When will English do "great spelling shift"?

Travis   Mon Jun 15, 2009 7:24 am GMT
>><<even those that some have claimed needed subtitling (such as in Trainspotting - for being so unintelligible, it was not problematic at all to me). >>

Here's a clip with a strong Scots accent. Even with the guidance of the subitles, I can't understand much of what this guy is saying:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v1jmVvF4gM&feature=channel_page

Here's a problematic US Accent, although more intelligible than the Scottish accent:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGcWNI6TyXg

This one almost sounds like English.<<

I could not understand either, actually.

Of course, then, I often cannot understand the AAVE spoken by many here in Milwaukee - I can often generally make out the individual words being said (I think), but yet very often I have no clue as to what is actually meant, even when I listen carefully.
Retarded Measurement Syst   Mon Jun 15, 2009 8:05 am GMT
I think Americans should adopt the metric system and the celcius temperature before the spelling reform.

The rest of the world uses the metric system and how come they still use the archaic measurement system?
Freedom Fries   Mon Jun 15, 2009 1:41 pm GMT
The metric system was invented by the French and USA don't need to use French things.
Metric Rules!   Mon Jun 15, 2009 2:26 pm GMT
<The metric system was invented by the French and USA don't need to use French things.>

Then US Americans should speak AMERICAN instead of English. The whole world uses much easier and more logical system called the metric system.
Fahrenheit   Mon Jun 15, 2009 2:49 pm GMT
>> The rest of the world uses the metric system and how come they still use the archaic measurement system? <<

It would cost taxpayer money to do that. Why don't you donate a few hundred billion to our government to do that, and we might consider it. Otherwise there is no way that anyone would give up their hard-earned money to have to learn a new confusing system. Besides the metric system isn't that great. I can easily visualize an inch, but a centimeter is just too small to use for anything useful. As for Celsius, it's much less precise than Fahrenheit, and Fahrenheit is much more reasonable to use. Celsius is based on the freezing and boiling points of water, which really don't matter very much. Fahrenheit is much more logical. You just have to remember a few things. In the summer, almost every day will be in the 70s as the maximum temperature. The hottest part of the summer will be in the mid to high 70s, and the coldest part, like June, will be in the low 70s. Overnight in the summer the minimum temperature will be in the 50s. Very occasionally it will get up into 60s, but I can't remember a single day when it got hotter than that. See how easy the Fahrenheit system is? An average summer day is 75F/55F. If it gets cooler than that, then it is obviously a rainy day. If it gets warmer than that, you know there will be very little humidity, and there will be plentiful sunshine. In the winter, the highs are in the high 40s, lows are in the high 30s. It's that simple.

Or you can learn it by comfort benchmarks:
60s-70s: T-shirt and shorts weather. Quite comfortable.
80s+: rare, but extremely hot and dry
40s-50s: Very cold, probably raining
35-40s: bitterly cold, probably raining.
Celcius   Mon Jun 15, 2009 4:10 pm GMT
Inches are much less precise than centimeters and I can easily visualize a centimeter as well.
How do you convert 6 inches to feet?
How do you convert 5000 feet to miles without a calculator?
With the metric system, all you need to do is moving decimals.

I bet you live on the west coast of the US where the temperatures are generally mild throughout the year.
In the places like Chicago or Boston, the temperature gets over 90s in the summer and below 20s in the winter!!

FYI, you can learn celcius temperatures by comfort benchmarks:
40+: extremely rare, super-hot, summer in the desert or Africa
30s-40s: hot, typical summer temperatures.
20s-30s: T-shirt and shorts weather. Quite comfortable. (Californian Weather)
10s-20s: cool weather, still pleasant unless you wear shorts
0-10s: cold (hard to experience in California)
below 0: very cold (we can get snow when the temperature is below 0)
below -10: bitterly cold
below -20: extremely cold, winter in Minnesota, Maine or Quebec.

If the archaic measurement system and the Fahrenheit are that superior, why do US scientists and professional engineers use the Metric system and celcisus temperatures?
nonmetric   Mon Jun 15, 2009 4:57 pm GMT
<<With the metric system, all you need to do is moving decimals.>>

The problem with the metric system is that they only go halfway. Why use "kilometers per hour" when it should really be "meters per second"? Why use centimeters instead of millimeters? I suppose we should really be using degrees kelvin rather than celsius (or centigrade), too.

