"Dave Smith" > wrote:
> wff_ng_7 wrote:
>> ingrained in my mind. I've got the constants 2.54 and 454 imprinted in my
>> mind
>> just as strongly as 3.14. Then there's the approximations that come
>> naturally: a
>> quart and a liter, a meter and a yard, a pound and half a kilogram, a mile
>> and
>> two kilometers. So I can get a rough feel for things very quickly.
>
>
> I stopped that a long time ago. When I am at the butcher shop I am more
> likely to ask for a half kilo than a pound.

But I can't stop doing it because most things in daily life are not metric in
the USA. I have to deal with both systems. My internal "scales" have to be set
to Imperial measurements by default. There are items where my default is metric,
like buying wine or spirits. I don't think quarts or gallons when I buy wine,
just as I don't think liters when I buy milk. There are probably other things I
deal with similarly in the length and weight domains, but I can't think of them
off the top of my head.

--
wff_ng_7 (at) verizon (dot) net