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But so is the United States. In all industries where it matters (science, technology, military, medicine) metric is virtually the only measurement system that's

But so is the United States. In all industries where it matters (science, technology, military, medicine) metric is virtually the only measurement system that's used, not to mention that a lot of products are sold in round metric quantities, not imperial.

mcjiggerlog 4y ago
The difference is that in the UK nearly everything you interact with in your daily life is in metric. You won't find anything in a UK household in imperial measurements other than the bottle of milk in the fridge.
- timrichard 4y ago
  For supermarket milk at least, I can only remember seeing both units for quite a while. I had a glance at the one in our fridge, and it says "2.272L 4 pints" on the label.
Symbiote 4y ago
There is a huge difference. Ask an average American to give you the length of their car, size of their kitchen or weight of a brick in metric and they'll have no clue. The average British person can do this, because education has been metric for 50+ years and the least-technical industry (e.g. construction, DIY) is metric. (See e.g. https://www.diy.com/ https://www.diy.com/, the largest consumer-facing DIY shop in Britain. It's 20kg of 10mm gravel, doors in millimetres, paint in litres. I can't even see a button offering an imperial conversion.)
- CogitoCogito 4y ago
  /u/sgjohnson said metric is used in "in all industries where it matters". Have you maybe considered that "the length of their car, size of their kitchen or weight of a brick" are all examples of where it _doesn't_ matter?
  - Symbiote 4y ago
    Exactly. That's the huge difference. The USA only uses metric in some important industries. Britain uses it for lots of "unimportant" things, like construction/DIY, medicine, health care, cooking, sport/fitness.
    - CogitoCogito 4y ago
      > Exactly. That's the huge difference. I’m not really sure what your point is. If we take as a starting point that the US used the metric system where it matters, then why is it an issue that it isn’t used ubiquitously? I’m not saying you need to agree with the claim “the US used the metric where it matters”, but if we just take that on face value, then why isn’t that enough? Why do you care if Americans talking amongst themselves speak in their own vernacular and system of measurements? What exactly is the problem?
      - Symbiote 4y ago
        The comment I first replied to said the US was in the same middle-ground as the UK. That is not true -- it's in a different middle ground, much further from a fully-metric country. That's all my point was. > Why do you care if Americans talking amongst themselves speak in their own vernacular and system of measurements? It's fine if they keep it to themselves. I'm never bothered by traditional Japanese floor area measurements, for example. But Americans attempt to use their own, private system when communicating to the rest of the world, in commerce, software and media. (Search "Weather Taipei" on Google while in Taiwan, with a browser set to not-US-English, and you end up with Fahrenheit etc. Set Windows to "English Ireland" and random bits of stuff will still be in miles/°F.) This even leaks to non-Americans (or maybe English translators). It's annoying to go to a museum in, say, Brazil and see the Portuguese text uses metric, but this has been translated to pounds and feet in the English text. Most of the tourists reading the English aren't even American!
        CogitoCogito 4y ago
        > But Americans attempt to use their own, private system when communicating to the rest of the world, in commerce, software and media. What’s the difference between that and when the rest of the world tries to communicate with Americans using metric? In my experience foreigners in the US complain significantly more about the US not using metric while in the US than Americans do while in countries using metric. > Search "Weather Taipei" on Google while in Taiwan, with a browser set to not-US-English, and you end up with Fahrenheit etc. Can you not set your choice of units as a preference? Or are you annoyed that Google chose a default that is different than the one you wish to see? Given there is no universal choice that pleases everyone, wouldn’t their choice annoy some people no matter what? In any case, this is a complain to direct to Google and not Americans in general. Besides you’re free to use another weather app that matches your defaults. > It's annoying to go to a museum in, say, Brazil and see the Portuguese text uses metric, but this has been translated to pounds and feet in the English text. Most of the tourists reading the English aren't even American! This is a complaint that should be directed at a certain Brazilian museum.
- kps 4y ago
  And you buy a sheet of plywood that's 1220mm × 2440mm which is totally metric and not just 4×8 wearing a fake moustache.
  - orthoxerox 4y ago
    Or you plan to buy the "metric" one that is 1250mm × 2500mm, but your contractor messes up and buys the "American" size after the studs have been built 625mm apart.
- anjbe 4y ago
  Any American can visualize the size of a two‐liter bottle, thanks to our addiction to soda. Three‐liter is also a commonly available size. I’ve never in my life seen anything sold in quantity of one liter here, though.
mihaaly 4y ago
Except engineering/architecture. Making design software for architects and civil engineers in Europe then (trying to) introduce it to the US market is a b**h!

mcjiggerlog 4y ago

The difference is that in the UK nearly everything you interact with in your daily life is in metric. You won't find anything in a UK household in imperial measurements other than the bottle of milk in the fridge.

timrichard 4y ago
For supermarket milk at least, I can only remember seeing both units for quite a while. I had a glance at the one in our fridge, and it says "2.272L 4 pints" on the label.

