Although this website attracts an international audience, it seems the vast majority of members are from the USA, where they don't routinely use the metric system.
I try to avoid using numbers directly in stories, but sometimes the plot requires it.
In my recent story (next seat) both the setting and the plot requires metric units. I just used metric with a short explanation at the beginning, and I even hinted at an approximate conversion near the end, for those who don't want to take their time to calculate it or look it up.
So, I would like ask a few questions:
1. How familiar are US readers with metric weights? If I say someone weighs 100 kg, do they instantly realize whether it's thin, average, chubby or obese, or do they need to google it?
2. Is it OK how I used it in the story? The plot requires increments of ten, which would have been too small gains in pounds. And 10, 20, 30 looks better than 22, 44, 66 (or just 20, 40, 60). Also, the story is set in Europe. One might say the weights should be translated (just as the conversation is not necessarily in English in-universe), but then it might look odd to find characters talking about pounds in places where it's not used at all.
4 years
