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One of the things I keep hearing from non-Americans is how dumb Americans are and then proceed to explaining the benefits of the metric system. I see this from

One of the things I keep hearing from non-Americans is how dumb Americans are and then proceed to explaining the benefits of the metric system. I see this from random internet forums to Youtube comments, from news paper articles to talking to people in Europe. What people don't realize is that America is like a giant ship that has a ton of inertia to change. It is the world's largest economy with huge diversity of evolved shit that has piled up. It is difficult to clean it despite of the will. The US gov tried to convert America to the metric system unsuccessfully [1]. The US (NIST) in collaboration with international bodies lead the redefinition of SI units based on fundamental constants [2]. Furthermore, semiconductor industry, university labs, medical industry, etc. all use ISO standards and the metric system. The US semiconductor industry alone is larger than the GDP of Switzerland. I studied engineering in America and we used the metric system throughout with some problems in ANSI units for familiarization of the units - ultimately, the engineer needs to adapt to the company's unit system and not try to be a thorn. I personally am tired of the rest of the world patronizingly explaining the advantages of the metric system to Americans - over and over. It is not that difficult of a concept and most technical people, engineers I know in the US already understand the benefits of the metric system. It is mildly annoying at best and condescending at worst. If we are in the unit system mess, there are a lot of things that still do not follow base-10 based units. For example, font type units (points) from Switzerland. Or the way we measure time. How come there aren't 10/100th units of a minute/hour commonly used around the world? A second is split into 1000 milliseconds but a minute is not split into 1000 seconds. Why this inconsistency? Why 360 degrees? If we didn't have 10 fingers, the entire decimal system is worse than base 12 or duodecimal system [3]. The problems faced by America are exactly the same type of problems if we want to convert the entire world to duodecimal system. It is next to impossible despite of clear advantages. Note that I am not defending the people that arrogantly want to stick to status quo - there are certainly people like that in the US. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_the_United_Stat... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_redefinition_of_the_SI_base_units https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_redefinition_of_the_SI_ba... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duodecimal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duodecimal

msla 6y ago
Another thing is that a large portion of the "metric" world isn't fully metric, using old-fashioned units like miles and pyeong and tsubo. Really, the whole metric vs non-metric debate comes down to how much non-metric people see in their daily lives, not any binary distinction between "always use metric" and "never use metric" or anything of the sort.
- wrp 6y ago
  I was just going to say this. Working in many countries (especially non-Western), I've found that even in countries that have been "metric" for generations, the traditional measurements still dominate in everyday use.
  - el-salvador 6y ago
    Where I am from: - Mostly US paper sizes - Pounds for human weight - Ounces and pounds for weight,cheese and meat cuts in the supermarket. - But metric for pre packaged products(they usually come in sizes similar to imperial though, like 450 grams) - Gallons for gas and large sized bottled water - But liters and millilitres for small bottles of water... - And quarts for motor oil. - Liters for duty free alcohol and spirits,but "bottles" for locally sold alcohol. - US units for clothing and shoes - But yards for fabrics/textiles - Metric units for construction areas - Colonial units for land areas and agricultute
- swimfar 6y ago
  Almost the entire world still uses nautical miles, knots (speed), and feet for aircraft altitude. I'm pretty sure most airplanes all use AN hydraulic fittings, which are based on Imperial sizes (correct me if I'm wrong there). Also, people always say that the US is the only country that uses feet, pounds, miles, etc. But there are a lot of other countries that still use those units, or at least understand them, even if it's not an official unit. I even work with engineers from China who use and understand Imperial units. I also visited a friend in Ireland who had a (pre-digital) scale that measured weight in stones.

msla 6y ago

Another thing is that a large portion of the "metric" world isn't fully metric, using old-fashioned units like miles and pyeong and tsubo. Really, the whole metric vs non-metric debate comes down to how much non-metric people see in their daily lives, not any binary distinction between "always use metric" and "never use metric" or anything of the sort.

wrp 6y ago
I was just going to say this. Working in many countries (especially non-Western), I've found that even in countries that have been "metric" for generations, the traditional measurements still dominate in everyday use.
- el-salvador 6y ago
  Where I am from: - Mostly US paper sizes - Pounds for human weight - Ounces and pounds for weight,cheese and meat cuts in the supermarket. - But metric for pre packaged products(they usually come in sizes similar to imperial though, like 450 grams) - Gallons for gas and large sized bottled water - But liters and millilitres for small bottles of water... - And quarts for motor oil. - Liters for duty free alcohol and spirits,but "bottles" for locally sold alcohol. - US units for clothing and shoes - But yards for fabrics/textiles - Metric units for construction areas - Colonial units for land areas and agricultute
swimfar 6y ago
Almost the entire world still uses nautical miles, knots (speed), and feet for aircraft altitude. I'm pretty sure most airplanes all use AN hydraulic fittings, which are based on Imperial sizes (correct me if I'm wrong there). Also, people always say that the US is the only country that uses feet, pounds, miles, etc. But there are a lot of other countries that still use those units, or at least understand them, even if it's not an official unit. I even work with engineers from China who use and understand Imperial units. I also visited a friend in Ireland who had a (pre-digital) scale that measured weight in stones.