Cool. Let's get everyone over to the English langauge, too. Think of the productivity gains we're going to have in a generation or two!
It's time for the US to use the metric system
21–30 of 210 posts
Re: It's time for the US to use the metric system
#22The UK is supposedly metric most people still think and talk in imperial - most shops give both measurements. I think the EU gave up enforcing it. edit: sorry, by most people I mean people I know who grew up before metric was introduced.
Really does not paint a true picture. Living in the UK I use metric for everything except driving distances, driving speed and measures of beer (pints).
And what measurements are still signed / represented in some way in imperial measurements in the UK? Road signs, speedometers and beer at a bar in a pub. Everything else is presented in metric and everybody I know uses metric for everything else.
Re: It's time for the US to use the metric system
#23It's hard to "make people think" in the different unit system. I'm in the UK and people talk about sizes in feet and miles all the time even though the society is supposed to have switched to the metric system. There are places like on product labels where both units should be mandatory. Hopefully in a few generations people will gradually switch over.
This is similar in Canada Yes, it's difficult to make people think about it. At the same time, sometimes the units "don't matter" (like speed limits, 50 is 50 in the speedometer, just make sure you're not looking at the mph scale) I want to slap somebody when I hear about "pounds" or "feet/sq ft", or even worse, Fahrenheit (since this is a non-linear transform) At least everything in the supermarket is marked per pou…
> Fahrenheit (since this is a non-linear transform)
huh?
Re: It's time for the US to use the metric system
#24I was in high school when the US planned to switch to the metric system, then suddenly the deal was off. I never learned why, and I was too busy playing D&D to care.
The article is right, though; metric measures are easier to work with. I will vote in favor of changing.
Re: It's time for the US to use the metric system
#25I wonder if a successful TTIP agreement would be the catalyst for this? It's inexplicable that the EU/ EEA would allow for non-metric goods to freely flow into the market.
Should it also be illegal for the UK to teach Imperial units? I find the European attitude that government should ban everything they don't like perplexing.
Re: It's time for the US to use the metric system
#26It's hard to "make people think" in the different unit system. I'm in the UK and people talk about sizes in feet and miles all the time even though the society is supposed to have switched to the metric system. There are places like on product labels where both units should be mandatory. Hopefully in a few generations people will gradually switch over.
I disagree. When I'm working with computers, I find 24-hour time more convenient. It was a little difficult for the first few months, but now I really am ready to think only in 24-hour time.
Unfortunately, my brain won't fully switch over because everything else in my life is 12-hour time. Having both means I can't help but stick to the old way. When my computer clock says 17, I know people will start leaving the office. But, when it says 19, I don't think of supper. Supper is when my kitchen clock says 7.
Having a short adjustment period would be good, but at some point you just have to commit. Generations is too long in my opinion.
Re: It's time for the US to use the metric system
#27The UK is supposedly metric most people still think and talk in imperial - most shops give both measurements. I think the EU gave up enforcing it. edit: sorry, by most people I mean people I know who grew up before metric was introduced.
As a member of the younger generation, I rarely think in imperial and I think the same is true for most of my social group at least.
For example:
- I struggle to visualise feet or inches, we always used metric units at school so metres and cms are what I understand - kilograms for weight is much more natural to me than stones or ounces (really, I have no idea how much an ounce is, although I kind of know a pound is a small bag of sugar-ish) - miles are probably the only imperial unit I'd use, but even still, I find km much easier to reason about, perhaps because I have lived in Europe in the past. - oh, and the trusty pint of course!
Re: It's time for the US to use the metric system
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is similar in Canada Yes, it's difficult to make people think about it. At the same time, sometimes the units "don't matter" (like speed limits, 50 is 50 in the speedometer, just make sure you're not looking at the mph scale) I want to slap somebody when I hear about "pounds" or "feet/sq ft", or even worse, Fahrenheit (since this is a non-linear transform) At least everything in the supermarket is marked per pou…
> Fahrenheit (since this is a non-linear transform) huh?
There's a constant offset between F and C, so it's not linear in the actual engineering/math (or whatever) sense.
Re: It's time for the US to use the metric system
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not to derail the conversation, what how good can a political system be if their too scared to bring something up for fear of the public when its in their own interests?
In democratic systems, we generally trust the people to know their own interests, and when they're wrong win them over with debate rather than ignoring them.
democracy is not having a referendum for each random decision or new law. It's electing (thus giving your consent) someone to unilaterally make changes for everybody else during a short time. This person has the responsibility to take the hard decisions that individually would not come around.
ex, when death penalty was abolished in France, it was in opposition to the majority of french people. A few decades latter virtually everybody now agrees that's the best way of things and that it was a great decision. At the time it was a politically courageous enforcement.
Re: It's time for the US to use the metric system
#30Cool. Let's get everyone over to the English langauge, too. Think of the productivity gains we're going to have in a generation or two!
English is not a superior language. The metric system is superior.