Make the Metric system the standard in the United States • Hacker News Board

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#51

Post by xefer » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 1:13 PM UTC

SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #14

Before 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.

To be honest, although I know the obvious benefits of metric, I still prefer imperial simply because of its messiness. I realize the system is archaic, etc., but I still like that connection, as attenuated as it may be, to our ancient past. Use metric for all scientific purposes, etc., but keep that connection to the natural world.

I suppose I like it in the same way I prefer natural languages to some artificial languages like Esperanto, etc. - or our base-60 time units as opposed to some other decimal-based system. :)

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#52

Post by robmcm » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 1:13 PM UTC

flaie wrote: post #36

oneandoneis2 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, I think metric could be improved with a few imperial equivalents - A "metric foot" as 30cm, for instance - because they are convenient measurements. e.g. If somebody asks me "How tall is that person?" it's easier to say "About five foot" rather than "I dunno, about 155cm?" (I'm British, btw)

This is only because you're british and because of the way you learned how to measure things when you were young. I'm totally unable to represent in my head how really tall "about five foot" is whereas 1,50m is totally understandable for me, easy to visualize.

I was educated during the conversion in the UK and commonly switch between the two. Speed and distances for travel in miles, shorter distances in meters. Height in feet for people, meters for building etc. Weight of people in stone, otherwise normally grams, liquids in pints for some things, liters for others.

It's confusing, but makes sense in the long run.

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#53

Post by jesusabdullah » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 1:13 PM UTC

> the imprecise Imperial Unit

englilsh units aren't any less precise than SI/metric ones. They're just more awkward and less used worldwide. The cases which I find particularly irritating in US units are lb mass vs. lb force, and HP/BTU/foot-pounds/calories/Calories (and kWh) when all you need is a J.

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#54

Post by talaketu » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 1:13 PM UTC

davidw wrote: post #18

The 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.

This doesn't explain anything. Why is the USA the exception?

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#55

Post by lmm » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 1:13 PM UTC

jamesjguthrie wrote: post #13

yarrel wrote: post #5

Earlier 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.

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.

As a 25-year-old living in the UK, body weight is mostly kilos (that's what my doctor uses, and what I look at at the gym) except when talking to my parents. Cooking is 100% metric; I genuinely do not know what people are talking about when they quote Fahrenheit temperatures. Lengths and weights are metric, though not clothing sizes I guess. Driving distance is the only thing day-to-day where I think in old units.

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#56

Post by bjourne » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 1:14 PM UTC

davidw wrote: post #18

The 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.

Oh, the problem with the Euro was that they raised prices everywhere where they introduced the new currency. What was previously 0.8€ becase 1€, 28€ to 30€ and so on. Economic power also moved from individual countries to the ECB in Brussels. If the US started using SI (Systeme International), it's not like you would be subject to a metric-controlling organisation in Paris. :)

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#57

Post by mpclark » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 1:14 PM UTC

oneandoneis2 wrote: post #22

SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #14

Before 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.

Actually, I think metric could be improved with a few imperial equivalents - A "metric foot" as 30cm, for instance - because they are convenient measurements. e.g. If somebody asks me "How tall is that person?" it's easier to say "About five foot" rather than "I dunno, about 155cm?" (I'm British, btw)

It's our age, I'm afraid. I'm a foot'n'inch-using brit too, but my early teenage kids only deal in metric units (except for miles)

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#58

Post by Tichy » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 1:15 PM UTC

danielbarla wrote: post #47

SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #14

Before 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.

People complain about the usual issues: multiple definitions of a mile, the odd ratios between inches, feet, yards, etc. It gets even more fun in agriculture, where the bushel is a frequently used unit. Now, the bushel is a unit of volume, whereas much of the world prefer to measure their crops by weight. To convert between the two, you essentially need to use conversion ratio (or table) for the crop type, along with…

Why not use metric volumes instead of bushel? You'd have the same conversion issues converting bushel to imperial weights.

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#59

Post by lmm » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 1:16 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #42

It very likely is never going to happen. The main reason for resistance apparently is the various land boundaries that would have to be re-scaled to metric, which would be a source of endless legal wrangling. Already houses in the US have the longest history attached to them, sometimes all the way from the homesteading days if the plot is old. I've used both metric and imperial, for construction imperial is lots easi…

>Already houses in the US have the longest history attached to them, sometimes all the way from the homesteading days if the plot is old.

That's young by European standards. Somehow we managed the conversion.

Re: Make the Metric system the standard in the United States

#60

Post by scotchmi_st » Wed, Jan 02, 2013, 1:16 PM UTC

davidw wrote: post #18

The 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.

The UK managed the switch from imperial to metric okay. It's really not that hard.