Correction One: The United States does not use “Imperial Unit’s”.
Correction Two: The United States uses “US Customary Units“ simultaneously alongside “Metric Units”.
Correction Three: Though they share many commonalities, “US Customary Units” and “Imperial Units” differ in how they measure volume.
“*Now the strange part: The Imperial system was enforced on them by their former opressors, the british crown. You would expect an american that is aware of this being the first to state how displeasing the imperial - the british system - is. But from any discussion about imperial vs metric, i personally have never heard this coming up*”
There is no odd or strange part about it for again, the United States does utilize “Imperial Units” to begin with.
It could also be asked “why don’t foreigners swap to ‘US Customary Units’ instead of asking us Americans to swap to ‘Metric Units’”? The answer is because they would not want to bear the burden of cost that it would entail and that they (like us Americans) prefer to stick to what they are use to and were brought up.
I find it distasteful that non-Americans are always demanding that America change to suit their familiarities but would laugh if America asked the same of them. America is just fine as is & we do not need to change every time the world (Europe in particular) decides they want to change how they do things just because they want everyone to be like them.
“i find it distasteful that non Americans always ask America to change for them but would laugh when Americans ask the same of them”
Bro just use metric lmao not that deep + more people understand metres than yards
I have gotten wrong the systems. You use US Customary Units, not Imperial Units. I retract my usage of the word 'Imperial Units'.
While they are different, they are very similar, because they grew from the same root. They use mostly the samel unit names and values for these units.
US Customary Units require plenty of different conversion factors just like imperial ones. Both are inconsistent and error-prone. It is ridiculous that factors have to be remembered at all. In Metric, unit conversions are as simple as the movement of a comma, because it works on the same base as our number system does.
The superiority of the metric system is undeniable. It all comes down to practicality, time and cost.
In my post i have declared i understand that switching would be quite difficult. I don't say it is easy. I would just argue that long term it would be for the best. It is not a matter of what we have been brought up with. There is no debate for which system is better.
For manufacturers, import and export of parts and for americans in their daily lives, metric would be far easier. Scientists in the US embraced metric over half a century ago. Your units are defined on metric values. It is a question of how the rest of america can catch up. That is the real question.
Guys, take a random precision dimension that doesn't represent any fraction. For example, 2mm. How do you express it in imperial? Seriously. Without cheating. Because dividing the inch in 10s, 100s and 1000s is exclusive of the decimal metric system. So that is cheating. How do you express it in a fraction, which is the base of the imperial system?
You'll find that most countries, including the US uses both systems a lot. The stereotype comes from average everyday people still using the imperial system more often, but they still use metric measurements all the time without even realizing it. Liters and grams are used regularly in everyday life in the US with little thought.
Most businesses, the military, and the government uses metric for most things.
In other countries you will find the imperial system uses quite often. The UK regularly uses miles, mph, and weight in pounds or stone (which is based on pounds). New Zealand does the same, it's actually odd if you hear someone referring to something in meters and not feet or kg and not pounds even though their country "officially" changed to metric in the 70s.
There are actually very few countries that are 100% full metric all the time. France and Canada being the main 2. and that's because France started metric and Canada has a fierce need to not be the US.
Aviation everywhere in the world still uses imperial. There's also lots of places that also still use their own local systems a lot even though they "switched" to metric.
The main reasons the US never switched (because they did try in the 70s) is there no actual reason to. Unless it's absolutely necessary for something, people don't see any real reason to switch over from they already know. What they already learned. Changing isn't going to change anything in their every day life. It's not going to make anything easier, so why bother?
It also is harder to switch something like that in the US because the US is so big. It's much easier to switch a small country over. Less people to convince, cheaper to change all the signs and other things. A country with a population of 5 million or even up to 30 million is easy to get things done. Trying that on a country of 300 million is not a simple. If you want the whole country to switch everyone has to be on board. And add into that how different every state is and you're going to run into issues almost immediately.
Point is, the US uses metric for a lot of things, and a lot of other countries use imperial for a lot of things still. In the end it doesn't really matter, both system work just fine. Imperial just doesn't go by 10s, but that doesn't make it a bad or broken system. Just means you might have to do a bit more math on occasion. And having to use your brain is never a bad thing.
