Why is the U.S. still refusing to switch to the metric system?

[Robin_Starveling]

Even Britain and Canada have caught up.

Whenever I read something that uses imperial units, I just keep going, hoping I can figure out what they actually mean from context. And if I can’t, well, too bad, because I’m definitely not stopping to open a calculator.

Funny enough, the U.S. did officially adopt the metric system back in 1975, but Reagan scrapped it in 1982.

I can roughly estimate miles and pounds by multiplying by 1.61 and 0.45. But ounces, gallons, acres? Yeah, no thanks.

And Fahrenheit? That one is just ridiculous. Fahrenheit arbitrarily set 96 degrees as body temperature based on his wife’s armpit. Seriously? At least Celsius makes sense. Zero is freezing, and everything goes up or down from there in a clean, logical way.

When I read that a character is six feet tall, I know that is 1.83 meters. But then what? The next unit is a whole inch, 2.54 centimeters. There is no smooth progression like 1.84 or 1.85 meters. The jump is straight to 1.865, which just feels clunky and imprecise.

So what's the deal? Why cling to a system barely anyone else uses? Why not just make the switch?

 

[MaturemanAJ]

Even Britain and Canada have caught up.

Whenever I read something that uses imperial units, I just keep going, hoping I can figure out what they actually mean from context. And if I can’t, well, too bad, because I’m definitely not stopping to open a calculator.

Funny enough, the U.S. did officially adopt the metric system back in 1975, but Reagan scrapped it in 1982.

I can roughly estimate miles and pounds by multiplying by 1.61 and 0.45. But ounces, gallons, acres? Yeah, no thanks.

And Fahrenheit? That one is just ridiculous. Fahrenheit arbitrarily set 96 degrees as body temperature based on his wife’s armpit. Seriously? At least Celsius makes sense. Zero is freezing, and everything goes up or down from there in a clean, logical way.

When I read that a character is six feet tall, I know that is 1.83 meters. But then what? The next unit is a whole inch, 2.54 centimeters. There is no smooth progression like 1.84 or 1.85 meters. The jump is straight to 1.865, which just feels clunky and imprecise.

So what's the deal? Why cling to a system barely anyone else uses? Why not just make the switch?

Who cares what anyone else uses. It's not broke don't fix it

 

[WhiteTailDarkTip]

Even Britain and Canada have caught up.

Whenever I read something that uses imperial units, I just keep going, hoping I can figure out what they actually mean from context. And if I can’t, well, too bad, because I’m definitely not stopping to open a calculator.

Funny enough, the U.S. did officially adopt the metric system back in 1975, but Reagan scrapped it in 1982.

I can roughly estimate miles and pounds by multiplying by 1.61 and 0.45. But ounces, gallons, acres? Yeah, no thanks.

And Fahrenheit? That one is just ridiculous. Fahrenheit arbitrarily set 96 degrees as body temperature based on his wife’s armpit. Seriously? At least Celsius makes sense. Zero is freezing, and everything goes up or down from there in a clean, logical way.

When I read that a character is six feet tall, I know that is 1.83 meters. But then what? The next unit is a whole inch, 2.54 centimeters. There is no smooth progression like 1.84 or 1.85 meters. The jump is straight to 1.865, which just feels clunky and imprecise.

So what's the deal? Why cling to a system barely anyone else uses? Why not just make the switch?

For your own self-preservation, don't criticise Americans

 

[Robin_Starveling]

For your own self-preservation, don't criticise Americans

Pretty sure someone said something similar about the Romans in the 470s.

 

[Wonderer67]

I don’t care either way.

I learned all about the metric system in the army cuz NATO is all metric. 30mm wrenches for tank end connectors (links), 25mm for the tracks themselves. Didn’t have to do much conversion there.

100 m is pretty much 100 yards
A kilometer is about 2/3 of a mile

The temperature thing kind of threw me at first but zero is 32 and 16 is 61 and I can kind of estimate it and figure it out. I know 40 is hot as fuck.

Tracer burnout for an m240 machine gun is at 900 m. Maximum effective range 1200 m. Max range 1800m which was a little over a mile.

M2 .50 cal (or 12.7mm if you wish) had a max effective range of 1800m and max range of 2400m (about a mile and a mile and a half respectively)

Doesn’t make a lick of fucking difference to me.

