The metric system is used in Italy. Kilos and metres. Here in the UK we've had metric for a long time and are used to it now, though we still use Imperial quite a lot. This can make for confusion when I visit over there, for instance when in a car looking at the speedometer it can be a little frightening for a few seconds when thinking 'whoops, we're going 120 miles per hour when really it's 120 kilometers per hour meaning it's only 74 mph.
Equally it can be disheartening looking at your kilogram weight when used to metric, 9 stone shows up as 57 kilos. Actually, it's far more sensible and seems to me to be more precise than Imperil, it's just odd when you don't use it day to day.
Italy went Euro in 2002. This made for a more efficient method of money. Instead of thousands of lira to buy anything it's now only a few euro. A bag of pasta could cost (equivalent to today's prices) 1,200 lira, now it would cost approximate 1 1/2 euros. Things would go into the millions instead of the thousands they do now. Imagine a house costing millions and millions of lira, frightening. It took a while for a lot of Italians to adapt to the the change but they did eventually, though there has been a call to change it back recently.
3 comments:
I remember learning the metric system here in the states when I was in elementary school (over 30 years ago...yikes) when they said we'd be switching over...never happened!
In Canada we officially use the metric system, but people still tend to use imperial for height and weight. I have no explanation LOL It's just what we do.
Andrea, Wonder why that didn't happen, especially after getting the schools to teach it.
Rhonda, it's the same here in the UK, although things are changing so it's all mixed up a bit. Few more years needed for everyone to stick to metric, I think.
Post a Comment