Hmmmmmmm

[RodKirby]

Food for thought...

[gsmittle]

I remember during the '70s the US was supposed to do a "soft change" to the metric system. I wonder what happened.

I tend to get exchange students in my classroom, and they have fits trying to figure out the measurements, especially temperature.

Way back when I was a punk college kid, I used to get one of my co-workers nearly apoplectic when I'd mention changing to the metric system. Hee hee.

g.

[Mr__Bill]

I think we, the US, missed the perfect opportunity to switch to metric when gas went over a dollar a gallon . That was the time to start selling gas by the liter. All those old pumps that could not go over 99.9 could have sold by the liter and everyone and everything else would have fallen in place.

Want to have some fun with people, just use metric measurements, when asked for what kind of mileage you car gets, give it in KPL, or better yet do kilos of gas per hour. Ask at the deli for half a kilo of lunch meat...

But the real question is, in a proper British Pub do you still order a pint?

Bill
over here in the sunshine, waiting for the tsunami

[eccentrictinkerer]

FWIW, building trades in Canada still use Imperial measure. You buy 2x4's, 1/2" copper pipe, etc.

Canadian football uses yards and golfers expect courses in yards.

I think we Americans are just set in our ways. And that's not a bad thing, IMO.

[germdoc]

In medicine I only use the metric system. I wouldn't know how to order .05 oz of an antibiotic instead of a gram, or a quart of IV fluid instead of a liter.

I also notice that patients seem relieved to find out they're "only" a hundred kilograms or so instead of 220#. Maybe we should move to stones?

[smorris]

I always find it amusing when someone asks how to get somewhere and I say "You go north for 3 klicks", and they get that baffled look.

[L. D. Jeffries]

Yeah, we missed the boat on the metric deal! I use the metric part of my measuring tools all the time, its so much easier to divide 25 mm than try to divide 9-15/16th. The old "day late and a dollar short" which it seems the good ole USA is famous for. Better stop before I go all political!

[RayintheUK]

But the real question is, in a proper British Pub do you still order a pint?

You sure do! See here.

Ray

[Hoakie]

I think we Americans are just set in our ways. And that's not a bad thing, IMO.

I'm in the sciences so I use both everyday. I've never had a problem switching between the two. I guess I'm multilingual ...

Reminds me of the saying...If your friends were jumping off a cliff would you :P.

[Uncle Cracker]

Other countries don't seem to have a problem with our units when you're talking dollars...

[JR]

Other countries don't seem to have a problem with our units when you're talking dollars...

Aren't dollars metric?

I remember that it was common for those who were against changing to metric to say the "West was won buy the inch the yard and the mile. If was good enough for them it's good enough for me."

JR

[crokett]

I would rather go metric when building things, especially framing. Doing math with centimeters or MM would be much easier than trying to add fractions of inches.

[LCHIEN]

I think we, the US, missed the perfect opportunity to switch to metric when gas went over a dollar a gallon . That was the time to start selling gas by the liter. All those old pumps that could not go over 99.9 could have sold by the liter and everyone and everything else would have fallen in place.

Want to have some fun with people, just use metric measurements, when asked for what kind of mileage you car gets, give it in KPL, or better yet do kilos of gas per hour. Ask at the deli for half a kilo of lunch meat...

But the real question is, in a proper British Pub do you still order a pint?

Bill
over here in the sunshine, waiting for the tsunami

the metric countries seem to prefer liters per km which is not only in metric but also the inverse of the US fuel economy values.
I can feel for most metric measurements being an engineer but fuel economy is just, well, foreign, to me.

L/km is a rate of consumption rather than mileage, so lower is better as opposed to our mileage, where larger is better.

[Black wallnut]

So if three men go into a pizza restaurant in a metric country and order a large, and the pizza is round how will the metric system help you divide the pizza evenly? In the USA each gets a third which can simply be written as the fraction1/3 which also just so happens to be the most exact answer.

Is our system harder to learn? I dunno. I can visualize an inch, yard, mile, acre, pint, quart, gallon, etc. but I can not visualize cc ml l cm m km.

Does it matter what the rest of the world does? I think not. We don't let them vote in our elections or do we?

[twistsol]

We don't let them vote in our elections or do we?

Only in Chicago.