Measuring Canada

Canada is big. Coming to Canada, I expected to find the metric system in full use and to suffer from my inability to do the arithmetic to convert from the US system. (Despite having an M.S. in Mathematical Sciences, doing basic calculus in non-Euclidean metric spaces will kill any ability to do arithmetic.) What I found is an odd hybrid. Thankfully, distances in a car are all measured in km, though some people ask me about my trip in miles but I figure they are just being nice. Despite this, there are plenty of things that are measured in inches. Usually these are labels on packages that you buy such as bed sheets and paper, despite being made in Canada.

On to volume. Milk is sold in 2 liter and 4 liter containers and gas is sold by the liter, which is what you would expect. What is odd to me is the fact that when I see orange juice it is sold in 1.89 liter containers. This is 1/2 gallon as I am used to but it is funny to me that no where on the container does it say 1/2 gallon. The only marking is for 1.89 liters and I wonder if this seems odd at all to someone used to only metric.

Still, directions on packages of rice give the water in cups and the butter in tablespoons. And beer is sold by the pint. This creates a real mixture in when to use metric and when to use US, but I guess it will become natural.

As for weight, the most curious thing is butcher meat in the store. Now this could just be one store, but the signs hanging on the shelf for the meat give the price per lb. But then the sticker on the actual package says the price per kg. I guess that way you can get it either way. At the deli, the prices are per 100g. Being ignorant, I have no idea how much 100g is, but I do know how much I usually pay for meat so I figured it out that way. I'll just remember that 100g is 6-7 slices.

*Update*
The directions on packages of rice and such usually specify the water in ml as well as cups.
The butcher meat weight situation seems to be in all stores, not just the one.