Showerthoughts

29612 readers

1105 users here now

A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.

Rules

All posts must be showerthoughts
The entire showerthought must be in the title
Avoid politics (NEW RULE as of 5 Nov 2024, trying it out)
Posts must be original/unique
Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

167

why don't people say mega meters (lemmy.world)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

75 comments fedilink hide all child comments

How come people say 5,000 km and not 5 Mm?
why not just say millions of meters or Mega meters?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

To be fair, mass is weird because the base unit is kg (yes, the name includes a prefactor). I have no idea how they managed to fuck it up that badly.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Apparently they were going to use gram for what we now call kg, but decided to make it kg. I expect it's because we used grams so much for food.