In fact, a system based on the mass of the electron (or proton), the speed of light, the age and radius of the universe (or something else of a pervasive nature), etc. would be much more universal.
saIbQk   Mon Jun 15, 2009 5:17 pm GMT
>> In fact, a system based on the mass of the electron (or proton) the speed of light, the age and radius of the universe (or something else of a pervasive nature), etc. would be much more universal <<

I agree. Such a system would be even more obscure than the metric system. Why don't you invent such a system, and see if the UFP would approve it.
WRP   Tue Jun 16, 2009 1:20 am GMT
"Or you can learn it by comfort benchmarks:
60s-70s: T-shirt and shorts weather. Quite comfortable.
80s+: rare, but extremely hot and dry
40s-50s: Very cold, probably raining
35-40s: bitterly cold, probably raining."

Your weather world is clearly not my weather world. 40s and 50s being very cold is crazy talk. Most of that isn't even coat weather. And since when is does it have to be dry to be over 80? Ever been to Florida in summer?
blanc   Tue Jun 16, 2009 2:46 am GMT
<<The problem with the metric system is that they only go halfway. Why use "kilometers per hour" when it should really be "meters per second"? Why use centimeters instead of millimeters? I suppose we should really be using degrees kelvin rather than celsius (or centigrade), too.
>>


In many countries they do use meters per second, like Russia.
Celsius is Kelvin shifted upwards so that 0 is freezing point, other than that there's no difference.



<<In fact, a system based on the mass of the electron (or proton), the speed of light, the age and radius of the universe (or something else of a pervasive nature), etc. would be much more universal. >>


The metre is the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second
Fahrenheit   Tue Jun 16, 2009 3:57 am GMT
>> And since when is does it have to be dry to be over 80? Ever been to Florida in summer? <<

No, I've never been to Florida. But at least here, if it gets over 80, it's almost certainly the summer. And of course rain is very rare in the Summer. How can it rain with no clouds? Winter is the time for rain.
Celcius   Tue Jun 16, 2009 3:13 pm GMT
@ Fahrenheit
Since you live on the west coast.
30+: rare on the west coast, very hot
20s-30s: T-shirt and shorts weather. (typical summer in California)
10s-20s: pleasantly cool (spring and fall in California)
0-10s: cold
below 0: very cold, rare on the west coast (you can expect snow when the temperature is below 0; how easy!)

I don't find any inferiority on Celcius temperatures.

21 degrees celcius(69.8F) and 22 degrees celcius(71.6F) don't make much difference.
So I don't think it's fair to say that the Celcius isn't very precise.
It's precise enough to use for daily lives.
Plus, once you get used to Celcius temperatures, it'll make your travel easier when you go overseas as you can approximate what the weather would be like.
Fahrenheit   Tue Jun 16, 2009 3:47 pm GMT
Wow, I guess the Celcius scale isn't that difficult after all, when it's explained like that rather than having to memorize long tables and complex formulae.. Right now it's around 20 degrees C here. Sure makes it sound cold though...

Do they use exclusively Celcius in Britain though? Or is Fahrenheit still there sometimes? When I went to Canada, I noticed that they usually still include both, but the C temp is listed first. How about in Australia and New Zealand and South Africa?
positivity   Tue Jun 16, 2009 3:52 pm GMT
Fahrenheit is really convenient for weather, since temperatures are almost always between 0 and 100 (around here):

>100 damn hot
90-100 real hot
80-90 hot
70-80 warm
60-70 nice
50-60 refreshing
40-50 cool
30-40 chilly
20-30 cold
10-20 very cold
0-10 real cold
<0 damn cold

(The absolute range around here is 107F to -30F, but more than 99% of the time it's between 0-100). With Celsius, the temperature's below 0 too much of the time.
Seattle   Tue Jun 16, 2009 4:06 pm GMT
>> (The absolute range around here is 107F to -30F, but more than 99% of the time it's between 0-100). With Celsius, the temperature's below 0 too much of the time <<

It's perfect for Seattle, because our lowest official temp was 0, and our highest 100. I can't even imagine -30 degrees. Anything below 30 is really rare here. The summers can occasionally get hot, but since we have no humidity in the summer, everyone loves to be outside on a 95 degree day, as it feels quite refreshing.