4 ms·

As an American who lives abroad, I would LOVE for the US to switch to the metric system. I truly don't understand why we haven't already.

drdeadringer 7y ago
I remember a school teacher explaining how we [the US] were going to make the switch soon. A healthy number of years later I realized nothing happened and wondered what was going on. Many years after that I used the "MPH/KPH" button in my vehicle as a form of useless rebellion.
- maxxxxx 7y ago
  There was an effort in the 70s that got shut down by the Reagan administration.
  - tastyfreeze 7y ago
    Kinda, it wasn't shot down. The US actually started down the path of conversion. The real reason that US metrication failed was that conversion was voluntary. The UK went through a similar change but metrication was mandatory for all industries. In the US most businesses and industries just decided it cost too much to change so they didn't. https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/pml/wmd/metric/1136a.pdf https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/pml/wmd/m...
asark 7y ago
Inches/feet/yards are pretty decent measurements. Better than metric, in some ways. It's miles where everything goes to hell. Fahrenheit's not really worth clinging to but does seem to be a closer match than celsius to sensible differences in temperature, using whole-number degrees only, and its 0-100 range (and somewhat beyond, with either basically translating to "effing cold" or "effing hot") matches up pretty well with common air temperatures in most populated areas, which is handy. I can see resisting a change there as it's "good enough". Being able to trivially convert volume to mass and vice-versa for anything that's mostly water is a killer feature for metric, at least when it comes to cooking, which is the main place most people actually use volume and mass measurements in their lives. Switching there seems like a no-brainer. Really, most people are using these measurements for household work, checking the weather and setting indoor temps, cooking, and travel distances (miles are fine there since they rarely/never need to be converted to anything else for that purpose). That's about it. The only place Imperial's a clear loser there, seems to me, is the kitchen. Most people aren't doing science—and it's telling that the kitchen, where they come the closest to it, is where metric might have a real advantage.
- saalweachter 7y ago
  Just remember: 200m is one furlong. Re: water, a pint's a pound the whole world 'round.

drdeadringer 7y ago

I remember a school teacher explaining how we [the US] were going to make the switch soon. A healthy number of years later I realized nothing happened and wondered what was going on. Many years after that I used the "MPH/KPH" button in my vehicle as a form of useless rebellion.

maxxxxx 7y ago
There was an effort in the 70s that got shut down by the Reagan administration.
- tastyfreeze 7y ago
  Kinda, it wasn't shot down. The US actually started down the path of conversion. The real reason that US metrication failed was that conversion was voluntary. The UK went through a similar change but metrication was mandatory for all industries. In the US most businesses and industries just decided it cost too much to change so they didn't. https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/pml/wmd/metric/1136a.pdf https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/pml/wmd/m...

asark 7y ago

Inches/feet/yards are pretty decent measurements. Better than metric, in some ways. It's miles where everything goes to hell. Fahrenheit's not really worth clinging to but does seem to be a closer match than celsius to sensible differences in temperature, using whole-number degrees only, and its 0-100 range (and somewhat beyond, with either basically translating to "effing cold" or "effing hot") matches up pretty well with common air temperatures in most populated areas, which is handy. I can see resisting a change there as it's "good enough". Being able to trivially convert volume to mass and vice-versa for anything that's mostly water is a killer feature for metric, at least when it comes to cooking, which is the main place most people actually use volume and mass measurements in their lives. Switching there seems like a no-brainer. Really, most people are using these measurements for household work, checking the weather and setting indoor temps, cooking, and travel distances (miles are fine there since they rarely/never need to be converted to anything else for that purpose). That's about it. The only place Imperial's a clear loser there, seems to me, is the kitchen. Most people aren't doing science—and it's telling that the kitchen, where they come the closest to it, is where metric might have a real advantage.

saalweachter 7y ago
Just remember: 200m is one furlong. Re: water, a pint's a pound the whole world 'round.