 

[APilgrimSquare]

The simple answer is: who's going to make us?

Large populations move slowly, and people often prefer not to move at all. As an American not working in the sciences, I can go through my entire day without coming into contact with the metric system once. Not once! The idea of converting is bewildering to me. One may as well ask why we don't speak Chinese. The answer is the same: because we don't have to!

At least not yet.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Because Americans can visualize a foot or an inch but have no clue what or 30.54 or 2.54 cm are and it’s too much effort to memorize all the conversions when, in most cases, it just doesn’t matter. It’s just innate in being American. We’re exposed to standard measures from day one. Having said that, from a business perspective, we’re pretty much there.

 

[Bray123]

Does the navy still use fathoms and knots?

 

[eric_erosfan]

Any American with a science or engineering degree knows metric. That was original argument for it. That American kids would be at a disadvantage not knowing it. But you pick it up quickly.

 

[HordHolm]

Yeah, this is a debate that rears its head from time to time.

From one perspective, its sometimes an issue for me as a Brit when faced with US terminology. I'll find myself reading about temperatures in the 70s (no clue), sophomores (equally, no clue), homecoming queens (?), memorial day weekends (couldn't tell you what season that's in, let alone the date, if my life depended on it). Hell, I only found out the Canadians have their own, different, Thanksgiving a couple of years ago. I think a lot of US writers here forget that they aren't only writing for a US audience, but mostly it doesn't get to the point where I want to bail from a story. And in real life, well, I don't converse face to face with Americans on even a yearly basis, or find myself having to worry about the things I listed above. I don't do business with anyone in the US either.

In the bit of central Europe I inhabit we do get an occasional US citizen who doesn't quite grasp that laws and customs are different here. But there are bound to be some dumbasses in a population of 310 million, and sometimes they even have passports. There are some cripplingly dumb Brits, too, I'm sorry to say - I have even been known to turn and walk in the opposite direction when I hear a group of Brits ahead of me in the street

Would it be easier if everyone used the same measurements and terminology? Perhaps. Will it happen? No, at least not in my lifetime. Does that affect my reading on Lit? From time to time. Does it affect my writing? Actually, in a sense, yes. I am increasingly happy to use British terminology without batting an eyelid. If that puts some readers off for the same reason that US terminology sometimes loses me, then so be it.

 

[eric_erosfan]

And really the bigger outrage is Brits and their cars on the wrong side of the road.

 

[Lance_Castro]

Americans are getting there…. Look at how popular the 9mm is

 

[Pad_Foot]

And really the bigger outrage is Brits and their cars on the wrong side of the road.

Yeah.. they aren’t the only ones.

There you have your answer WORLD

We are isolationists.

All our businesses with the world have to convert thanks to Reagan.

Converting between any measurements in Amerikkka in the American system will beyond the majority of the population very soon with AI support. Very very few can tell you how many ounces are in a gallon. None could tell you the volume of an ounce of water or whether it weighs an oz or not

An American will proudly tell you that they have never been good at math. Our newscasters always say this about themselves.

Move on. Don’t worry about us in the US. We have our guns to keep us company. Now you’ve all discovered we don’t really even want you to visit. We will sit and enjoy where our own lil’ Rocket Man takes us.

Look up how Fahrenheit figure his zero. And human temp?? I think that was supposed to be his 100. 96 would make no sense! He would have to divide that by 96 to get to his 100.

Precision????? Well? We can’t do fractions, so an inch is close enough. Millimeters?? Are those the icky bugs??

 

[ChloeTzang]

It's up to the rest of the world to abandon that stupid metric system and move to match us.

That's why we got astromauts to the moon and no-one else ever has. They were all on that stupid metric system and they got the distances mixed up.

 

[ChloeTzang]

And really the bigger outrage is Brits and their cars on the wrong side of the road.

Not to mention whee the driver sits. Have you ever tried to drive a car from the passenger's seat. It's very disorienting. And everyone looks at you when they offer you a ride and you jump into the driver's seat. LOL

 

[Robin_Starveling]

That's why we got astromauts to the moon and no-one else ever has.

Lol. The naivety... There were never any astronauts on the moon.

