[Terrence OBrien]

"How tall is he?"

"About five-ten."

The above exchange is how Americans would respond to the question. It means the guy is five feet ten inches tall.

How would someone from a metric country respond? What is the common vernacular if the guy is 1.524 tall? That's the conversion of five feet ten inches.  It certainly doesn't have to be that exact. I'm just looking for the normal wording of the response. Thanks.

 

[lazyjayn]

It's normally expressed in cm. So I'm 5'9 (give or take) in imperial, and 175cm in metric. Exception being people who are, say, *exactly* 2m tall, because it's just weird.

-j.

 

[David M. Baum]

I'm from Holland, and here we would say: "About one seventy-five."

 

[CatherineIsom]

I am from the UK and there we use feet and inches so i am 5ft 3.. BUT i live in Greece and here we use centimetres so I am about 160cm.
hope that helps?

 

[Rin]

I'm Australian, and for the most part, the people I know use the feet and inches terminology, despite everything else being metric.

 

[antares]

I'm an American five-ten, but I live in a country that uses the metric system. When asked for my height here, I say, 'One-hundred seventy-eight.' They nod and write down '178cm'.

I never say 'One seventy-eight' here. That would be 1.78cm.

Hope this helps.

 

[Klip]

South African and all metric here
We would say "One point four" or "One point eight" but are just as likely to express human height in feet.

 

[Marcin Wrona]

Canada's a mess. We're ostensibly a metric country, but in reality we use different systems to measure different things. Height is usually expressed in feet and inches, but distances are in metres and kilometres, pints and half-litres are used interchangeably even though they aren't, etc.

 

[41419]

Ireland's the same - officially metric, in reality a mix between imperial and metric.

I use inches and meters in the same sentence without blinking.

For height most people here (and in the UK) talk in feet and inches, like the US.

In Europe they give the total centimeters, i.e. someone would say they are 185 centimeters tall. Except they don't say "tall". They will just say "I am 185 centimeters".

 

[TheSFReader]

Ireland's the same - officially metric, in reality a mix between imperial and metric.

I use inches and meters in the same sentence without blinking.

For height most people here (and in the UK) talk in feet and inches, like the US.

In Europe they give the total centimeters, i.e. someone would say they are 185 centimeters tall. Except they don't say "tall". They will just say "I am 185 centimeters".

Here in France (and French) , we say "I measure 1 meter 68" (except I say 1m70, because I like "round" numbers ... )

 

[41419]

Here in France (and French) , we say "I measure 1 meter 68" (except I say 1m70, because I like "round" numbers ... )

So the French will round it off to make it sound more elegant, and the Germans will give you the brutal, exact number.

Makes sense.

 

[tim290280]

I'm Australian, and for the most part, the people I know use the feet and inches terminology, despite everything else being metric.

Yes old people are silly like that.

I would have said it is a mix, mainly because the baby boomers were the generation when the metric system was brought in, so they use both. Dad was annoying about it: "Hand me the quarter inch wrench and then cut off 22mm of steel from that pipe." Height is the main one though, because 6' sounds much better than 183cm.

Most younger people use metric in the centimetre style, but if you are a round figure in the imperial measures then that often gets used. E.g. I'm 182cm, so not 6' and taller than 5'11". But 183cm people will often say 6' and 180cm people will say they are 5'11" (despite the fact they are 0.5cm under).

 

[TheSFReader]

So the French will round it off to make it sound more elegant, and the Germans will give you the brutal, exact number.

Makes sense.

Please don't "extrapolate" on my "small size shy-ness" to other french people ...

 

[R. M. Reed]

This is fascinating. I thought that outside the US metric was all there was. However I see that, especially in the former British empire, feet and inches still have an unofficial presence.

 

[Ilyria Moon]

We use feet and inches in UK, too. I'm 6ft2; in Germany, I'd say 1m88. Yes, I am a giant.

 

[Pearson Moore]

I'm one eighty-five (metres), weight about 83 kg.  To my US friends, I'm 6'1", about 183 pounds. 

 

[StephenLivingston]

I'm in the UK and we normally reply using feet and inches.  I'd say I was "six one" not "one eighty-five" or whatever the equivalent in metric is.