Those are those big degrees, aren't they?
I think those are a foreign degree, used a lot in countries which haven't mastered things like miles and pounds. An interim degree, more accurate than "hotter'n hell" and less complex than 110F.
They make some sense, one doesn't have to count as far to express the same measure of temperature. And it's sort of fun to think one is going 100 kilometers per hour rather than the more mundane 62 miles per hour.
I don't care what they say, those outlanders have some ideas which aren't totally ridiculous. However, the real world will drag them into the 18th century sooner or later.
:-)
Arf