 

[eric_erosfan]

Not to mention whee the driver sits. Have you ever tried to drive a car from the passenger's seat. It's very disorienting. And everyone looks at you when they offer you a ride and you jump into the driver's seat. LOL

I remember in London decades ago they had these signs for Americans to tell you which way to look first when crossing the street. Think of all the money they could have saved on signs if they just converted to American cars.

 

[Statius]

Because we're fucking stupid in the US. We defy for the sake of defying. Not because it makes sense. We would rather be wrong, but wrong our way, not yours. And by that I mean everything, not just the metric system.

 

[HisArpy]

Lol. The naivety... There were never any astronauts on the moon.

That's because someone used 8mm (you know, metric) film cameras.

And of course there was the Hubble Space Telescope debacle where (ahem) someone used the wrong measuring system to build the parabolic mirror and it didn't match up with the properly-built-because-they-used-the-correct-kind-of-math telescope.

I think it has something to do with switchery in schools. I have 8 fingers and 2 thumbs, not 10 "digits." Which, coincidentally, seems to be the common theme with the metric system which is based on 10 instead of 4. You know, 4. Like the number of fingers I have on each hand.

 

[HisArpy]

Because we're fucking stupid in the US. We defy for the sake of defying. Not because it makes sense. We would rather be wrong, but wrong our way, not yours. And by that I mean everything, not just the metric system.

It's called "lead, follow, or get the hell out the way."

 

[Pad_Foot]

I remember in London decades ago they had these signs for Americans to tell you which way to look first when crossing the street. Think of all the money they could have saved on signs if they just converted to American cars.

Yup! That makes sense

Please go to London

Ignore all the signs they painted for YOU!!
They are all smart enough to look both ways when they visit us. But? These days why the fuck would they visit the US??
Australians and Japanese.. the same
All those Japanese car models are adjusted for you.

 

[eric_erosfan]

Yup! That makes sense

Please go to London

Ignore all the signs they painted for YOU!!
They are all smart enough to look both ways when they visit us. But? These days why the fuck would they visit the US??
Australians and Japanese.. the same
All those Japanese car models are adjusted for you.

I mean I figure you're a smart lad who can make sense of this data:



https://www.factorywarrantylist.com/car-sales-by-country.html

 

[Pad_Foot]

I mean I figure you're a smart lad who can make sense of this data:

View attachment 2556784

https://www.factorywarrantylist.com/car-sales-by-country.html

Your point??
You want them to die in car accidents by switching sides of the road … in current cars as they switch over…?

And you can’t switch to metric system? Measuring system as you use the Imperial System based on Egyptian fractions??? What was one of the first nations with a Revolution against Imperialism?? What President thought up a system based on 10’s?? Where did the standard kilogram weight, sent to him by France, end up ???

It’s a fluke we’re still doing measurements based on a King’s measurements vs wavelength of light now. That’s GOD’s measurements!

What’s a 1/16 of an inch in decimals? Your computer overlords won’t like having to convert all your fractions

US kids waste time trying to learn both systems

Here.., let’s give you a few cc’s of psychedelics while we let you ponder

What’s a cc??? What’s that in ounces??? Dry or liquid?? Fuck if I know?

Now ! Let’s talk knots as a speed!!

 

[eric_erosfan]

Your point??
You want them to die in car accidents by switching sides of the road … in current cars as they switch over…?

And you can’t switch to metric system? Measuring system as you use the Imperial System based on Egyptian fractions??? What was one of the first nations with a Revolution against Imperialism?? What President thought up a system based on 10’s?? Where did the standard kilogram weight, sent to him by France, end up ???

It’s a fluke we’re still doing measurements based on a King’s measurements vs wavelength of light now. That’s GOD’s measurements!

What’s a 1/16 of an inch in decimals? Your computer overlords won’t like having to convert all your fractions

US kids waste time trying to learn both systems

Here.., let’s give you a few cc’s of psychedelics while we let you ponder

What’s a cc??? What’s that in ounces??? Dry or liquid?? Fuck if I know?

Now ! Let’s talk knots as a speed!!

I bet they love you at the landscape supply store when they ask how many yards of mulch you want.

 

[Pad_Foot]

I bet they love you at the landscape supply store when they ask how many yards of mulch you want.

Yeah, good luck turning that cubic yard into inches spread over your yard.

I kinda like all the conversions. But? I had a hard time teaching them to students first 38 years, Can you tell me how deep that yard will be spread over my 4 ft circular garden?