Question re metric/imperial measurements

[Jenny]

Hi all - A question for those of you who primarily work within the metric system. Is it common to use acres as a measurement of area rather than hectares?

I'm going through a bunch of documents produced in Europe and Asia that are mostly metric (kilometres, kilograms etc) and am surprised to see acres rather than hectares, and wondering if I should be correcting or not.

Any insights welcome.

 

[D&Sfan4ever]

I don't know about Europe and Asia, but as far as South America goes is hectares, hectares, hectares. Acres as a measurement is unheard of down here.

 

[ballettmaus]

Same in Germany. I've only ever heard hectare.

 

[pat c]

If it's in acres, leave it.

Canada is metric as you know, but we still do acres, so my husband is always converting back to imperial.

 

[Artemis@BC]

Unless there's a style guide that sets down rules for all metric all the time, I agree with pat, leave it at acres.

We're supposedly metric in Canada, but a lot of measurements are still given in imperial. Fruit and veg prices, for example -- though that's incredibly frustrating because the shelves list price by pound but it's by kilo at the register, so hard to do a quick check to make sure you're getting the right price.

And real estate listings are always square feet, not metres.

 

[Jenny]

Our style guide says we do both, first in whatever the original document says, then the conversion in brackets, and it has to be consistent throughout the document. There are certain things that a widely measured only one way or the other regardless of country - golf course yardage for example - so I wondered if acres might be one of those anomalies that's used everywhere. But apparently it's not

(And yes, I know what a mess it is in Canada as I live here - we're supposed to be all metric for the past 40 years or more, but imperial measurements are still widely used, likely due to American influence I think. And yet, I was rather surprised some years ago when I asked a store clerk for a 26 oz bottle of booze and he didn't know what I was talking about - when I pointed to the bottle, he said "oh, you mean a 750 ml?" Go figure.)

 

[maatTheViking]

I think some countries might use a mix of metric and imperial (as Canada)?

In Denmark, I only ever saw hectare for area, and only for land-areas concerning agriculture or maybe foresting. Other wise it is square km.
You would say that the airport covers so many km (sq), but the farm is so and so many hectare.

 

[vesperholly]

Fruit and veg prices, for example -- though that's incredibly frustrating because the shelves list price by pound but it's by kilo at the register, so hard to do a quick check to make sure you're getting the right price.

That makes NO sense! Though I blame American 2 liter bottles on Canada I wish we could just go metric already. Stupid stubborn America.

Could any of the documents have originated in the UK? I know they use miles for distance/driving.

 

[Artemis@BC]

That makes NO sense! Though I blame American 2 liter bottles on Canada I wish we could just go metric already. Stupid stubborn America.

The fruit & veg thing does actually make a sort of bizarre sense: they quote the price on the shelf (and in the flyer) in pounds because that's what shoppers are used to, but the register price is metric because that's the law. The metric price is on the shelf too but in teen tiny letters, no one probably pays any attention to that.

Oh, and bulk foods are priced by 100 g. Go figure.

But yes, stupid stubborn America, get with the program already. Though when you do, you'll have to learn that it's 2 litres, not 2 liters.

 

[pat c]

Well for farming (prairies), everything was measured in acres, so when you apply fertilizer and sprays it's just a royal pita, because you can't put on too much of something or too little. It has to be within a certain guideline. Most farm equipment like an air seeder, measures the distance in 80 ft or 120 ft and you seed so many acres depending on the size of the airseeder. So even tho you buy the product in metric, you have to figure the application in imperial.

My kids are flummoxed when we do imperial, so younger generations use metric. But there are some industries, where you just have to use both.

Trivial musing - the distance from a rail line to a road allowance (or the size of the ditch) was originally measured in rods. If I'm remembering correctly 1 rod is 16 1/2 ft which is based on 1/4 of a surveyor's chain. I wonder if that's been converted to metric now.

 

[Vash01]

I am an engineer in the USA and we always use acres in both technical and nontechnical areas.

Although we don't use the metric system in our daily lives, sometimes in technical material we may use metric. It depends on the field. For example, for power rating we prefer brake Horse Power to Kilowatts. For temperature, it's always deg. F in our daily life but in some technical calculations we may use deg. C. I have difficulty using metric in my daily life (e.g. temp. in deg. C or height in cm, etc. but in my work I use both comfortably.

Going back to the original question, we always use acres for areas, to begin with. If the other units are in a different system, we may convert, but at least during the last 10 years I have not run into that situation. We do go and forth between ft2 and acres or ft2 and cm2.

 

[vesperholly]

But yes, stupid stubborn America, get with the program already. Though when you do, you'll have to learn that it's 2 litres, not 2 liters.

