Units are Important

The amount of new snow is always important to skiers as it helps decide if it is worth it calling in sick for the day because of new snow. It also helps to know how cold it is at the ski resort. Both measurements require units of measure. If I say it is 22 degrees outside, that is a bit ambiguous. Is the unit of measure Fahrenheit or Celsius? If it is 22 degrees Fahrenheit, that is cold. In Celsius, it is downright pleasant.

This year we have had a skimpy snow year and so I have decided to list all new snow measurements in millimeters. Why? Because the numbers sound much better. Instead of saying we have about half an inch of new snow, the same amount can be described by 12 millimeters. The number 12 is much bigger than one half. Yes, they mean the same thing because of units but the larger number makes me feel like there is more snow in the mountains.

There are a lot of areas in our lives where we leave off units because it is implied. If I stand on the scale, I can tell my wife that I am down to 159 and she knows that my weight is in pounds and not kilograms. Sure I could throw her for a loop and say that I am down to 72 but she is not familiar with kilograms and would tell me we need to fix the scale.

Miles per hour is another such measurement. If you want to impress your friends, you could say that your GPS watch clocked you skiing at 91. After all, that is my highest speed yesterday skiing but the units of measure are in kilometers per hour and everyone in the United States would assume I meant miles per hour. In reality I hit 57 miles per hour yesterday which is normal for a given day of skiing.

As one of those people that went through high school and college learning both imperial measurements as well as the metric system, I think I am going to leave off units in my stories and use numbers that are the most impressive. I will convert all skiing speeds to kilometers per hour and just leave off the units.

You do have to be careful when you leave off the units of measure as it could cause some people to panic. Make the numbers look too good and people will think you are sick or just a chronic liar. If you tell someone you like going to the beach when it is 30 degrees outside and they might think you are a polar bear if you mean degrees Celsius but everyone else is thinking in degrees Fahrenheit. Now I know why I would get my homework problems wrong when I left off the units of measure in the answer.