Symbiote 4y ago

There is a huge difference. Ask an average American to give you the length of their car, size of their kitchen or weight of a brick in metric and they'll have no clue. The average British person can do this, because education has been metric for 50+ years and the least-technical industry (e.g. construction, DIY) is metric. (See e.g. https://www.diy.com/ https://www.diy.com/, the largest consumer-facing DIY shop in Britain. It's 20kg of 10mm gravel, doors in millimetres, paint in litres. I can't even see a button offering an imperial conversion.)

CogitoCogito 4y ago
/u/sgjohnson said metric is used in "in all industries where it matters". Have you maybe considered that "the length of their car, size of their kitchen or weight of a brick" are all examples of where it _doesn't_ matter?
- Symbiote 4y ago
  Exactly. That's the huge difference. The USA only uses metric in some important industries. Britain uses it for lots of "unimportant" things, like construction/DIY, medicine, health care, cooking, sport/fitness.
  - CogitoCogito 4y ago
    > Exactly. That's the huge difference. I’m not really sure what your point is. If we take as a starting point that the US used the metric system where it matters, then why is it an issue that it isn’t used ubiquitously? I’m not saying you need to agree with the claim “the US used the metric where it matters”, but if we just take that on face value, then why isn’t that enough? Why do you care if Americans talking amongst themselves speak in their own vernacular and system of measurements? What exactly is the problem?
    - Symbiote 4y ago
      The comment I first replied to said the US was in the same middle-ground as the UK. That is not true -- it's in a different middle ground, much further from a fully-metric country. That's all my point was. > Why do you care if Americans talking amongst themselves speak in their own vernacular and system of measurements? It's fine if they keep it to themselves. I'm never bothered by traditional Japanese floor area measurements, for example. But Americans attempt to use their own, private system when communicating to the rest of the world, in commerce, software and media. (Search "Weather Taipei" on Google while in Taiwan, with a browser set to not-US-English, and you end up with Fahrenheit etc. Set Windows to "English Ireland" and random bits of stuff will still be in miles/°F.) This even leaks to non-Americans (or maybe English translators). It's annoying to go to a museum in, say, Brazil and see the Portuguese text uses metric, but this has been translated to pounds and feet in the English text. Most of the tourists reading the English aren't even American!
      - CogitoCogito 4y ago
        > But Americans attempt to use their own, private system when communicating to the rest of the world, in commerce, software and media. What’s the difference between that and when the rest of the world tries to communicate with Americans using metric? In my experience foreigners in the US complain significantly more about the US not using metric while in the US than Americans do while in countries using metric. > Search "Weather Taipei" on Google while in Taiwan, with a browser set to not-US-English, and you end up with Fahrenheit etc. Can you not set your choice of units as a preference? Or are you annoyed that Google chose a default that is different than the one you wish to see? Given there is no universal choice that pleases everyone, wouldn’t their choice annoy some people no matter what? In any case, this is a complain to direct to Google and not Americans in general. Besides you’re free to use another weather app that matches your defaults. > It's annoying to go to a museum in, say, Brazil and see the Portuguese text uses metric, but this has been translated to pounds and feet in the English text. Most of the tourists reading the English aren't even American! This is a complaint that should be directed at a certain Brazilian museum.
kps 4y ago
And you buy a sheet of plywood that's 1220mm × 2440mm which is totally metric and not just 4×8 wearing a fake moustache.
- orthoxerox 4y ago
  Or you plan to buy the "metric" one that is 1250mm × 2500mm, but your contractor messes up and buys the "American" size after the studs have been built 625mm apart.
anjbe 4y ago
Any American can visualize the size of a two‐liter bottle, thanks to our addiction to soda. Three‐liter is also a commonly available size. I’ve never in my life seen anything sold in quantity of one liter here, though.

mihaaly 4y ago

Except engineering/architecture. Making design software for architects and civil engineers in Europe then (trying to) introduce it to the US market is a b**h!