I don't think politicians would ever allow this, especially during these times, since the proposed change would cost millions in change of signs and anything where the imperial system is used.
Make the Metric system the standard in the United States
11–20 of 547 posts
Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States
#12Metrickery is a socialist plot to weaken America. First it's units of measurement divisible by ten, then it's universal health care, then gun control, and finally off to the gulag for the last remaining freethinkers.
Sadly, there are people who believe more of less exactly what I just wrote.
Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States
#13what a coincidence, just yesterday I saw a comedian making fun of UK&US for not using the metric system and instead something he considered archaic
Imperial is very visible in the UK (for road instances and for beer glasses in particular) but the country is pretty much metric now and has been for decades.
I disagree that the UK is metric at all. They try to teach us to think metric in school but in the real world almost everything is still imperial.
We hear imperial units every day in this country. We hear it when we discuss body weight, driving distance, cooking, size of most things, etc.
Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States
#14Before we start with the standard junk about "imperial measures are better because they are easier to understand / better suited to human scale / etc." can I say nope.
The only advantage that imperial measures have (for some) is that they are familiar. That's the sum total of it. People where were raised metric find these apologies for imperial measures to be pure gibberish.
Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States
#15what a coincidence, just yesterday I saw a comedian making fun of UK&US for not using the metric system and instead something he considered archaic
Imperial is very visible in the UK (for road instances and for beer glasses in particular) but the country is pretty much metric now and has been for decades.
Funny you should mention beer – I've noticed an increasing tendency for pint glasses to be marked "568ml". Milk also doesn't come in pints any more, but does come in 568ml and 1 litre varieties. Still, as a nation we ask for and think of our beer and milk in pints.
Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States
#16related question to people from the US: did you actually learn the metric system in primary school? did you learn it besides the imperial units? I believe as Tloewald pointed out that the adoption really depends on whether people are learning it and not what politicians declare to be the standard.
Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States
#17ISO 216 paper sizes while you're at it, please!
Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States
#18The way I explain this one to my European friends is:
Do you remember the transition to the Euro? How you had to mentally convert prices at first? And how old people had more difficulties with it in some cases? Now, imagine that, not just for one unit, but weights, lengths, temperatures and volumes, all at the same time.
Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Imperial is very visible in the UK (for road instances and for beer glasses in particular) but the country is pretty much metric now and has been for decades.
Funny you should mention beer – I've noticed an increasing tendency for pint glasses to be marked "568ml". Milk also doesn't come in pints any more, but does come in 568ml and 1 litre varieties. Still, as a nation we ask for and think of our beer and milk in pints.
The 2 cartons of milk in my fridge right now, say "2272ml 4 pints" on them.
Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States
#20Before we start with the standard junk about "imperial measures are better because they are easier to understand / better suited to human scale / etc." can I say nope . The only advantage that imperial measures have (for some) is that they are familiar. That's the sum total of it. People where were raised metric find these apologies for imperial measures to be pure gibberish.
Aren't their much easier to use? Conversion between units is straight-forward, there is connection between length and volume units, and probably much more common-senses-ness. I mean, the ft+inch system for human height is absolutely horrible.