You may take my imperial measure, but you'll never take my -ER ... or insert a U where they don't belong!

 

[Skate Talker]

To add to the confusion - my european friend told me she would place her order at the meat counter for say 1/2 pound of shaved ham, but in actuality meant 1/2 kg and was given 1/2 kg.

Infamously, the confusion between gallons and litres was blamed for the fortunately non lethal incident where an Air Canada jumbo jet ran out of fuel and glided to a landing on a former air strip in Gimli Manitoba that had been partially converted for drag-racing. Nicknamed the 'Gimli Goose', the plane came in silently and almost ran over some of those assembled for racing since the engine-less plane could not be heard over the noise of the car engines. There were no fatalities although the nose gear partially collapsed leading to a tilted plane. Some of the emergency exit chutes did not reach the ground and there were some relatively minor injuries to some of the passengers hitting the ground too hard. They were ordered to escape as quickly as possible as there were still worries of a fire. I believe there was actually some smoke in the cockpit, probably due to the friction of the metal nose on the pavement. Just like Captain Sully, the pilots considerable experience, including glider experience, was credited with saving the day.

 

[ballettmaus]

If it's in acres, leave it.

Canada is metric as you know, but we still do acres, so my husband is always converting back to imperial.

Canada isn't exactly Europe or Asia though
I have no idea how much an acre is and I'm fairly certain the rest of Europe (former Western Europe at least) doesn't either.

 

[quartz]

I have always gone by the very rough estimate of an acre is very roughly the size of a soccer field, just as a very rough visual. I've never had to use an acre as an exact unit of measurement. It's more like if someone says, hey, I bought a house on a 3 acre lot, I would understand that is about 3 soccer fields and get a good picture in my mind.

 

[pat c]

640 acres is one square mile, or roughly 2 1/2 square kms.

Canada isn't exactly Europe or Asia though
I have no idea how much an acre is and I'm fairly certain the rest of Europe (former Western Europe at least) doesn't either.

Jenny asked if she should change it. I said no, the rest isn't relevant, just my observations.

 

[Aussie Willy]

Australia is hectares.

 

[ballettmaus]

640 acres is one square mile, or roughly 2 1/2 square kms.



Jenny asked if she should she should change it. I said no, the rest isn't relevant, just my observations.

I understood that you were using Canada as an example as to why she shouldn't change it, apparently, that wasn't so
The easiest way to determine whether or not to change it would be to find out if acre is considered an official measurement in Europe and/or Asia. I've never come across it, so I'd say it's not official in Germany, but you never know.

 

[Japanfan]

We're supposedly metric in Canada, but a lot of measurements are still given in imperial.

I had fully learned imperial when Canada changed to metric, and still find it confusing sometimes - especially given that the U.S. still uses imperial. I still visualize in terms of miles, even when distances are measured in kilometers.

Recipes are particularly confusing, but I seem to get by with imperial for recipes. Most of the recipes I use are probably American and I get by with a measuring cup that measures in cups, not liters. However, all of our liquids are in liters, but fortunately a liter and a cup are not so different.

OTOH, I found it fairly easy to make the switch from Fahrenheit to Celsius for some reason, and understand weather in terms of the latter.

 

[skatefan]

We use acres in the UK or hectares if the area is larger - a hectare is roughly 2.5 acres.

 

[Angelskates]

Australia is hectares.

Property area is still often in acres, though. When I bought my houses (and was looking), I was always told the acreage of the block.

 

[Really]

@Jenny...I would think it might be prudent to use the measurement most commonly used by the intended audience of the document regarding of the location being discussed. However, keeping the alternate conversion in parentheses following the measurements may not be a bad idea. Of course, this is only my opinion.

As for what grocery stores put on their pricing in Canada, I think largely depends on the store management. In the stores I frequent, pricing is per kilogram/gram/etc. I grew up being taught imperial measure, but I'm finally at the point where I think of temperature and travel distance in metric, although I tend to transfer that distance into time required -- Calgary is just over 2 hours away. Most people I know use imperial for body measurements, and land measurements are still usually advertised in acres rather than hectares. Carpenter/trades tools can be purchased in both metric and imperial -- we have a set of both wrenches in our garage.

I agree with those who say we really only hang onto the imperial measures we use because the US still uses imperial.

 

[emason]

Back when I was in college there were two new dorm counsellors on my floor. They asked me how far it was from campus into town. I automatically responded that it was a 20-25 minute walk. The New Yorker chimed in that she was expecting an answer in terms of city blocks, and the one from Minnesota was surprised she didn't get an answer in miles.