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Thread: Weights and Measures in Canada

  1. #1
    Stegodon
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    Default Weights and Measures in Canada

    Up until a few weeks ago, I assumed that most Canadians used the metric system, except for perhaps some elderly folks that were "too old to learn those newfangled measures" (or what have you).

    However, thanks to the magic of the Internet, I've been recently started watching a Canadian TV show called Being Erica. The show is about a girl named Erica who, with the assistance of an imaginary and\or mystical psychiatrist, can go back in time to fix problems in her past (the gimmick is that she usually goes back in time and makes it worse, at least at first). The show is set in the present day. Erica is either 32 or 34, I forget which.

    But here's the thing: every time someone on the show uses a unit of measurement, it's always in Imperial measurements. A pregnant friend said that she'd "gained 30 pounds" during her pregnancy; another character said that she needed to lose "a few pounds". And I just watched an episode where Erica is showing a new assistant how to make coffee for their (very) picky boss; Erica told her to make sure that the milk was at "180 degrees" (which I assume is Fahrenheit, since 180C would be 365F).

    So... what's the dealio with weights and measures in Canada? I know this is just a TV show, and TV shows don't always reflect reality... but, to flip it around, it would seem very odd for an American show like say, Sex and the City to use nothing but metric measures in a show for an American audience.

    Do large numbers of Canadians still use Imperial\British\US measurements? Or is Canada like England in that they use metric for some things (like buying bananas by the kilo) and Imperial for "personal" measurements (like height and weight)?

    FWIW, the show is made in Canada by Canadians. If it matters, it's set in Toronto.

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Weights and Measures in Canada

    While Canada may technically be a metric country, in reality, like many things here, we are a hybrid of the American and European way of doing things.

    The examples you give from the show seem consistent with Canadian reality. As you guessed, personal heights and weights are in Imperial. Same with anything to with cooking\baking. Fahrenheit, cups, pounds, etc. are all in use there. So that would cover the bottle-warming case.

    Things we do use metric pretty much across the board for are: distances between places, the temperature outside, and buying produce.

    There is not necessarily any rhyme or reason: pop (soda?) is in litres. but beer comes in pints! No one ever said it was easy being Canadian :wink:

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Weights and Measures in Canada

    When I go to the doctor my height and weight are measured using the metric system but I always convert to pounds in my head. I was just finishing school when we went to the metric system so do still tend to convert in my head. I think they are using the Imperial system deliberately to appeal to American viewers.
    The details of my life and how I'm trying to improve it: Donkey In A White Coat
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    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Weights and Measures in Canada

    Quote Originally posted by Canuck_Kat
    I think they are using the Imperial system deliberately to appeal to American viewers.
    But, as I said, it's a Canadian show written by Canadians. It seems odd to me that the producers would say "OK, there's a 60% chance this show might be picked up by an American cable network, so let's use Yankee measurements to please the 150,000 American viewers we might get in the US, versus the 600,000 viewers we have here at home".

    To use my earlier analogy, it would be like the producers of Sex and the City saying "since there's a good chance this show will be exported to Canada, let's use metric instead of Imperial".

  5. #5
    Oliphaunt featherlou's avatar
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    Default Re: Weights and Measures in Canada

    Quote Originally posted by tunaman
    <snip>
    FWIW, the show is made in Canada by Canadians. If it matters, it's set in Toronto.
    Since you seem interested in things Canadian, I'll let you in on a secret - it's a show made in Toronto by Torontonians by the Toronto network (that people pretend is the Canadian national network). There are some shows not set in Toronto and not made by Torontonians (but not many); the most successful Canadian show ever is one of them - Corner Gas. "Being Erica" may be trying to appeal to American viewers, but I doubt it.

    That said, we use a mix of metric and imperial. We are officially metric across the board; realistically in our every day lives, we know our weight and heights in pounds and feet, we measure temperature outside in celsius and in the oven in fahrenheit, and short distances by feet and yards and centimeters and meters and longer ones by kilometer; liquids are usually in millilitres (mls) or litres. To make it even more interesting, we usually measure travel distances by hours - as in, it's nine hours from here to Regina, and three hours from here to Radium Hot Springs. It's kind of like the uses for the word "eh" - you just get a feel for these things. Does that clear things up?

  6. #6
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Weights and Measures in Canada

    Quote Originally posted by featherlou
    it's a show made in Toronto by Torontonians by the Toronto network (that people pretend is the Canadian national network).
    Sooooo.. "the Toronto network" = the CBC?

  7. #7
    Oliphaunt featherlou's avatar
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    Default Re: Weights and Measures in Canada

    Quote Originally posted by tunaman
    Quote Originally posted by featherlou
    it's a show made in Toronto by Torontonians by the Toronto network (that people pretend is the Canadian national network).
    Sooooo.. "the Toronto network" = the CBC?
    Pretty much. They pretend that they are a national network, but the attitude is Toronto first, and we'll get around to the rest of Canada if we have time. It's actually better when they set their shows in Toronto because it's embarrassing/patronizing when they try to set it anywhere else in Canada (and it still comes out feeling like Toronto).

  8. #8
    Oliphaunt dread pirate jimbo's avatar
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    Default Re: Weights and Measures in Canada

    In the construction industry up here, most of the blueprints are in metric, usually measured in millimetres, which means we're building 40-storey towers with height measurements of, like 109,728mm. BUT, some drawings (especially interior fit-outs, for some reason) are frequently in imperial. And then, of course, is the problem that so much of our material comes from the States, so we're using 2x4s for stud work and 4x8 sheets of plywood and drywall, etc... So everyone carries a tape measure with feet and inches on one side and metric on the other for quick translation. When providing information to people, I'm constantly giving out both the imperial and the metric measurements. It's a bit of a hassle, needless to say! So, 30 years later or whatever it is, we are still very much a country in transition from one system of measurement to another and kinda stuck with both.
    Hell is other people.

  9. #9
    Stegodon
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    Default Re: Weights and Measures in Canada

    Quote Originally posted by featherlou
    It's actually better when they set their shows in Toronto because it's embarrassing/patronizing when they try to set it anywhere else in Canada (and it still comes out feeling like Toronto).
    Ahhhhh... I get it. It's like most any US TV show set in the South, then?

  10. #10
    Oliphaunt dread pirate jimbo's avatar
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    Default Re: Weights and Measures in Canada

    Quote Originally posted by tunaman
    Quote Originally posted by featherlou
    It's actually better when they set their shows in Toronto because it's embarrassing/patronizing when they try to set it anywhere else in Canada (and it still comes out feeling like Toronto).
    Ahhhhh... I get it. It's like most any US TV show set in the South, then?
    Hang on a second. I hope you're not suggesting that Hollywood is out of touch with the realities of existence outside of their tiny little navel-gazing universe. Because that would shake my world view down to its very foundations!
    Hell is other people.

  11. #11
    Oliphaunt featherlou's avatar
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    Default Re: Weights and Measures in Canada

    Quote Originally posted by tunaman
    Quote Originally posted by featherlou
    It's actually better when they set their shows in Toronto because it's embarrassing/patronizing when they try to set it anywhere else in Canada (and it still comes out feeling like Toronto).
    Ahhhhh... I get it. It's like most any US TV show set in the South, then?
    Yes, I imagine it's much like that. You'd have to actually go to the place you're depicting once in a while, or hire people from that place and listen to them, and none of that is going to happen any time soon.

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