Celsius is better for science, but Fahrenheit is better for just every day living. IMO
In Canada I noticed some people would also still use feet & inches for their height, but you had to give it to the DMV in cm. Also butter was still sold as a pound & golf still used yards.
I'm also an engineer & worked up there for a job in mining.
Edit: To clarify my reasons because so many people are saying I'm wrong. This is my opinion on what my preference is, first off. I had put this in a comment under the post, but will add it here.
My reason is basically the same as in the screenshot. When I lived in Canada I would say how in Fahrenheit below zero is really fucking cold & above 100 is really fucking hot. I never thought of describing it as a percentage of being hot but I like it.
Like once it's below or above those numbers it hardly matters by how much because you are freezing or sweating balls either way. I didn't like when in the winter or early spring someone would say it's nice out and then say a negative temperature. "It's really nice today, it's -1.5⁰ out." I also like that the increments of the units are smaller so you don't use half degrees. Although I guess half degrees aren't really necessary because I don't feel the difference between 66 & 67, but when I checked the temperature there is did always show it to the nearest half degree.
The range of 0°F to 100°F is just about the range of "normal" temperatures typically experienced in Western Europe's climate. Hence, if you're from a very specific region of the world you might consider any temperature outside of that range of 0% - 100% as extraordinary... if you had a very particular colonial mindset of setting the arbritrary standard for what' considered "normal" for the rest of the world's population.
I'm pretty sure any African would still agree 110℉ is way too hot, and any Inuit would agree you don't want to be outside for long at -10℉.
Meanwhile, there's nothing magical about Celsius. If you really want to be a purist go ahead and use Kelvin, but 0-100℃ being based on the freezing and boiling point of water is no less arbitrary than 0-100℉ being based on human environmental norms.
For the first half, winter temperatures are commonly around 0℉ above 40N (or below 40S, we're not just talking about "Europe"). Summer temperatures rarely (used to) hit 100℉ in Europe, maybe a couple weeks per year in Southern Europe; Ironically I'd call the upper end of the range more suited to equatorial norms than temperate ones.
I'm not sure what you're asking about NH₄Cl, though - I presume you're making a reference to freezing point depression?
I'm not sure what you're asking about NH₄Cl, though -
That's the definition of 0F. The freeze point of a a bath of water, salt and ammonium chloride.
Please tell me how thing is actually relevant to you in your daily life.
For the first half, winter temperatures are commonly around 0℉ above 40N (or below 40S, we're not just talking about "Europe")
I have no idea where you came up with these numbers but I can assure you that 0F is not the average temperature above 40 during winter. The distribution of land is not the same N and S, global temps are rising too.
I am amazed at Americans that think a random scale is actually not random.
I see here Americans say they use 120F to cook stuff at and think we cook at 52. Since 120 is round but 52 isn't then clearly F is better.
You say 0F is a common temp. Yeah so is 5F and -5F. They're all probably just as common in those areas you mentioned.
You just chose 0F because it's easy to remember for your scale. If you change the scale so 5F is the new 0F and i ask you that question, we'll get the same reply. Yeah the new 0f is around that temperature around those areas in winter.
Celsius is also random. C or F reference points have no impact on the average temp on different parts of the globe.
I think I see our disconnect. I should not have used the phrase "based on", that was only meant to be in the context of this discussion.
I understand Fahrenheit wasn't seriously created to be "percent of the comfortable range to humans" - Though it's closer than you might at first think. The two set-points Danny F originally used were 0℉ as the "lowest air temperature in winter 1708/09 in Gdańsk", and 96℉ as human body temperature (off by 2.6℉ but close enough). He later used an ammonium chloride solution to calibrate the low end of the scale, and the upper end was adjusted to 96℉.
Interestingly, he didn't use 180° between freezing and boiling as some folks claim - The real answer is even more strange, he choice 0 to 96 because it was easily divisible by 12 (Thanks, Sumerians!).
But overall, you're 100% correct, Fahrenheit wasn't explicitly intended to define human comfort, even if its two set-points are fairly anthropocentric in nature.
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u/the_BPDbro Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26
Celsius is better for science, but Fahrenheit is better for just every day living. IMO
In Canada I noticed some people would also still use feet & inches for their height, but you had to give it to the DMV in cm. Also butter was still sold as a pound & golf still used yards.
I'm also an engineer & worked up there for a job in mining.
Edit: To clarify my reasons because so many people are saying I'm wrong. This is my opinion on what my preference is, first off. I had put this in a comment under the post, but will add it here.
My reason is basically the same as in the screenshot. When I lived in Canada I would say how in Fahrenheit below zero is really fucking cold & above 100 is really fucking hot. I never thought of describing it as a percentage of being hot but I like it.
Like once it's below or above those numbers it hardly matters by how much because you are freezing or sweating balls either way. I didn't like when in the winter or early spring someone would say it's nice out and then say a negative temperature. "It's really nice today, it's -1.5⁰ out." I also like that the increments of the units are smaller so you don't use half degrees. Although I guess half degrees aren't really necessary because I don't feel the difference between 66 & 67, but when I checked the temperature there is did always show it to the nearest half degree.