huh, guess there's dumb people from all over the world

[gorcorps]

 

[TheSlamma]

http://lamar.colostate.edu/~hillger/internat.htm#united_kingdom



So perhaps she didn't "grow up with the metric system" after all.

For stupidity, Americans are rather tough to beat.

Crikey.. beat by countries that arrest you for insults against religion even.

Well that sad story aside, I've been to my fair share of other countries and I have to say, when you get past all the culture hub-bub people really are just people.

 

[DirkGently1]

For thinking that stupidity is somehow unique to one particular race or nation, the OP has proven himself to be typically American.

 

[Monster_Munch]

Brits are probably the worst in the world when it comes to units of measurement. Since we use an idiotic twisted combination of both metric and imperial units. Eg, we buy petrol by the litre, but fuel economy is still measured in miles per gallon. Unless it's CO2 emissions, then we measure in grams per kilometre. And I think we're the only country in the world that measures the weight of a person in stones.

 

[freegeeks]

Fuck Europe.

How's Greece doing there? Or for that matter, Spain, Ireland or Portugal?

like crap and believe me a great deal of us wants nothing else to boot them out of the EU!!!! They can go back to their drachmes and pesetas and ruin their failed states even more!!!!

 

[Colt45]

Brits are probably the worst in the world when it comes to units of measurement. Since we use an idiotic twisted combination of both metric and imperial units. Eg, we buy petrol by the litre, but fuel economy is still measured in miles per gallon. Unless it's CO2 emissions, then we measure in grams per kilometre. And I think we're the only country in the world that measures the weight of a person in stones.

We do that too, minus the stones.

Mulroney kinda atrophied metrication. among other massive failures.

Since I live in BFE, where the land was originally cut up in nice half mile squares, older folk still use miles for distance a lot, and young rednecks.

Due to my superior intellect I can handle both systems fine. :awe:

 

[PlasmaBomb]

She's English and 40+? then she didnt grow up with the metric system....

/Thread

This.

:hmm:

Metric units have been taught in UK schools since the late 1960s (and exclusively since 1974),

2011 - 1974 = 37

If she's 40+ ... she grew up learning metric.

/Hal9000Fail

Nope... I wasn't even born in the 70's and learnt both metric and imperial because imperial measurements were still in common use...

Hal is even younger and I'll be he was taught some imperial measures...

Late 40's is old enough that she would have completed most of her primary school education using imperial -

48 yrs old = born 1963
Age in 1974 = 11

At 11 she would have finished primary school and moved up to secondary.

 

[Murloc]

Fuck Europe.

How's Greece doing there? Or for that matter, Spain, Ireland or Portugal?

How's mexico doing there?
cutting some heads?

 

[Drekce]

Why do people think that because many Europeans speak multiple languages they are "smarter" than others? It is simply a matter of geography for them. There are a bunch of countries that speak different languages in a relatively small area. I'm sure that if different languages were spoken in various regions of the US many of us would be bi-lingual as well. This is actually happening with Spanish.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

americans are stupid and generally don't give a fuck. europeans are stupid and can't shut the fuck up about how stupid americans are.

 

[MegaVovaN]

How's mexico doing there?
cutting some heads?

At least the US is not bailing out Mexico all the time

 

[Drekce]

At least the US is not bailing out Mexico all the time

Ummm, Mexico is not a part of the United States. Greece is a part of the EU.

 

[GotIssues]

Why do people think that because many Europeans speak multiple languages they are "smarter" than others? It is simply a matter of geography for them. There are a bunch of countries that speak different languages in a relatively small area. I'm sure that if different languages were spoken in various regions of the US many of us would be bi-lingual as well. This is actually happening with Spanish.

For a good chunk of the US, you can go 500 miles (804.67 km) in any direction, and they still speak English as a primary language. A 500 mi (804.67 km) radius in most of Europe, and you'll see upwards of 3+ languages. Add in the fact that the international language of business is English, and Americans don't have the same necessity as Europeans to learn another language.

Even those that DO learn another language (I actually technically learned 2 others, forgotten most of both), the fact that they are almost never used, they are slowly forgotten over the years.

 

[grrl]

Only an idiot would think there aren't stupid people all over the world.

 

[HAL9000]

Hal is even younger and I'll bet he was taught some imperial measures...

You'd win that bet.

 

[SamQuint]

Hal where is your avatar/pic?

 

[AstroManLuca]

British people are more able to hide their stupidity because of the accent. In the US at least, a lot of people think British accent = smart while southern drawl = stupid.

 

[HAL9000]

British people are more able to hide their stupidity because of the accent. In the US at least, a lot of people think British accent = smart while southern drawl = stupid.

Do you mean English accents? I'm pretty sure the stereotype is English accents are smart.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Do you mean English accents? I'm pretty sure the stereotype is English accents are smart.

Yes, I should have said English. I don't think most people in the US know what a Welsh accent sounds like and Scottish accents do not carry the same connotation at all.

 

[Aikouka]

And I think we're the only country in the world that measures the weight of a person in stones.

I've always found that odd. Even worse that a stone wasn't always the same amount depending on what you were weighing (given that it wasn't always used for people).

 

[HAL9000]

Yes, I should have said English. I don't think most people in the US know what a Welsh accent sounds like and Scottish accents do not carry the same connotation at all.

That's fair. Just curious.

 

[HAL9000]

I've always found that odd. Even worse that a stone wasn't always the same amount depending on what you were weighing (given that it wasn't always used for people).

I don't know why Americans find stones odd, I find it far weirder that americans measure weight in pounds, it's like measuring height in inches without using feet.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I don't know why Americans find stones odd, I find it far weirder that americans measure weight in pounds, it's like measuring height in inches without using feet.

I find it weird that any English people think they're justified in making fun of Americans for using Imperial measurements when they use all sorts of Imperial measurements themselves (miles per hour, miles per gallon, stones).

 

[HAL9000]

I find it weird that any English people think they're justified in making fun of Americans for using Imperial measurements when they use all sorts of Imperial measurements themselves (miles per hour, miles per gallon, stones).

Who's making fun of americans for using Imperial measurements?

 

[Aikouka]

I don't know why Americans find stones odd, I find it far weirder that americans measure weight in pounds, it's like measuring height in inches without using feet.

It just seems weird that you'd use a different representation of measurement (stones) for a single type of weight (people). Although, like I mentioned... it was used for a lot more back in the day (trading and such).

I'm not sure that it'd be completely odd to talk about height in inches... the numbers would be larger, but that's about it. The only advantage to use Feet + Inches is that you gain an easy differentiator to know higher or lower. I'm 6'1", and if you said, "Oh, I'm 5'...", I would immediately know that I'm taller than you without even hearing the inches. Albeit, that doesn't really matter... I'm 73" tall and if you said you were 67" tall, I would know that you're shorter than me as well .

Maybe it's just because we're lazy and don't want to do the math in our heads .