4 ms·
If it is nearly impossible to switch the US from imperial to metric, I cannot imagine what it would take to unify a massive population under a single dialect.
by robomartin 2y ago
If it is nearly impossible to switch the US from imperial to metric, I cannot imagine what it would take to unify a massive population under a single dialect. I think the answer is measured in generations.
- School-Cotton 2y agoEh, it’s “hard” for the U.S. to switch from customary to metric units because nobody really cares enough to do so. The forces causing language standardization (in many countries, not just China) are much more powerful.
- bdowling 2y agoAmericans use metric where it's required by law (e.g., food and drug packaging), it just takes government force. Government force can also change a population's language. See, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglicisation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglicisation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinicization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinicization
- Joker_vD 2y ago> I cannot imagine what it would take to unify a massive population under a single dialect Ask French how they've managed to (almost) eradicate the Occitan and Breton and spread the Parisian dialect as the offical variant of French language throughout the country.
- numpad0 2y agoVTubers and ~15 years. Media, in generalized form. The velocity of weebs internalizing fringe Japanese concepts is astonishing.
- devnullbrain 2y agoNot as fast as the reverse. It's surprising how much Japanese is just borrowed English written in katakana.
- Lio 2y agoIt's worse than that, the US doesn't even use Imperial units, which was only introduced after US independence.. They use their own unique set of units that are different to both Imperial and Metric.
- devnullbrain 2y agoThe US will be slower than most places due to the federation and ideological individualism.