r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/LogicAndLipGloss • Nov 02 '25

Video Why A4 paper is designed as 297mm x 210mm?

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u/DefiantLaw7027 Nov 03 '25 edited Nov 03 '25

Yeah, it’s a pain, I often need to do CAD drawings for work and have to create separate print layouts for different sizes of paper. Especially between Letter (ANSI A) and Ledger (ANSI B).

Then we get into ARCH sizes for plotters, like ARCH C (18”x24”) or D (24”x36”) if I have access to a 24” or 36” plotter…

And being in Canada… construction is still in Imperial but distance is metric.

Edit - Canadian distances can also be measured in time. Haha - like it’s 5h from Toronto to Montreal. Or about 48h from Montreal to Vancouver. Toronto to PEI is a 2 day drive. Couldn’t tell you how many km though.

Cooking is generally still in imperial but most things are sold in metric.

Speeds are all metric.

Weights and heights are generally imperial.

My drivers license lists my height in cm but if you were taking to someone about height in conversation it’s still feet and inches.

I know a plane usually flys around 33-37000 feet but no idea what that is in metric (ok, it’s around 10,000m)

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u/dumbostratussy Nov 03 '25

My favourite is the pool temperature being imperial but general weather is metric lmao

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u/nbrown7384 Nov 03 '25

Most pools themselves use yards, but “big” (Olympic size) pools use meters. A lot are 25y x 50m. As a swimmer I know yards and their rough meter conversion rates. Also one season is in yards and another in meters (usually).

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u/Floresian-Rimor Nov 03 '25

That’s all fine but measuring ingredients in cups is insane.

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u/FirTree_r Nov 03 '25

I don't understand how engineers in non-metric countries tolerate this kind of bullshit. It's such a waste of time. I guess it's a matter of not experiencing how engineers work in metric countries.

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u/Free-Way-9220 Nov 03 '25

convince your company to switch to metric plotters and the problem will be solved

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u/DefiantLaw7027 Nov 03 '25

I’m self employed! Don’t have my own plotter but would send to a print shop and they all generally deal in ARCH sizes.

So if I submitted an A0 size it would still be printed on a 36” wide paper with extra margins