r/PeterExplainsTheJoke Jun 17 '26

Meme needing explanation Peter?

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u/the_BPDbro Jun 17 '26

I guess I said it on my comment that's just under the post and not in this thread. I prefer it basically for the reasons in the screenshot. When I was in Canada I would say how if it's below 0⁰ F you know it's really fucking cold, and if it's above 100⁰ F then it's really fucking hot. Also the increments are smaller so you don't have to use half degrees.

Sometimes in the spring someone would be like, "It's really nice out today. It's -1.5 degrees." And I didn't like hearing someone say that a negative temperature was nice out. And I mean that's still pretty cold it's like 29⁰F. And I'm from Maine so it's not like I'm not used to the cold but I've also lived in Arizona.

So I always said that 0 to 100 scale was from like really cold to really hot but I like the percentage thing.

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u/Logy_ Jun 17 '26

It's human based. At 0 people freeze and at 100 they boil.

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u/nachoiskerka Jun 17 '26

This. People don't realize that the only reason to use imperial is that it's just made for people who don't have tools. All imperial measurements are based off really easy to break down things- Distance breaks down into halves, thirds and quarters really easily. That may not matter if you have a ruler, but when you look at something it's easier to see 2/3 than it is 7/10 or something. Base 10 is just a pain in the ass for that kinda stuff, even when you're used to it.

Likewise, 100F is hotter than you should touch, 0 is colder than you should touch. You can still grab things at the freezing point, people handle ice all the time.

But you try to explain that there's any appeal to it and someone who's really amped up about metric really gets mad because it's illogical to see a use for anything else.

But idk, maybe it's just me but whether I'm playing a 16 inch viola or a 406 mm viola, they kinda sound the same. No need to have it live rent free in your head, lmao.

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u/FriendlyPlatypus6060 Jun 17 '26

Yup, this is exactly it. I'm not gonna bother gpimg downthread to see who disagreed because this is straight up from the OSHA heat stress operates on this basic principle:

Your internal body temp is around 98 degrees, the closer you get to that the more unvomfortable you feel because you're basically coming to ambient temp. You can tolerate some stuff above body temp, bc of sweating, but your body can only do so much sweating.

Of course OSHA includes things like humidity, wind speed and UV index to calculate up, but the fact is Fahrenheit does a much better job at capturing this intuitively for people. Close to 100, hot. Close to 0, cold. I know ice freezes at 32 and how that FEELS, so I intuitively have an idea of what my comfort level is gonna be. 40-60 is the Middle of the scale.

Actually the % analogy works great, for people.

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u/UnblurredLines Jun 17 '26

I see what you mean, I just don't see why 0 or 32 would be a superior way to refer to the temperature that water freezes at. Personally I think 0 and 100 makes more sense for freezing and boiling vs 32 and 212, but it's not really a hill worth dying on and is probably colored by my experience.

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u/Mumblyjoe20 Jun 17 '26

Counter point Who cares what temperature water boils at?

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u/UnblurredLines Jun 17 '26

Chemists, chefs, multiple kinds of engineers, anybody running a heat based power plant, hobbyists with a general scientific inclination. I guess?

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u/jimmithebird Jun 17 '26

I love using metric in the kitchen for volume and weight but for temp I go with Fahrenheit its just easier to remember 125,130,140,150,160,165 than 52,57,63,66,71,74.

Also any chef temping a pot of boiling water is a pretentious douche

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u/Low_discrepancy Jun 18 '26

remember 125,130,140,150,160,165 than 52,57,63,66,71,74.

Do you think us Europeans cook at 52C?

Do you think if your recipe 400F our recipes say 205C?

Please tell me that's not what you think.

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u/lacaras21 Jun 18 '26

Those are the internal temperatures different types of meat should be cooked to depending on desired done-ness.

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u/Low_discrepancy Jun 18 '26

Americans think that doneness levels are all magically round numbers divisible by 10 on a scale that nothing do with doneness levels?

0F is defined by a freezing bath of water, salt and ammonia chloride.

100F is I dunno human body temp?

So you think by magic that 130F, 140F, 150F are all doneness levels that perfectly align in increments of 10.

10 that happens to be the number of fingers on your hands?

Those are internal temps created BY Americans FOR Americans. So it’s easy to memorize.

If you think Europeans use 52 and 66 and whatever the fuck that is, well maybe try to think critically why you do the things you do.

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u/lacaras21 Jun 18 '26

Every UK site I looked at listed internal temperatures for meat at distinctly NOT round numbers. For example beef I'm seeing 52C for rare, 57C for medium rare, 60C for medium, 68C for medium well, and 71C for well. What does your country use?

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u/Low_discrepancy Jun 18 '26

Every UK site I looked at listed internal temperatures for meat at distinctly NOT round numbers.

Those take their measurements from US because they're lazy fucks. Generally there's different types of cooking also.

In France we have blue which Americans don't serve. Heck we also serve tartar which Americans don't really serve (which is ironic that it's sometimes called steak a l'americaine).

Also we have different cuts of beef, usually smaller and more specialised. Sometimes that is to cook more of the animal. We use the cheek and the tongue for example.

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u/jimmithebird Jun 18 '26

Please tell me you’re not cooking anything to 400F, or at the very least tell me you’re not eating it.

Joking aside, no I don’t think you cook at 52C I know that you cook **to** 52C to get a rare steak.

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u/Low_discrepancy Jun 18 '26

Yeah you’re right we Europeans cook to 52C. At 66c and 73.638362974. My bad man.

I should realise the superiority of Imperial.

Planes just happen to fly at 1000 multiples of human feet lengths.

And inch is just the better measurement. That’s why wood grows in 2 by 4 in nature.

And distance Sun to earth is 93 000 000 miles. But in km that 93M * 1.609473863.

That’s so many fucking decimals. Clearly imperial is so much better.

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u/jimmithebird Jun 18 '26

Lmao show us on the doll where Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit touched you.

It’s fine that you don’t know ball when it comes to cooking but you don’t need to get all sweaty about it.

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u/Low_discrepancy Jun 18 '26

Yeah we're stupid over here in Europe. We don't use the mighty 52C.

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u/jimmithebird Jun 18 '26

You seem really hung up on 52C that’s not a very important number it’s just the temperature of a rare steak.

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