I think “a mile” is a holdover from the use of that system of measurement previously. It’s a colloquial means of describing distance. It’s not meant to be a literal measurement. It just means a distance that is long enough to be of significance. A physical understanding of it, not a measuring tape. When I hear someone in the US say “about half a mile” when talking about a distance I don’t think they are being literal.
Also, you should probably know that 300 to 400 meters is less (obviously so) than 0.5 miles. A meter is just a few inches shorter longer than a yard. For short distances and “about” language like this you can just use them interchangeably.
Someone using different units “miles” and “yards” in the US would not have all confused Americans. Even though those units are different and not easily comparable by a mathematical factor. 1760 yards in a mile. Really meaningful /s
This is just common colloquial means of speaking and “a mile” is just a holdover from historical use of the term. “A kilometer” just doesn’t roll of the tongue as nicely.
Edit: I said shorter instead of longer. Sorry internet.
It is, in fact, the other way around. A meter is 3’ 3"(ish) - close enough to 3" bigger that it makes no difference to John Doe. It does make a difference when being accurate for reasons of course.
If you want to comfirm it, without resorting to fundamental definitions (uk imperial), 1000m is 5 furlongs to within a couple of inches. There are 220 yards in a furlong so 1100 yards in 5 furlongs, therefore yards are shorter than meters.
Why use furlongs? Because a handy short conversion is 1km= 5/8 of a mile and a furlong is exactly 1/8 of a mile.
Yes. My comment was entirely about the unit difference and not at all about the colloquial use of units when estimating distance visually. /s
The person didn’t measure the distance dude. They used a range from 300-400 meters. This isn’t about being accurate. It’s about giving someone a sense of scale. 300-400 yards gives that same sense of scale. If it was accurate the estimate wouldn’t have a 100m range.
That was the entire point of my comment. That someone that doesn’t have the sense of scale of what a “meter” is can easily understand that scale by knowing “a yard is few inches less than a meter”
Like, you can’t “confidently incorrect” my comment when you missed the entire point of it.
A yard is a fundamental unit of measure that people, who don’t have a sense of scale for meters, can understand. And vice versa.
No one has a colloquial understanding of the distance of a furlong. Are you saying they do?
Dude, you literally said a meter is a few inches shorter than a yard. That is completely incorrect in any context, wether measuring accurately or illustrating orders of distance.
I mean you could have said “oops my bad i meant a meter is a bit longer than a yard” and i could have said “my dude, you are mistaken about the size of a meter” but its t’internet i guess.
Btw many people have jobs that depend on them knowing how long a furlong is… Ask any racing horse trainer or jockey.
You could have also said “I think you reversed that. It’s a few inches longer than a yard” instead of being a dickhead. Especially when the point of the comment is about absolute difference, where which is larger does not factor.
Yes, I meant to say “a meter is a few inches more than a yard”
See how I didn’t even realize that I reversed it because you were so bad at communicating it?
See how it being more or less didn’t actually matter to the point I was making in my original comment? Whether it was a few inches more or less doesn’t actually matter to the point of the comment. The point is that they are close enough to give an approximate equivalent when speaking about visually approximating a distance?
Are you the person that screams at the barista for giving you a Large Americano and a Small Latte when you asked for a Small Americano and a Large latte? Do you tell “oh my God you made my drink wrong!” Or do you calmly say “hi, I think you reversed the size of the drinks. My friend wanted a large latte.”
I think “a mile” is a holdover from the use of that system of measurement previously. It’s a colloquial means of describing distance. It’s not meant to be a literal measurement. It just means a distance that is long enough to be of significance. A physical understanding of it, not a measuring tape. When I hear someone in the US say “about half a mile” when talking about a distance I don’t think they are being literal.
Also, you should probably know that 300 to 400 meters is less (obviously so) than 0.5 miles. A meter is just a few inches
shorterlonger than a yard. For short distances and “about” language like this you can just use them interchangeably.Someone using different units “miles” and “yards” in the US would not have all confused Americans. Even though those units are different and not easily comparable by a mathematical factor. 1760 yards in a mile. Really meaningful /s
This is just common colloquial means of speaking and “a mile” is just a holdover from historical use of the term. “A kilometer” just doesn’t roll of the tongue as nicely.
Edit: I said shorter instead of longer. Sorry internet.
True candidate for “confidently wrong”.
It is, in fact, the other way around. A meter is 3’ 3"(ish) - close enough to 3" bigger that it makes no difference to John Doe. It does make a difference when being accurate for reasons of course.
If you want to comfirm it, without resorting to fundamental definitions (uk imperial), 1000m is 5 furlongs to within a couple of inches. There are 220 yards in a furlong so 1100 yards in 5 furlongs, therefore yards are shorter than meters.
Why use furlongs? Because a handy short conversion is 1km= 5/8 of a mile and a furlong is exactly 1/8 of a mile.
Yes. My comment was entirely about the unit difference and not at all about the colloquial use of units when estimating distance visually. /s
The person didn’t measure the distance dude. They used a range from 300-400 meters. This isn’t about being accurate. It’s about giving someone a sense of scale. 300-400 yards gives that same sense of scale. If it was accurate the estimate wouldn’t have a 100m range.
That was the entire point of my comment. That someone that doesn’t have the sense of scale of what a “meter” is can easily understand that scale by knowing “a yard is few inches less than a meter”
Like, you can’t “confidently incorrect” my comment when you missed the entire point of it.
A yard is a fundamental unit of measure that people, who don’t have a sense of scale for meters, can understand. And vice versa.
No one has a colloquial understanding of the distance of a furlong. Are you saying they do?
Dude, you literally said a meter is a few inches shorter than a yard. That is completely incorrect in any context, wether measuring accurately or illustrating orders of distance.
I mean you could have said “oops my bad i meant a meter is a bit longer than a yard” and i could have said “my dude, you are mistaken about the size of a meter” but its t’internet i guess.
Btw many people have jobs that depend on them knowing how long a furlong is… Ask any racing horse trainer or jockey.
You could have also said “I think you reversed that. It’s a few inches longer than a yard” instead of being a dickhead. Especially when the point of the comment is about absolute difference, where which is larger does not factor.
Yes, I meant to say “a meter is a few inches more than a yard”
See how I didn’t even realize that I reversed it because you were so bad at communicating it?
See how it being more or less didn’t actually matter to the point I was making in my original comment? Whether it was a few inches more or less doesn’t actually matter to the point of the comment. The point is that they are close enough to give an approximate equivalent when speaking about visually approximating a distance?
Are you the person that screams at the barista for giving you a Large Americano and a Small Latte when you asked for a Small Americano and a Large latte? Do you tell “oh my God you made my drink wrong!” Or do you calmly say “hi, I think you reversed the size of the drinks. My friend wanted a large latte.”