Written February 13, 2025
Hello Dear Readers,
It was the best of systems, it was the worst of systems. It was logical, it was absurd. It was based on science, it was based on the whims of some 18th-century guy named Fahrenheit. It was Metric, it was Imperial.
And somehow, my wife and I are stuck between the two.
Winter has been playing an unpredictable game of hopscotch with the thermometer, bouncing wildly between tolerable and arctic. Fortunately, these erratic shifts seem to have synchronized—however unintentionally—with my running schedule. Today? A day of icy misery. Tomorrow? Warmer. But today, I don’t have to go outside, so the cold is merely an interesting fact rather than a personal threat.
My wife, however, was not so lucky this morning. She sprang out of bed, eager to check the temperature, brimming with optimism. And then, as she puts it, the betrayal hit her like an unexpected mouthful of wasabi.
Her tragic error? She read 13 degrees on the thermometer and—being half-asleep and still loyal to Celsius—assumed it meant a reasonable 13°C (55°F). Reality? A bone-chilling 28°F (-5°C). Her reaction? She said it felt like eating horseradish straight from the jar.
In her defense, it was still dark outside, and after a lifetime spent in countries that use a rational temperature system, she remains skeptical—if not outright resentful—of Fahrenheit. And honestly? Who can blame her?
The United States still clings to the Fahrenheit scale, an inheritance from 18th-century Britain. The twist? Britain abandoned it. By the mid-20th century, they embraced Celsius, while the U.S. refused to budge. In 1975, Congress even passed the Metric Conversion Act, an ambitious attempt to drag America into the modern world. The result? Nothing happened. People ignored it, businesses shrugged, and the government lost interest.
Today, only three countries still use Fahrenheit:
- The United States
- Liberia
- The Cayman Islands
That’s our elite club. Not exactly a strong case for sticking with it.
My wife, being Canadian, has lived through a uniquely baffling hybrid system. Canada officially switched to metric in the late 20th century, but instead of fully committing, they decided to… dabble. Schools taught the metric system, but somehow, people still measured their height in feet and inches. Gasoline is sold in liters, but are things at Home Depot? Inches and feet. And building codes? That’s where things get truly absurd.
While attempting to build a shed, my wife discovered that Canadian construction codes measure length and width in Imperial but height in Metric. Apparently, consistency is overrated.
And so, every winter morning, my wife is forced to perform a mental gymnastics routine—converting temperatures, translating measurements, and questioning why humans ever thought two separate systems were a good idea. I, meanwhile, will be indoors, watching this comedy of errors unfold with a hot drink in hand.
Because when it comes to winter survival, the best strategy is knowing when to stay inside.