meter and liter as its primary units of weight, distance and capacity. The metric system is the primary standard used all over the world except in the U.S., Liberia and Myanmar (formerly Burma).

In other words, the French introduced not only national standards, but a system of standards. It survives today as the metric system.

Common objects with known sizes include ... The mass of a bag of sugar, commonly 1 kg (kilogram). Work out what metric unit could be used to estimate the height of a leisure centre.

At least that’s what I thought until the editors got hold of the story and reminded me that this magazine does not use metric units. Convert all kilometers to miles, they said, all meters to ...

And Canadians do this all the time. Most of the world uses the metric system. The Americans use imperial. And then Canada uses an unholy amalgam of both. It’s one of our weirdest national traits ...