Why do you think the Metric System didn't catch on in the USA

[darkbeaver]

That is easy. Big Business didn't want to retool.
A far better question iswhy , after 30+ years is Canada still only half metric? ANd why do the metric bolt head sizesused in NA not use the same size wrenches common in Asia and Europe?

I worked in a totally metric manufacturing plant for years. Different sizes for different trades,mechanical and pipefitting were different over quite a few sizes for instance. I was told by a plant maintennance manager one time that metric washers were not made anywhere in the world, of course this person was a manager and not maintennance, the meeting ended in deafining laughter. Automotive uses a lot of 12mm as opposed to 13mm, 15mm and 16mm instead of 17mm or 19mm. The plant in question used every concievable thread standard on the planet as well even BSP.

 

[lone wolf]

Their military does....

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Their military does....

Scientific community as well.

Why do yo think the metric system didn't catch on in the CFL?

 

[JLM]

Why do you think the Metric System didn't catch on in the USA

Back in the 1970s and '80s, they sure tried to get Americans to switch to the metric system. But it just didn't work. Why do you think we said "no" to metric, despite the "Go Metric" campaign?

Because it was a stupid idea right from the get go. What's the sense of changing a bunch of numbers we were already comfortable with? 40 years later in Canada we are still only about 50/50.

 

[DaSleeper]

Scientific community as well.

Why do yo think the metric system didn't catch on in the CFL?

Or NHL......?

 

[JLM]

The fact that metricizing the clocks and calendars wouldn't work should have been their first clue! The whole system is a sham. The metre originally was supposed to be 1/10000000 the distance from the equator to the poles and then they found out that, that was f**ked up, it was actually about as arbitrary as the yard being the distance from the King's thumb to his nose along the outstretched arm.

 

[Johnnny]

In Ontario we measure distance and our Pepsi in metric while at the same time we measure our height and weight in imperial. And people in Ontario still know the proper conversion rate, unlike B00mer.

 

[petros]

My DL says I'm 184cm tall and weigh 90kg.

2.53cm to an inch. 454grms in an lb and 1.6km to a mile.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

All measures of space, mass, and time should be in Planck numbers. Any other system is arbitrary, stupid, and wrong.

 

[Johnnny]

All measures of space, mass, and time should be in Planck numbers. Any other system is arbitrary, stupid, and wrong.

That's gangsta

 

[darkbeaver]

The fact that metricizing the clocks and calendars wouldn't work should have been their first clue! The whole system is a sham. The metre originally was supposed to be 1/10000000 the distance from the equator to the poles and then they found out that, that was f**ked up, it was actually about as arbitrary as the yard being the distance from the King's thumb to his nose along the outstretched arm.

The meter is close to a cubit, very close. Metric clocks? And calendars? The meter originally was based on what was thought to be fixed parrameters, of course we now know everything moves according to charge and capacity, the planet is adjustable, both dimension and mass.

 

[JLM]

My DL says I'm 184cm tall and weigh 90kg.

2.53cm to an inch. 454grms in an lb and 1.6km to a mile.

And I'm a svelte 170 cm and about 86 kg.

 

[Johnnny]

You guys are smoking the crack again.

6'2" 184 lbs right here

 

[JLM]

The meter is close to a cubit, very close. Metric clocks? And calendars? The meter originally was based on what was thought to be fixed parrameters, of course we now know everything moves according to charge and capacity, the planet is adjustable, both dimension and mass.

Maybe I'm wrong but I always thought a cubit was about 18 inches. I believe we learned in Sunday School that Goliath's height was 6 cubits and a span.

 

[lone wolf]

Scientific community as well.

Why do yo think the metric system didn't catch on in the CFL?

'cuz it's a game. The money's almost metric

 

[Dexter Sinister]

A far better question iswhy , after 30+ years is Canada still only half metric?

Probably because so much of our trade is with the U.S. Canadian lumber mills, for instance, aren't going to retool to produce metric sizes if they can't sell the product in the U.S. Neither would U.S. businesses produce things in metric sizes just to sell them in Canada. Paint still comes in quarts and gallons, but like a lot of things, it's had a soft conversion, just the labelling changed, so now we buy 3.78 litres of paint instead of a gallon. That's a U.S. gallon, the Imperial gallon is 4.56 litres; evidently the fluid measures in the Imperial system didn't catch on either.

The meter is close to a cubit, very close.

A cubit's about half a metre, it's based on the length of a man's forearm from the tip of the index finger to the elbow.

 

[mentalfloss]

There's no fukking way I'm weighing myself in kg instead of lbs.

Now if anyone should change, it's the Brits and their stones.

 

[JLM]

There's no fukking way I'm weighing myself in kg instead of lbs.

Now if anyone should change, it's the Brits and their stones.

What's so difficult about stones? Exactly the same number of lbs. as there are days in a fortnight!

 

[Bar Sinister]

We do?

Apparently you don't watch US media. The phrase "It could only happen in the USA," appears more times than I can calculate and it is repeated everywhere from News channels to talk shows. I scoff every time I hear it."

 

[Kreskin]

That is easy. Big Business didn't want to retool.
A far better question iswhy , after 30+ years is Canada still only half metric? ANd why do the metric bolt head sizesused in NA not use the same size wrenches common in Asia and Europe?

It hasn't really caught on in Canada either.