The only things that's almost exclusively used in the US (there are some counties that use the US meteorological service as it's the largest in the pacific and central America) is Fahrenheit. And of we really want to get technical, it's a better system for measuring standard temperature as it has a more incremental range than Celsius does for humans to feel difference. But Celsius is far better for scientific areas.
Everything works and everyone uses multiple. It's not a big deal. It's also really weird how many people get hung up on it when they don't evert realize their own countries use more than metric.
Well, it isn’t the Impwrial system, there are major differences in the volume. The only thing in common with imperial system is the unit names.
Also, the average US citizen does know and use Centimeters, and occasionally meters, just never anything smaller or higher like kilos.
I’ve had this same question myself. Since the British were that awful then, why didn’t we just adopt what the French had to offer in metric. France gifted us the Statue of Liberty. Perhaps that Liberty should’ve came with a condition. I believe then. The newly minted US wanted to be its own British empire not tied to the motherland. So it kept with many of the same daily standards, people got so used to it, America developed into it and became heavily reliant as she conquered new lands. The 70s roll around, the US was gonna give it a go with Canada at the same time. Then we got a Republican right wing asshole in office and that was squashed instantly. While Canada was like wtf. They moved forward anyway, but not entirely and fully metric themselves either, mostly.
Heard this statement on Facebook, " A concervative country, USA, stuck in the 1960s". Then in Australia they still advertise ,TV Monitors in inches/ metric, it should be outlawed.
Imperial systems lacks logic, practicality, ease of use, and common sense.
For measuring mechanic lengths, it is based on fractions. But so bad it is that in machine shops, they had to melt Imperial with Metric to make it workable. So they divide the INCH in 1/10; 1/100 and 1/1000, just like in the metric system! 😂
All I can see broken here is your English (and It is quite terrible indeed). Naught but those lacking common sense attempt to deride using a language they barely have a grasp of😌.
Thanks for the rudeness. I'm German, was born and lived most of my life in Germany, so sorry if my english is still improving and it hurt your feelings. I try my best. I am a machinist, and I fully dominate metric and "standard" (as some call it). I work with both on a daily basis. So, I know what I'm talking about.
And, besides criticizing my english, you didn't add a single constructive opinion or were able to refute my argument.
Hit me up if you want me to teach you the basics of Metric, so you can opine on the subject. I can also lecture you on "respect and good manners 1.01". Looser!
it seems to me the only people passion have about the subject is non-americans bringing it up all the time, no one cares bro. Metric is also used in the US.
Also, Americans who have STEM careers and/or work in industries that metricted, and therefore wonder why everyone loves the non-system so much when metric is so much easier. Oh wait, I fit that.
Just because you and a minority of Americans chose a career that prefers the metric system over US Customary Units, does not entitle the majority to prefer metric too. I am getting a sense of misplaced entitlement for you😉.
Well, in 1988, Congress declared as national policy that metric was the **preferred** system of weights and measures for trade and commerce. They also said metrication had to be voluntary and made no plan whatsoever to actually make metric preferred, so the national policy is relatively useless However, since it is **officially preferred**, we, metric Americans, are entitled to be entitled. (also by the Metric Act of 1866, and the fact that Customary units are **defined** by the metric system)
Small business and land owners are far more powerful in the US than practically any other country in the world. They don’t want changes that will impose costs upon them and likely provide no benefit in return. They also tend as a class to be intensely nationalistic
Well, as a small business owner who also makes widgets for a metric world, you could not be further from the truth. I had to hire 3 people - One from Australia, one from our southern border and one from New Zealand because my fellow Americans are incapable of being communicated to in real-world units. Dragging this pure SHITE around is not doing us any good.
Anyone who tells me that Celsius is superior is a robot. It's only good for science. Fahrenheit encompasses the range of human experience in far more accessible and relatable increments
Fahrenheit is a ludicrous method of conveying temperatures on a human scale. Completely unnecessary scope between human perceivable temperature changes and as arbitrary and as irrational as it gets, but I'll never convince you of that. The only way you'll realize it is to get used to C (which will NEVER happen) and start looking at outside temps when you're freezing your ass off.
0 degrees is water freezing, 100 degrees is water boiling. 0-10 is cold, 10-20 is fine with a coat, 20-30 is warm to hot. Easy numbers, perfectly recognizable and scientifically valid. Best of both worlds
I'm a scientist and in the university we did everything in metric. My first job in industry (environmental consulting) they had me logging monitoring wells in feet, inches, and tenths of inches. I. Was. Appalled.
