undefined | Better HN

0 pointsoh_sigh5y ago0 comments

Well that's rich, coming from people who can't even stick with one system and have a weird mix of imperial, metric, and various archaic units - which is IMHO worse than just being on imperial.

0 comments

perl4ever5y ago

That description applies to both the US and UK, perhaps others, and it's hard to be unaware when you're connected to a global computer network. Just google "site:uk mpg".

"Put simply, all MPG does is tell you approximately how far your vehicle will travel based upon a single UK gallon, which equates to approximately 4.55 litres of fuel"

This particular thing, I'm aware of because there is perennial confusion over comparing mpg given that Imperial gallons are larger than American ones. If people just used L/100km....

Chauvinists go to ridiculous lengths to magnify small differences.

oh_sighOP5y ago

That's not the mixing I'm talking about. American gallons and imperial gallons being defined differently is rarely an issue since gallons are rarely exchanged between America and the UK (in a relative usage sense). If America happened to call their unit gabbons, this confusion wouldn't exist.

My point is more about how in the UK you might give a measure in one system, but then increasing the measure you might convert into a different system entirely. e.g. If you ask an Englishman how far apart you should stand for social distancing, he might say 2 meters. But if you ask him how far it is from London to Brighton, he might say it is 50 miles.

perl4ever5y ago

>gallons are rarely exchanged between America and the UK

I didn't go looking for an example; it's one that I've run into a lot over the years, because people spontaneously ask why, over and over, American cars get much worse MPG than elsewhere. Not realizing the gallons are smaller.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

perl4ever5y ago

That description applies to both the US and UK, perhaps others, and it's hard to be unaware when you're connected to a global computer network. Just google "site:uk mpg".

"Put simply, all MPG does is tell you approximately how far your vehicle will travel based upon a single UK gallon, which equates to approximately 4.55 litres of fuel"

This particular thing, I'm aware of because there is perennial confusion over comparing mpg given that Imperial gallons are larger than American ones. If people just used L/100km....

Chauvinists go to ridiculous lengths to magnify small differences.

oh_sighOP5y ago

perl4ever5y ago

>gallons are rarely exchanged between America and the UK

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse