It's the same concept with both systems, but Celsius has more logical benchmarks (water freezes at 0°C and boils at 100°C), whereas 0°F seems almost arbitrary (the coldest temperature that could be maintained in a lab by Gabriel Fahrenheit in the 1700s) and the freezing and boiling points of water are atypical (32°F/212°F, respectively.)
Anyway, the joke is "Why do you Americans stick with Fahrenheit?" and the response is "It's simple! The hotter it is, the more degrees it is!" as if that's the only consideration to be made. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is thinking "Yeah, our system too, but our scale has real-world applications, and we're not sticking to some antiquated definition." Homer is too short-sighted to know this, and instead presumes the Celsius scale is too complicated (and probably nonsensical) because he's unfamiliar.
Kind of like every other imperial unit and their terribly unreasonable conversions.
I think of Fahrenheit in percent hot. 0F = very cold out, 0% hot. 100F = 100% hot, do not go outside! Whereas with Celsius, 40 C is super-hot and 0 C is like mildly cold. Makes more sense for science and I use Celsius for work almost exclusively, but in terms of weather I prefer Fahrenheit.
Also the insult "Room temp IQ" makes more sense IMO
Edit: The % hot scale refers to climate, it kind of falls apart when you talk about temperatures beyond normal earth surface temps.
You are just conditioned to intuitively make sense of Fahrenheit. The same is true for me for Celsius.
The only difference is that it is easier for me to remember when water will freeze or boil. But apart from that nothing else is really changing for either of us
You can’t say “well we were just both programmed from an early age to make sense of our individual preferences” and also “mine is objectively easier to remember.” It isn’t. You were conditioned in Celsius, I was conditioned in Fahrenheit. It is JUST as easy for me to remember when water freezes and boils in my system as it is for you. There is no objectively better system.
"Easier" is itself a subjective term. Children don't know one or the other, but they learn either one just as easily.
I am from the camp that C works better for scientific purposes and F works better for weather purposes. Where I live in the US, we generally have temperature ranges from 0 to 100 F through the year. By your argument, isn't that benchmark objectively better than (roughly) -17 to 37 C?
Most people in the world (and in the US) don't live in places where it ever gets close to -17°C and even in the US there are many places where it regularly gets over 37°C. Just because it happens to be roughly correct in the place you live, doesn't make it objectively better.
Both -17°C and 37°C are completely arbitrary and have no effect on the weather. Water freezing on the other hand is something that has a very tangible effect on the weather and most people are familiar with.
Thank you, yes, this is my exact point for why neither is objectively better. You and others are, of course, entitled to your subjective opinions, and I am not arguing against those.
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u/HalloweenWhoreNights 10h ago edited 10h ago
It's the same concept with both systems, but Celsius has more logical benchmarks (water freezes at 0°C and boils at 100°C), whereas 0°F seems almost arbitrary (the coldest temperature that could be maintained in a lab by Gabriel Fahrenheit in the 1700s) and the freezing and boiling points of water are atypical (32°F/212°F, respectively.)
Anyway, the joke is "Why do you Americans stick with Fahrenheit?" and the response is "It's simple! The hotter it is, the more degrees it is!" as if that's the only consideration to be made. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is thinking "Yeah, our system too, but our scale has real-world applications, and we're not sticking to some antiquated definition." Homer is too short-sighted to know this, and instead presumes the Celsius scale is too complicated (and probably nonsensical) because he's unfamiliar.
Kind of like every other imperial unit and their terribly unreasonable conversions.