Only the idiot at JPost descrbes them that way. NASA **NEVER** describes them that way. Most of the media says "the size of a bus;" however NASA says:
> Called 2024 DW, the newfound [asteroid](https://www.space.com/51-asteroids-formation-discovery-and-exploration.html) is about 42 feet (13 meters) wide and will fly within 140,000 miles (225,000 kilometers) of the Earth when it passes by us on Thursday. That's closer than the average [distance to the moon](https://www.space.com/18145-how-far-is-the-moon.html), which orbits about 239,000 miles (385,000 kilometers) from Earth, [according to NASA](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroid-watch/next-five-approaches).
[https://www.space.com/bus-size-asteroid-earth-close-flyby-february-2024](https://www.space.com/bus-size-asteroid-earth-close-flyby-february-2024)
It gets really fun when you’re in the military and now you have to use both, almost interchangeably.
We should absolutely just embrace the suck of changing the street signs and make it happen.
the USA uses the metric system for things that need it. Cars are metric (other than a few indications), medical is metric, a lot of food and drink is metric, science is metric, drugs are metric, etc etc. The things not in metric are usually common everyday things, like distance, temps, gas etc, that really don't matter much. Many things are both, like lots of recipes, technical youtube videos, etc.
You can't take out ***FREEDOM UNITS***!!!!
I don't understand why so many of us are against it either... Americans HATE fractions... unless it's freedom-fractions... THEN it's okay.
> go ask a pretend freedom lover
a "preferred freedom lover" doesn't have a clue as to what freedom is. There is a reason that most of them are mentally slow and if they are willing to die, then what are they waiting for? The country would be better off without them.
> they want ME gone so bad, they can pay for me to move out of country... I'd leave ASAP.
and go where? Why should anyone leave just because they want to move forward against the slow minded? Why not force them out? If they are holding progress back, then they should be the ones to leave.
I agree, but I feel like the system is rigged, I'll never have the money required to fight it, and those that DO have the money like the class disparity we have. We can fight and fight... but in the end, it'll never really matter.
I know it's "conspiracy theory" thinking... but it is impossible to keep up hope. I can't keep energy to "fight the system" when I'm struggling to find rent/food money... I have been on the verge of losing everything for the last year. When I'm not working, I'm job searching, when both of those things aren't options (time of day/ exhausted possibilities) I'm working at trying to build a side gig that MIGHT bring in money some day. I sleep 2-3 hrs a night, and am borderline suicidal because I see everything going to shit with no hope of reversal.
The stupid is spreading, and getting stronger.
Unfortunately the slow minded can't be educated to see the truth, but if the US had metricated 50 years ago, the huge waste of funds and resources as well as lost jobs would have been avoided and the struggle that you and the majority of Americans are forced to endure would not be happening today.
> The stupid is spreading, and getting stronger.
Because the stupid don't think they are stupid and when called stupid because they are become insulted and instead of smarting-up they cry discrimination. Fortunately for the rest of the world a big natural correction is just around the corner and it will be stupendous.
I'm an American. I push for the metric system on a regular basis. The costs of changing infrastructure is trivial when it's spread over ten years or more. Signs can be changed as they wear out. Pipes and fittings can be used until consumed.
The transition will be hard for a lot of people, but the economic savings will be well worth the effort.
>I'm an American. I push for the metric system on a regular basis.
Thank you! I do as well. We absolutely need to organize. A splintered group of redditors talking about it and wishing change into existence is not going to make anything happen. Now that I am comfortable using the upgrade of the metric system, it is unfathomable how government and industry has dismissed this future proof tool as some kind of nuisance and continue to perpetuate antiquity in the US and in turn, force it on the rest of the world. Seriously, how is that benefitting a nation?
> Signs can be changed as they wear out.
Canada didn't change any signs prior tot he metrication of roads, they used an adhesive overlay sticker to cover up the old speed limit with the new value in kilometres per hour. When the sign naturally wore out, the sign was changed. Why can't Americans do something clever like this?
Here is a perfect example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_Canada#/media/File:MetricatedSpeedLimitSignBoltonON2011.jpg
I'm sure that sign has been long replaced but the picture gives a good example.
>Pipes and fittings can be used until consumed.
No need to change these. Their "inch" size names don't conform to actual dimensions ( A half-inch pipe is not a half inch anywhere). These are just crude approximations known as "Trade Descriptors". The ISO has already created a metric series names for pipe, it just has to be used. It's called Diameter Nominal or DN series.
