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Comment by jszymborski | Hacker News Reader

Canadians mostly use imperial when describing one's height and weight. Folks also tend to bake using imperial measures in my experience, and idk if it's different for large projects, but home demos are very much the domain of imperial standard objects (like a 4' x 8' panel of drywall or a 2" x 4" x 8' beam)

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Yet a 2 x 4 isn't 2" x 4". :P

Ahh, rough sawn versus dressed.

Deeply frustrating when you assume sizing matches description.

Even rough sawn is not 2" by 4".

Americans love inventing field specific nomenclature. Like piping sizes, wire sizes, metal sheet thickness, plywood router bit size, construction wood size, furniture/raw wood size, etc

I have always thought it was just a side effect of capitalism. The more messy the units, the harder it is to enter a field without requiring the help of an expert sales.

After 10 months of house renovation it’s my experience that plumbers are the worst offenders when it comes to sizing weirdness.

You think you got the right size fitting, lol nope, it’s actually conical not straight…

Probably because you're stuck with sub-par 110v appliances made for the US market...

Most electric ovens and dryers are 240V in the US https://us-electric.com/how-to-install-an-electric-stove-out...

Houses are fed split phase 240v. All big appliances have a dedicated electrical run with 240V and 20A to 50A.

Common 120V outlets are 15A max, with devices usually limited to 13A for some breathing room. That's 1.8kW and 1.5kW.

In France, the common 240V outlet is 16A. With devices at 13A max that's 3.8kW and 3.1kW.

So yes it sucks for tools. But cooking is just fine.

It sucks for anything with heating elements. 240v kettles and hair dryers are really awesome.

110v is a lot less likely to kill you if you do accidentally touch it.

That's the only advantage.

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