Sometimes I don’t think I will ever get used to non-American measurements. The Metric system and Celsius degrees are much more logical, but it’s not what I spent most of my life using and even after years of living in the country that was the first to adopt the Metric system, I still find it hard to switch between the two. Especially when it comes to degrees, I prefer my Fahrenheit numbers. There’s just something about saying it’s “below zero” when referring to Fahrenheit that has much more of an impact than when you say the same for Celsius. Maybe it’s because I’m from the northern US where we usually have negative temperatures (in Fahrenheit!) each winter. Negative degrees in Celsius are nothing to me.
Right now there are cold temps all over France and the news stations are making such a big deal out of -5° C (or 23°F). Try -5°F. Then you can start complaining about how cold it is (about -20°C). Though I do have to agree that even if the temperatures aren’t as cold here, sometimes it still feels just as cold because of the amount of time we have to spend outside and because of the lack of proper heating indoors.
David said the coldest temperature he can remember it being here is about -10° C or 14° F. The coldest temperature I remember in Michigan is -21° F or -30° C. I was in 6th grade and we didn’t have school that day and it was awesome.
Have any other Americans successfully stopped using the customary system or am I doomed for life with a mess of conversions in my head?