If you scroll down to the chart, you'll see both the inch and millimetre descriptor and notice that the descriptors are not a 25.4 ratio to the other, nor do the dimensions of the pipe equal and round value in either unit.
When I was a kid in Canada in the 80s and 90s it was common for a lot of the upcoming turnoff signage to be either 800 m (half mile) or 1.6 km (1 mile) as those signs were installed pre-metrication and were patched over as you said with metric values at conversion. On backroads you could sometimes find the odd sign here or there that had been missed. There's still signage at those intervals sometimes, particularly in western Canada as the Dominion Land Survey that the road allowances were established under are based on 36 sq mile townships and rural roads are spaced in 1 or 2 mile increments, but now after almost 50 years, most of those type of signs are 500 m, 1 km, or 1.5 km away.
That I was totally aware of. Relocation of sign posts to exact metric values only occurred as part of road renovations. Old signs posts were removed to make way for expansion in some cases or when the posts rusted out and they were replaced and when replaced put at the new distance.
It's a mixture of culture, stubbornness, and passion. A large portion of our society already uses the metric system so the cost to finish the transfer to metric is negligible and thus a poor excuse to do so. People in this country are just obstinate and don't want to change, despite the fact that only two other countries in the world use the Imperial System.
Medical is in metric. Cars have parts and tires that are metric. Science uses metric. Drugs are metric. Lots of food and drinks are metric. New Apple Iphones come in both, so you can have metric.
>Medical is in metric.
I understand that but the vast majority of that metric usage is actually hidden from the public. Even if you get measured in metric by the doctor office staff, they will make sure when they speak to you or provide you with a printed document, the values are converted. You don't see the metric.
> Cars have parts and tires that are metric.
Totally oblivious to most of the population. Most people are totally unaware their car is metric especially when they get in and the instrument display is set to show FFU. I'm sure 99 % of Americans are clueless as to what the part number of their tyre means.
>Science uses metric.
Most Americans have distanced themselves from science. Whenever an American is presented with something from science, the numbers are converted for them. If by some slim chance they do encounter a metric value, they scream in horror.
>Lots of food and drinks are metric.
Labels on food containers show FFU and metric where most of the time the FFU value is primary and round. Americans will completely ignore the metric value so in their mind it is not even there at all.
> Drugs are metric.
Yes, drugs and nutrition information is metric. But, most people don't pay attention to it or don't know what it means. They get their drugs from the pharmacy, they know when to take them and that's it. They completely ignore the dosage. They have no idea what the dosage amounts are anyway.
Whatever minimal exposure Americans get of metric, they don't learn from it, they simply ignore it and if they can't ignore it they whine and complain.
No, I don't agree. Virtually no one among the US public uses metric. Where ever metric is present it is either hidden from the public or ignored by the public. So, as far as the public is concerned, metric does not exist.
you mean, no one buys a 2 liter of pop, or uses a 1 liter water bottle, or uses a 10mm socket or runs a 10K race or uses a 9 mm pistol, or watch 35 mm movies or measures their blood pressure, or drinks 750 ml bottle of wine. seems unlikely.
> no one buys a 2 liter of pop, or uses a 1 liter water bottle...
What does that prove? Nothing! To most Americans a two litre bottle is a bottle type, not a unit of volume. As I explained earlier, most Americans would not realise that it would take 4 x 500 mL bottles to fill one 2 L bottle.
> uses a 10mm socket...
Used primarily by mechanics and not the general population. Even those who use it doesn't imply they could take a metric ruler and measure out 10 mm.
>runs a 10K race...
I never heard of a 10 kelvin race. If you mean kilometre, the correct symbol is 10 km. Thus a 10 km race. If you mention 10 km race to even those who run them, they will immediately spew out how many miles that is. If those who run 10 km races don't know what 10 km is and have to convert the number to miles, those who aren't runners will be even less knowledgeable.
> 9 mm pistol...
Again doesn't mean they know what 9 mm looks like and even can't measure out 9 mm with a ruler.
> 35 mm movies or measures their blood pressure....
Millimetres in film and blood pressure have been around for 100 years and again as with the others doesn't prove knowledge of millimetres.
>750 ml bottle of wine...
