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> I dislike having to own wrenches in both standard and metric units I think you mean "I dislike having US customary and standard metric units". When it comes

> I dislike having to own wrenches in both standard and metric units I think you mean "I dislike having US customary and standard metric units". When it comes down to it, everybody else in the world managed to buckle down and just switch to standard metric units and ISO/DIN paper sizes. There is nothing special about the US that makes it any more of an imposition for them to switch over. Many of the issues you've outlines are the same as ones that countries like the UK, Canada, and Ireland have had to deal with when switching over to metric everywhere, and we somehow managed it!

Someone 12y ago
What is special about the US is that it has a huge population that uses a single set of units of measurement. Europe had zillions of them (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_(mass) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_(mass), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ell) units, often multiple ones per country. In some sense, the metric system was a blessing, as it was foreign to all countries. Countries would never have switched to, say, the German standard of measurements (counterpoint: they did just that for paper sizes) And the UK started metrification in 1965 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_of_British_transport http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_of_British_transpor...), but has not completely switched to metric yet; it still uses miles for road signs. Because of that, I wouldn't say the UK managed the switch.
- talideon 12y ago
  We here in Ireland decided to move away from dual use of units (miles and km) to just km a few years back. Sure, we're not a big country, but we also have more road per capita than anywhere else in the EU at the very least. Given within a relatively short amount of time, the use of miles for non-trivial distances practically disappeared. Now it's only used in colloquialisms (e.g. "it's a few miles away") or for familiar distances (e.g. "the graveyard is a mile that way"); anything else is km, and sooner or later we'll likely be using km everywhere.
  - Someone 12y ago
    I think you can forget that "sooner" part. Colloquialisms are very, very, stubborn. For example, German and Dutch still have the word "ellenlang" (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ellenlang http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ellenlang), literally "ells long", but typically used to describe durations (a long boring talk can be 'ellenlang'), even though the meter has been the unit of length for almost two centuries. Similarly, "miles long" is still in use for long, tedious or annoyingly large distances.
    - jacquesm 12y ago
      They still exist but fewer and fewer people even know the origins of those words.
- rakoo 12y ago
  > Europe had zillions of them The world had zillions of them, and yet the world (minus some strong-headed minds) switched to it. Centuries ago. What is special about the US is that there is still some commercial value in converting from standard metric units to this specific US system.
DanBC 12y ago
The UK took a while and still hasn't switched some units. Our speed limits are miles per hour; beer on draught in pubs is sold in pints and half pints (and it is not legal to sell it in other units even if clearly labelled with conversions).
- talideon 12y ago
  I know that, I'm from Ireland. However, in comparison to the US, the UK is practically France as far as metrification goes. We still sell by the pint here too, and people still use imperial units casually (mostly inches/feet for human-relative distances, pounds/stone for people's weight, and pints for draught beer and cider) but everything else is metric at this point. The UK should probably bite the bullet as far as roadsigns and speed limits go. It's about time, really.

Someone 12y ago

What is special about the US is that it has a huge population that uses a single set of units of measurement. Europe had zillions of them (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_(mass) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_(mass), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ell) units, often multiple ones per country. In some sense, the metric system was a blessing, as it was foreign to all countries. Countries would never have switched to, say, the German standard of measurements (counterpoint: they did just that for paper sizes) And the UK started metrification in 1965 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_of_British_transport http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_of_British_transpor...), but has not completely switched to metric yet; it still uses miles for road signs. Because of that, I wouldn't say the UK managed the switch.

talideon 12y ago
We here in Ireland decided to move away from dual use of units (miles and km) to just km a few years back. Sure, we're not a big country, but we also have more road per capita than anywhere else in the EU at the very least. Given within a relatively short amount of time, the use of miles for non-trivial distances practically disappeared. Now it's only used in colloquialisms (e.g. "it's a few miles away") or for familiar distances (e.g. "the graveyard is a mile that way"); anything else is km, and sooner or later we'll likely be using km everywhere.
- Someone 12y ago
  I think you can forget that "sooner" part. Colloquialisms are very, very, stubborn. For example, German and Dutch still have the word "ellenlang" (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ellenlang http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ellenlang), literally "ells long", but typically used to describe durations (a long boring talk can be 'ellenlang'), even though the meter has been the unit of length for almost two centuries. Similarly, "miles long" is still in use for long, tedious or annoyingly large distances.
  - jacquesm 12y ago
    They still exist but fewer and fewer people even know the origins of those words.
rakoo 12y ago
> Europe had zillions of them The world had zillions of them, and yet the world (minus some strong-headed minds) switched to it. Centuries ago. What is special about the US is that there is still some commercial value in converting from standard metric units to this specific US system.

DanBC 12y ago

The UK took a while and still hasn't switched some units. Our speed limits are miles per hour; beer on draught in pubs is sold in pints and half pints (and it is not legal to sell it in other units even if clearly labelled with conversions).

talideon 12y ago
I know that, I'm from Ireland. However, in comparison to the US, the UK is practically France as far as metrification goes. We still sell by the pint here too, and people still use imperial units casually (mostly inches/feet for human-relative distances, pounds/stone for people's weight, and pints for draught beer and cider) but everything else is metric at this point. The UK should probably bite the bullet as far as roadsigns and speed limits go. It's about time, really.