Americans will use almost anything except the metric system to measure something.
Football fields.
The height of the Empire State Building.
Entire refrigerators.
And a temperature scale that has water freezing at 32 degrees and boiling at 212.
They are odd.
Inconsistent.
And, annoyingly… right.
Apart from the temperature thing, which is objectively stupid.
Because despite centuries of scientific progress and international standardisation, human beings do not actually experience measurement mathematically.
We experience it emotionally.
Nobody emotionally understands:
- 137 kilometres,
- 85 miles,
- or 22 leagues.
We understand:
- “that’s nearby,”
- “that’s a whole day,”
- and “absolutely fucking not.”
Which is why New Zealanders measure distance in time.
Not:
“Wellington is 440 kilometres away.”
But:
“about six hours if the traffic through Tirau behaves itself.”
Which is honestly far more useful information.
No New Zealander has ever answered:
“How far away is Taupō?”
with:
“278 kilometres.”
The correct response is:
“Oh… about three and a half hours.”
Potentially four if:
- somebody overturns a caravan,
- the Desert Road closes,
- or a farmer has made another confident decision involving livestock and State Highway 1.
And honestly, this may be the most psychologically honest measurement system humanity has ever devised.
Because when somebody says:
“it’s about three hours away,”
you immediately understand the important information.
Not the distance.
The commitment.
Anyway.
Measurements are basically vibes.