If you ask them how far it is to something, they'll tell you in minutes (WTF!?).
We do this all the time in the midwest. I'm not sure if it's common elsewhere though.
It makes so much sense though. If something is 10 miles away on back country roads going through tiny towns, it'll take you 30 minutes to get there. If it's 10 miles away on the freeway, it'll take you 10 minutes. Wouldn't you want to know how long it would take you to get there, rather than how many miles you'll be putting on your car?
See, that's the thing. The problem is two fold. It assumes:
- You know how the other person is traveling (e.g. by foot, by car, by public transit).
- You know how the road, walkway, or transit systems are operating.
In other words, giving me a travel time rather than distance does me little to no good. I would much rather know that I have to travel x kilometers or miles. So much more useful. From there, I can do my own calculations based on variables that you may not be aware of.
Anyway. On the topic of subjectivity, the other thing that kills me here is the insistence on using "wind chill" as the ultimate measure of temperature. So you always know how fast the wind will be blowing, eh? GOOD JOB, GOD.
Where are you from originally?
Because in cold climates, wind chill is incredibly important. It doesn't matter that the air temperature is 0 degF, what matters is that it will feel like it's -20 degF when you're in the wind. You plan for that, and it's a happy accident when the wind isn't blowing.
And sure, if there's a chance you'd walk somewhere then time isn't helpful. If you're in a big city, that wouldn't make as much sense. But when everywhere you're going is by car, time is far more useful, because you know that the person will be travelling by car. And you'd need to explain to them the speed limits on all the roads they'd take in order for them to calculate distance / speed to figure out time...
