How do you guys feel about the use of the metric system of measurement in fantasy novels?

[Kenjona]

I do not think it actually matters as long as you are consistent. The only time measurements have thrown me off are when more than one are used, such as "The canebrake was all of 4.5ft (1.37M) away, just out of reach of the intrepid heroine". It just looks wrong to me for the flow of the story. You can use Li, Mile, Kilometer, Smoot, Foot, Kings/Dukes/Lord Whoever Foot, Natural Foot, Furlong, Furrow, Fathoms, Shaftments, Cubit, Yard, Fathom, Rod, Chain, Stadium/Stadia, Pace, Digit, Palm, Hand, Span, Nail, Barleycorn or even a made up one. As long as you are consistent with the flow of the story.

 

[LilRora]

It doesn't matter much to me, I guess? If you wanted to be nitpicky, you'd ask why they use years and days and weeks for time measurement, because why would it be the same in a fantasy world. As it is though, I just take it however the author decides. I can read meters and feet just fine.

I think my personal favorite though is what the author(s) of Chronicles of The Exalted Sun Child did. They used inches, paces where one pace is equal to 40 inches - which makes it functionally equal to a meter - then longstrides equal to 1000 paces and leagues equal to five longstrides. What makes is really interesting is that pace and longstride are older terms for a meter and for a kilometer, although they are rarely used nowadays. That makes it both different from modern world's measurements and very easy to understand.

 

[Echimera]

As others have brought up, consistency is the most important aspect.

If you wanted to be completely historically correct, you'd have to give at least every major kingdom/empire/... it's own, system of measurement.
Maybe even have slightly different iterations of inch, yard, pound, ... for each region within these "countries", depending on what time you want to reflect.

Just as the author technically translates dialogue for the reader's convenience, we can assume the same is already happening with unit conversions.
The imperial system certainly helps with giving it an older feel to me, though.

 

[Piisfun]

So we should just do all the measurements in fingers (width of a finger), spans (tip of your thumb to tip of your pinky while your hand is spread wide), and cubits (elbow to tip of middle finger)?

 

[melchi]

Cubits for units of measurement!

 

[BlackKnightX]

No. It's fantasy. Anything is possible.

Seriously, I hate it when people expect the trope or the genre to be the same with all the others. Yeah, I get the genre expectations and all that jazz, but that kind of thinking only limits the possibility and creativity.

So what if it's set in a world similar to ours in the medieval era? It's still a different world, nonetheless. It has its own rules, laws, history.

It doesn't matter what genre you write in or what trope you use, if you wanna add something new and unique to it, just do so. The key is to be consistent.

 

[georgelee5786]

Meh

 

[BearlyAlive]

Unless you want to go the Star Trek route by saying "A Burgeroni Splatscherla, which translates to about 1.5 square burgers in an x-dimensional room and to about a kilometre to 0.8 miles everywhere else" you can do everything from taking the range an arrow can be shot to completely abstract measurements like feets and inches

 

[RepresentingCaution]

It's your fantasy. Use what you want!

 

[Representing_Tromba]

View attachment 18483

What manga is this?

View attachment 18484

Why would I use any other measurement.

You say that but Europeans invented the Imperial system. Then for some reason you all thought it was dumb except in certain parts of the UK.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

What manga is this?

You say that but Europeans invented the Imperial system. Then for some reason you all thought it was dumb except in certain parts of the UK.

That is the Handyman Saitou in Another World.

 

[Arkus86]

Metric is certainly easier, you can also rationalize it the same way as why the other world speaks in English. Honestly, I find it more annoying when the author tries to "reinvent the wheel" by changing the length of days, weeks etc. - "It took them two weeks to get to their goal. But each week is 20 days and each day is 30 hours, so it actually took them 50 days Earth time..."

What manga is this?

You say that but Europeans invented the Imperial system. Then for some reason you all thought it was dumb except in certain parts of the UK.

Turns out a common decimal-based system is much more convenient for everyone involved.

 

[CubicleHermit]

My current WIP uses the metric system, but it's modern-fantasy, in another world that is a bit behind our present day but still very much 20th Century. Main character comes from our earth, and America, and metric felt 'foreign' to me at that age (still does, but less so) so it fits the "a lot like home, but not quite" for MC.

I'm sure the effect is entirely lost on non-US readers for whom the metric system IS the familiar one :)

You say that but Europeans invented the Imperial system. Then for some reason you all thought it was dumb except in certain parts of the UK.

...the issue is that the Roman measurement system weren't THAT precise to begin with, and they evolved for like 1500 years with nobody agreeing on what they meant. So while everyone borrowed the names, it's not like a pound/foot (or ounce/inch - which in Latin are the same word!) that got used everywhere were the same.

Hence despite a Roman ounce being 1/12th of a pound, it ended up as 1/16th in Imperial and US customary measures, and then just to confuse people a pint of liquid (same linguistic root as pound) is 16oz over here and 20oz in the UK.

 

[Civilian]

I would prefer it over something made up that might just get me confused. You can always use something else to compare it to if needed, but I personally think it's fine.

 

[Kenjona]

To make matters more confusing, measuring instruments can differ between people not just nations, and during certain periods did indeed differ depending on where he was trained. One builders Rod/Stave can differ from another's by mere millimeters and knowledge of a Builders Measuring devices could let you at the secrets he possibly built into a structure, easier than if you had to measure everything using your own instruments. If you try and use a different Builders instruments, it could throw off your loading calculations for a structure. Enough so the wrong angle/length/height measured could spell a collapsed wall or the new person would have to remeasure everything and over build to make up for what he cannot see.

A very gregarious error was made by NASA for the Mars Climate Orbiter mission.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

I am confused by this statement.

The joke is, Jesus never used imperial units.
It's like the American Congressman from NC who said, on the house floor, "if English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for everyone." When debating a bill that would require all kids in public school to become bilingual.

 

[BB_Tensei]

Nah, it makes sense for an isekai protagonist to perceive the world in metric, because it's most used in sciences and video game engines. In fact the only game I know that doesn't use metric is Final Fantasy XIV, which uses a fantasy version of the imperial. Video games prefer using metric, so game isekai, or litrpg, you'd just have a metric for the system. Unless it's D&D.