or at least long sleeves to stay comfortable.
If metric wanted to adopt a scale with more graduations that could be easily grouped to 10s, that’d be great. I don’t know why 0-100 was arbitrarily chosen to be the scale for water instead of 0-1000.
For temp measurements outside of weather I really do prefer Celsius though.
As someone who grew up in the tropics and now lives somewhere colder, I went through the first three table entries thinking that this was Celsius and felt understood.
you know how cold ice is, right? and you know how hot boiling water is.
Just interpolate between them. For some extra assistence, you get burns when in extended contact with something at 40°C, 20°C is a cool summer day, and the standard oven temperature is 200°C.
Honestly? I’ve only lived in countries with Celsius and Celsius is how I feel. I know exactly how hot or cold a day is gonna be if I look up the temperature. Thats how I know what clothes to wear!!! But Fahrenheit confuses the shit out of me. Every time I visit the US, I always convert the temp back to Celsius when someone tells me the temp.
I know Fahrenheit has more degrees and that can give you more datapoints. But cmon. The temp only goes up to, like, 50 C anyways lol. How many degrees do you need 🤣. Can you really differentiate between 61 and 62 F? Now, 60 to 65 F might be believable, but that’s like 15 to 18 C so, that much difference is shown even in Celsius.
I’m not saying Celsius is better, or that Americans should convert to it. Actually, if I was God-Emperor, I’d force us all to use Kelvin, given it begins with Absolute Zero and I’m a sucker for shit like that.
But variety is the spice of life. For Americans, Fahrenheit is how they feel. For most of the rest of us, it’s Celsius.
How do decimal places work?
It’s more about the number range in ordinary use than the granularity.
Ordinary daily temperatures in F run from about 0-100. Numbers outside of this range are extreme weather.
Hot Weather: This argument might have been valid like a century ago but it clearly hasn’t been valid for billions of people around the world (including parts of the US) that regularly sees temperature crossing 38 C (100 F) in the summer. This includes Middle East, Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia and I’m sure more places too.
Like, it’s not extreme if it’s expected every year. And I’m not taking 39 C. Where I lived, it reached 49 C (120 F) every single summer. That is summer.
Cold Weather: And this is also true for so many people around the world who live in places where temperature, every winter, goes below -18 C (0 F). Like, that’s not a billion people, but that’s still in the millions (Canada, Russia, Scandinavia etc.) We’d have to use the - sign every winter no matter which system we use, Celsius or Fahrenheit. Just like the billion+ people I talked about above.
People used to the Celsius system, especially those living in areas where it frequently goes below freezing, are well versed with the - symbol. We know the difference between -5 and -10 like we know between 0 and 5.
Again, Americans can keep their F and their LBs and their Miles and their every other unique charm. But it’s also funny when they try to prove that it’s somehow better or more natural. Like, it’s natural and rational to you.
Looking at some of the literacy stats coming out of American education, I’m not surprised that some Americans think that the concept of a negative number is an undue inconvenience.
Are people even capable of accurately perceiving a difference of 1 or 2 degrees in either system? I’m putting on a jacket if it’s 9 or 7 celcius outside anyway. Struggling to think of any human day to day situations where a difference of a degree or two changes the way most people act or feel.
If you need granularity, you can still get infinite granularity with decimals in either system.
7C I wear a hat, 9C my ears are fine
19c, might be a bit too cold to wear shorts.
21c, shorts will be fine.
+15 for shorts, or +10 if doing sports
the temperature also isn’t the only thing that matters, it also matters what the weather is like, how much moisture is in the air, and how windy it is.
With no wind you can have like -5°C and it’s perfectly fine if you just wear some fluffy clothing, but if the wind starts picking up it can be +5°C and you’ll feel like you’re going to die.
True, though this factor applies equally to both farenheit and celcius right?
When I’m going to be I can absolutely feel 68 vs 70F
Boiling water feels really fucking hot which is why Celsius makes more sense
I doff my cap to those whose experiences have led to the statement “boiling water feels really fucking hot”.
0 fahrenheit is pretty much random when it comes to ordinary life. Well it’s pretty random when it comes to anything.
I am. But first, metric mass, volume, and distance.
Signed,
An American (who doesn’t like fractions)
This came up a week ago. I made a chart:
One of the conclusions on why I like Fahrenheit over Celsius for weather is it’s ironically the most base 10 like for a non-SI scale. A phrase like “it’s going to be in the 70s today” has so much information in it. Usually with no weather changes like a front coming in, you’ll know that during the day it’ll be pleasant. At night the temperature range will drop by around 10 degrees and you’ll know you’ll likely need a light jacket or at least long sleeves to stay comfortable.
If metric wanted to adopt a scale with more graduations that could be easily grouped to 10s, that’d be great. I don’t know why 0-100 was arbitrarily chosen to be the scale for water instead of 0-1000.
For temp measurements outside of weather I really do prefer Celsius though.
As someone who grew up in the tropics and now lives somewhere colder, I went through the first three table entries thinking that this was Celsius and felt understood.
Ok but having not grown up with F I feel the same way about -20 to 40 °C, which you can divide into 5° bands with almost identical names.
but like we do the exact same thing with celsius, if you say "it’s gonna be about 15°C today then i know what to wear.
people don’t stand there doing maths to figure out what to wear, they intuitively learn what clothes go with what number.
As an American, I wish I could learn Celsius
It’s good to know how your gpu feels
C = (°F-32)/1.8
you know how cold ice is, right? and you know how hot boiling water is.
Just interpolate between them. For some extra assistence, you get burns when in extended contact with something at 40°C, 20°C is a cool summer day, and the standard oven temperature is 200°C.