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

[Bar Sinister]

When I watch the ti-cats lose yet another the game commentary is always in yards, beaten within an inch of his life sounds odd when converted, beaten within 25.4 millimetres of his life. A short little guy becomes half .473175 litre instead of half pint...something gets lost.
Anyway I was in food basics the other day and overheard a customer ask a store employee where the lb. markings where on their weight scale. She replied there are none it's all metric so he asked why bananas are priced @ .59 per lb., she offered a standard political reply and simply shrugged.

Yes, Canada did not do it right. When the Aussies went metric the yards on their football fields (rugby) changed to meters, and the furlongs in horse racing changed to meters. Canada had the right idea about metric back in the 1970s but the conversion process was buggered up by the PC governments of the 1980s who allowed a dual system to remain in place. And then there is good old fashioned human stupidity - I am still amazed at acquaintances who claim they don't understand Celsius after living with it for more than 40 years.

Scientific community as well.

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

It could have if you wanted to go "first and 9," or have the offence struggle to gain an extra yard with "first and 10 meters." So far as football is concerned it simply doesn't matter. Just as furlongs don't really matter in horse racing. Every punter knows a five furlong race is short and an 8 furlong race is long.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Yeah, and because of inconsistencies in assorted systems of weights and measures, an ounce of gold is heavier than an ounce of feathers and a pound of gold is lighter than a pound of feathers.

 

[JLM]

Yeah, and because of inconsistencies in assorted systems of weights and measures, an ounce of gold is heavier than an ounce of feathers and a pound of gold is lighter than a pound of feathers.

Ah, Troy vs. Avoirdupois. Only 12 oz. in a lb. of gold.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

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."

So, when you said "progressive," you meant "unique." OK, thanks.

 

[Bar Sinister]

So, when you said "progressive," you meant "unique." OK, thanks.

No I meant that many Americans have been gulled into thinking that the US leads in almost every category in terms of freedoms and of technological progress. That might actually have been true for the first few decades following World War II, but a lot of the world has caught up since them, and a number of nations have actually surpassed the US in both categories.

 

[Blackleaf]

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

Becuse, like the British, the Americans are a proud, independent-minded race who want to keep their own measures and not adopt alien, foreign measures.

 

[Jinentonix]

For me it's weird. I kind of got caught in the middle of the conversion so I guess I'm "bisystem". For example, I can deal with pounds but kilos don't tell me how much something weighs. Yes, I know it's a unit of weight but it doesn't tell me how much something weighs.
Same with temperature. When my wife tells me what the temp is going to be for the day she tells me in Celsius which then prompts me to do the math so I know what temperature it really is.

I do love the metric system for distance though. Although even there when it comes to miles vs km, I use the metric system to estimate how long it'll take me to get from point A to point B but I still have to think in miles to understand how far away from me something actually is.

No I meant that many Americans have been gulled into thinking that the US leads in almost every category in terms of freedoms and of technological progress. That might actually have been true for the first few decades following World War II, but a lot of the world has caught up since them, and a number of nations have actually surpassed the US in both categories.

Ah ok, I was reading through some of this thread before responding to another post in here, and now what you initially said makes more sense. I was also thinking you meant more socially progressive.

 

[B00Mer]

You can't fix stupid.. so Merica will never learn Metric.

 

[Blackleaf]

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

Why?

 

[B00Mer]

Why?

Because.

 

[Blackleaf]

Because.

And what can be done about the British having the audacity to use their own measures rather than the measures of our enemy Napoleonic France?

Even the EU can no longer force us to adopt Metric measures.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

It's not audacity, it's inertia.

 

[10larry]

There's a maxim that sez if it ain't broke don't fix it but libs awhile back under trudough I determined to make qc folk feel more at home brought europes obtuse system of dimensions here 'fixing' a perfectly serviceable system. Was tough and expensive for guys mechanical as they needed to refit their tool box, made in u.s. 1/2" metric 8mm or something. I'm pretty much with jinentix in that I hafta convert 11c or 21 cm of snow to real terms to get the picture. MPG is ever so eezy compared to 2.67 litters per 100 km.

 

[taxslave]

There's a maxim that sez if it ain't broke don't fix it but libs awhile back under trudough I determined to make qc folk feel more at home brought europes obtuse system of dimensions here 'fixing' a perfectly serviceable system. Was tough and expensive for guys mechanical as they needed to refit their tool box, made in u.s. 1/2" metric 8mm or something. I'm pretty much with jinentix in that I hafta convert 11c or 21 cm of snow to real terms to get the picture. MPG is ever so eezy compared to 2.67 litters per 100 km.

At the time the US was poised to change as well then backed out under pressure from manufacturers that didn't want to retool. Now most USstuff is still hybred.Or basterdized. Eg for a 10mm bolt Japan and Europe use a 19 mm wrench while most US will use 18mm. I think mostly they used bolt heads that fir imperial wrenches better so no one would (in theory) have to buy new wrenches.
Most residential construction in Canada is in imperial since metric lumber is hard to get. We sell logs by cubic meter but buy lumber by board foot.

 

[B00Mer]

The U.S. military uses metric measurements extensively to ensure interoperability with allied forces, particularly NATO Standardization Agreements (STANAG).

[youtube]hPfbZxXcG54[/youtube]

Could the United States finally adopt the metric system?

(Although personally, one reason I like the USA is because it uses the Imperial system)

 

[WLDB]

The way the governments work there it's almost as if every state was its own country then you have the Feds on top of that. Getting all of them to adopt any new system completely is slow at best. They just don't seem to want to.

 

[JLM]

Could the United States finally adopt the metric system?

(Although personally, one reason I like the USA is because it uses the Imperial system)

Only if they are stupid!

 

[Bar Sinister]

And what can be done about the British having the audacity to use their own measures rather than the measures of our enemy Napoleonic France?

Even the EU can no longer force us to adopt Metric measures.

It doesn't have to. All of the scientists in Britain and most of its industry along with its military is already metric. All not using metric means it that many Britons are forced to use to learn two systems.

Only if they are stupid!

Read the above.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

MPG is ever so eezy compared to 2.67 litters per 100 km.

Yeah I have to agree, litres per 100 km is a baffling measure, it's the only result of conversion to metric that makes no intuitive sense to me. I think the problem is that it reverses our intuitive understanding of what's good-better-best in measuring something. In most measures where a quality judgment is involved, more is better. 40 mpg is better than 30 mpg, it's better for a guy to be 6'2" and 200 pounds than 5'2" and 200 pounds, 5 goals are better to score than 4 goals, and so on. With litres per 100 km, smaller numbers are better. The only other activity I can think of offhand where smaller is better is golf scores. And as a non-golfer (I have the wrong kind of patience to play that idiot game; as Mark Twain said, it's a nice walk spoiled) I don't really care about that.

 

[JLM]

Yeah I have to agree, litres per 100 km is a baffling measure, it's the only result of conversion to metric that makes no intuitive sense to me. I think the problem is that it reverses our intuitive understanding of what's good-better-best in measuring something. In most measures where a quality judgment is involved, more is better. 40 mpg is better than 30 mpg, it's better for a guy to be 6'2" and 200 pounds than 5'2" and 200 pounds, 5 goals are better to score than 4 goals, and so on. With litres per 100 km, smaller numbers are better. The only other activity I can think of offhand where smaller is better is golf scores. And as a non-golfer (I have the wrong kind of patience to play that idiot game; as Mark Twain said, it's a nice walk spoiled) I don't really care about that.

Blood pressure and blood alcohol content too. Mark Twain was smart.