WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH AMERICAN MEASURES AND DATES?

One of the most jarring aspects of daily life after leaving Africa and moving to the United States is undoubtedly adjusting to their unique measuring systems and dates. The country is notorious for following a set of standards that are not commonly found elsewhere in the world, least Africa of all.

First, it’s important to note that in the United States, the dates are often abbreviated in the middle-endian system, which means that they follow the “month-day-year” order. Although some parts of Ghana and Kenya use middle-endian, most countries within Africa follow the little-endian system, which is means dates are written in the order of “day-month-year.”

So when in the United States you see an appointment scheduled for 06/05/2021, odds are it means June 05 2021, and not 06 May 2021 as it probably would within your African homeland.

Likewise, the United States is one of the only four countries that still use the imperial system of units. In contrast, the rest of the world has overwhelmingly shifted towards the metric system.

As such, you will find length is measured by inches, feet, yards, and miles, amongst others, while mass and weight is measured by ounces, pounds, tons, and other similar units. You will hardly find anything measured in meters, kilometers, grams, or kilos. As such, you will have to be aware of this and perform the required calculations until you get used to the shift. Finally, the United States is also unique when it comes to temperature scales. They are one of the few countries that use the Fahrenheit system instead of the worldwide Celsius. Usually, it is easy to spot since most degrees are followed by a “°F” instead of a “°C”, but it can be easy to forget if not included.

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