The Power of 10

Written by Nancy Payne; illustrated by Jessica Lindsay

December 1983

“Carla, I still can’t figure this out — is 500 grams about a pound?” Her exasperated grandfather shook his head as he looked at the apples on his shiny new weigh scale.

“Not quite.” Carla called from where she was arranging cans of tomatoes in a pyramid. “It’s 454 grams.”

Mr. Lamantia threw up his hands. “So if my customer asks for a pound of beans, I have to say ‘Would you like 454 grams instead?’ Nobody knows what a gram is, let alone 454 of them!”

“Oh, Nonno,” said Carla, coming over to give her grandpa a hug. “It’s all based on tens. There are 10 grams in a dekagram, 100 grams in a hectogram and 1,000 grams in a kilogram. See? Easy.” She went back to stacking cans.

“You call that easy? What was wrong with inches and pounds, anyway?” Mr. Lamantia said as he started weighing onions to put in bags. “This metric stuff just confuses my customers.”

Carla’s dad walked in from the back of the store just then. “It confuses me, too! I had to fill the delivery truck today — cost a fortune. I’m sure gas is more expensive in litres than gallons, but who can tell? And I’m never sure if I’m going the proper speed ... 80 kilometres an hour just doesn’t seem right.”

“Oh dad — you’re just as bad as Nonno!” Carla said in exasperation. “I’m 10 years old and I can handle it. You’re going the same speed. It’s just that kilometres are shorter than miles.”

“I know that up here —” her father tapped his head, “but I just don’t feel it in here.” He put his hand over his heart. He sighed and started helping Carla with the pyramid.

Mr. Lamantia pulled out a step ladder and set it up beside the pyramid. “Piccola, your father and have I used inches and pounds and Fahrenheit our whole lives.”

Carla’s dad stopped stacking, a can in each hand as he gestured. “I mean, in summer, they say a hot day is 30 degrees. To me, 30 degrees will always be cold.”

Just as Carla was setting the last can on top of her display, the door opened, sending the bell over it jingling and jangling as her mother entered. “Sorry I’m late — the principal called a meeting after school.” Carla was so startled she dropped the can, knocking two more off the top row.

“My pyramid!” she yelled as the cans started to tumble. Her father lunged forward and caught the two falling cans before they could do more damage.

“My goodness, Carla,” her mum said. “That stack must be more than two metres tall!

“You see?” exulted Carla. “Some old people do think in metric.” She blushed when she realized what she’d said. “I mean ... some adults.”

Her mum smiled. “Well, I have to, so I can teach my students. I tell them to stop thinking about how many centimetres are in a foot or how many grams in a pound.” Carla shot a look at her grandfather, who smiled and shrugged. “I tell them a coffee cup is about 10 centimetres tall, and if there’s ice on the puddles, it must be zero or colder. Easy.”

“That’s what I said!” added Maria. “I know it’s a big change, Nonno, but by the time I’m mum’s age, everybody will be used to it.”

December 2014

“Do you want anything in town, Carla? Tell me before I open the door — it must be minus 25 out there,” her husband called as he grabbed his keys.

She checked the fridge. “We could use some ham — about 200 grams, thinly sliced. And a couple of pounds of butter and a bunch of bananas, please.”

Carla’s 14-year-old son Matt wandered into the kitchen as his dad left. “Guess what, mum? I measured myself on the doorway and I grew, like, eight centimetres since last time. I’m over six feet now!”

Carla was concentrating on the recipe she had in front of her. “That’s nice, honey ... two cups of flour, half a cup of shortening, three teaspoons of baking powder, a cup of milk ... bake at 400 degrees ... ”

She looked up. “Did you say — ” She started giggling. “Minus 25! A pound of butter! Eight centimetres — six feet!”

She was laughing so hard she couldn’t talk. “Are you okay, Mum?” Matt asked.

Carla finally caught her breath. “I’m fine, honey. You might say ... I’m used to it!”

The metric system came in very slowly in Canada.

Most of the world except the United States was going metric, so after lots of studies, the federal government set out a plan for what was called metrication to replace the old Imperial system.

In 1975, weather forecasters started using Celsius temperatures and measuring rain in millimetres and snow in centimetres. Starting in 1977, distances were given in kilometres instead of miles and gas was sold in litres instead of gallons.

The biggest problem came with changing the way things were weighed — a trial run in Kamloops, B.C., Sherbrooke, Que., and Peterborough, Ont., in 1979 didn’t go well, and the changeover was delayed until 1982. The government had to make sure all business were weighing and measuring things the same way so customers could compare prices fairly.

Kids led the way in metric conversion; schools started teaching it around 1974. Some things like kilometres and Celsius temperatures caught on, while hectares turn up now and then, but nobody uses centilitres or dekagrams. It seems like a very Canadian compromise — a bit of each and nobody worries too much.