2000-11-10
>... I tell people that my house is 150 m from the corner on the
north side of the road and I usually get a blank look in return.
And this is the kind of stupid reaction that REALLY ticks me off!
!#$$%%@#$%^ Indeed! This does happen a lot.
Even if you told them in FFU, they still would not understand how far to go.
They might not give you a funny look, only because the FFU tickles their
ear. And since you can't measure in yards or feet with an FFU odometer
people have avoided using this tool. Even with 20 plus years of Canada
being metric in highways, the odometer still must not be used even if you
can find metres on it in the form of tenths of kilometres.
As Greg mentioned earlier, people find places by landmarks. Go down this
street until you see the BP station on the right side and turn down that
street until you see the McDonalds and etc., etc. If you give people
directions using units, they will wait until you are out of their site and
then ask someone else. It never fails. People are measurement innumerate.
>...Nobody uses their odometer or trip-odometer to measure
distances in the city.
>...
Now, this one comes to me as a huge surprise! By golly, aren't
odometers supposed to be used for that purpose??? If someone says
24 km to a certain place, how can one *be sure* to find it without
the use of an instrument. Do people have such "mind accuracy"
that they could dispense with the instrument? On the other hand,
this would explain why I still hear so many around here talking
about distances in miles (IRK!)... :-(
You may hear it but don't be assured people know what it means. The word
just tickles the ear. Ask someone the next time they say miles, exactly how
far that is? Even go as far as saying your odometer is in kilometres and
you want to know how many kilometres it is so you can use your odometer to
measure it. Also ask, how they know how far to go when someone tells them
miles and their odometers are in kilometres? How do they get the distance
right? And last, how do they work in miles with no tool to measure it by,
or the only tool available is in kilometres? Why bother with something you
can't accurately measure? I'd love to hear how someone would weasel out on
these answers.
Also, people are dumb! If "some" people can't understand how a ballot
works, even with a BIG ARROW pointing right at the correct hole, how do you
expect them to know how to measure in any unit?
John
Marcus
Angelfire for your free web-based e-mail. http://www.angelfire.com
