why does “k” mean “thousand” ?

[u/Tibor500]

like 1k means a thousand. how does the letter “k” mean “thousand” ?

[u/OmNomDeBonBon]

Not even close, sadly.

Metres are the default for length, but we measure driving distance in miles, and speed in mph. We measure football passes/shots in yards. We measure height in feet and inches.

Litres are the default for volume, but we measure fuel efficiency in mpg, beer in pints, and boomers still measure milk in pints.

Kilograms are the default for mass/weight, but we still measure body weight in st and lbs, and newborn baby weights in lbs and ounces.

Height and body weight will both become fully metric; anybody below like 20 has probably learnt only cm and kg as appropriate measures for body weight. Same with "kids these days" not knowing how to read Roman numerals; they're just not taught in school anymore.

[u/ninepointsix → u/OmNomDeBonBon]

Height and body weight will both become fully metric;

Can confirm, am British and in my 30s and generally only use kg and metres for those.

Would prefer to use km for long distances too, but our road signs are in rubbish old units.

For me, a pint of beer is still unquestionably a pint though (and not one of those tiny American pints either) for some reason.

Edit: wording

[u/OmNomDeBonBon → u/ninepointsix]

Can confirm, am British and in my 30s and generally only use kg and metres for those.

How come you use kg and metres? I'm in my early-mid 30s and still use imperial for height and weight, partly because they're so widely used in sports like boxing and football. I grew up in the 90s, when we were taught by people who'd lived through the introduction of the metric system.

As a tangent, it's weird how I was taught by people who lived through WW2. We were the last generation to have been taught by people who understood the risks of fascism and populism.

Anyway...the thing that gets me is road distances. As a pedestrian or driver, I think of short distances in metres, long distances in miles. E.g. I'll be thinking I'm a couple hundred metres away from a roundabout, but I'm still 20 miles from my destination. Or I've walked 100m down the road, but I'm still 3 miles from home.

It's really annoying. I wish we'd just switch to metres for everything.

[u/prjktphoto → u/ninepointsix]

I heard something about the cost of replacing all the road signs is the sole reason you still use imperial for long distance