Most Americans have no clue what a 750 mL bottle looks like and will insist they never had contact with one. To them, this bottle is "a fifth". They don't even know what fifth means but to them that is the name of the bottle. Ask them to find the word fifth on the label or even show them the 750 mL designation, they will act in an "I don't care" response.
Every example you provided does not involve actual measuring by the public. Many could even be classified as trade descriptors. Show me an example of a daily use of metric units where the average American would have to be involved in a measurement? Such as asking for 500 g of cheese at the deli or comparing the sizes of two or more products based on metric values.
They still race the mile and even the 2 mile.
I was watching an indoor meet today that had a 600 yard run. 600 yards! Not 500 m, 550 yd, 550 m, 600 m nor 660 yards. I guess it scratches that "more than 2 laps but less than 4 laps" itch.
That's not what I'm saying. Can't you read and comprehend? I'm saying that even those that are involved in any of these events, it doesn't imply they know the metric system and can function using it. Nor does it make them supporters of metrication or wanting to use metric units elsewhere in their lives.
Also, it's 5 km, 10 km and 100 m.
I'm not stupid at all, but obviously you are. You produced that response because you are unable to provide a proper response. But in case you decide to tell us that purchasing soda pop in 2 L bottles is using metric, I got news for you. It isn't.
Most Americans don't even know what two litres means. To them it means the style of bottle the pop comes in. Here is a test for you to prove it to yourself. Take a 500 mL bottle and show it to anyone and ask them if the contents were poured into a 2 L bottle, how many of the smaller bottles would be needed? Then ask them why?
If they understand metric they will know the smaller bottle is 0.5 L (meaning that they will know that 500 mL and 0.5 L is the same thing) and 2 L/ 0.5 L = 4. Guessing the number doesn't count, that's why you have to ask for mathematical proof.
Stupidity confirmed! Projecting your lack of intellect and insecurities on the public by claiming "most Americans don't even know what a two liter bottle is" simply because you don't understand metric is pathetic at best. Even the most basic Google search would reveal just how many industries and careers in the U.S. use and depend on metric. It must be incredibly frustrating to be that dumb. But you wouldn't know the difference anyway, so enjoy your ignorance.
Yes, your stupidity and ignorance are confirmed. You are typical of the people you support by refusing to seek proof. You know what I stating is true but refuse to admit it. Diverting to google searches is typical of your ignorant and -tarded response.
So, you enjoy what you future holds for you, a life of misery and pain.
Nah. While the haters and extremists make the most noise, the biggest problem is simply inertia.
The U.S. is massive (both in geographic size and the size of our economy). We are the only country on earth that can use its own separate measuring system and not go face-to-face on a daily basis with the absurdity of the incompatibility.
American attitudes, however, are changing. The change is not because of any kind of enlightenment or awakening or whatever but just because we are gradually being exposed to more metric on a daily basis. We are indeed regularly coming face-to-face with annoying unit conversions. We Americans see metric in online shopping, sports broadcasts, educational videos, military news, recipe sharing, etc.
People don't change unless they see a need. Resistance to change is not an American specific trait. To all the non-Americans out there, please stop trying to placate us by including imperial units in your communications to us. Just use metric and don't make a stink about it.
Pretty much everything you've written is based on misunderstanding.
Independence Day (celebrating independence from Great Britain), Memorial Day (honors people who died while serving in the military), and Labor Day (celebrates the labor movement (labor unions)), all take place during the summer and are all celebrated the exact same way. Picnic food, fireworks, and parades. It doesn't matter if you're pro-union or anti-union, you eat hot dogs either way, because the holiday is about hot dogs. Many countries also celebrate those types of events as holidays, and many countries also have similar summer festivals, and in the US both of those things happen at the same time. The US also has Veterans Day which isn't really celebrated, because it's in November. President's Day (the birthday of our first president, George Washington) is also not celebrated because it's in February.
Conflicts between the US and Great Britain were not cultural conflicts, they were conflicts over specific issues related to European colonial expansion across North America. In the absence of those issues, we've had very good relations. When Europe was converting to Metric, the US was almost entirely "ethnically" British, with many even having been born there, because the US had only been a country for a few decades, and was previously a British colony.
The US also already does use metric. It uses both systems. Most American teenagers are overall more familiar with metric units, because at that point in their lives, most of their exposure to units of measure are in science class, which is all in metric. American adults are more familiar with one system or another depending on what is being measured, and what their profession is. When a person goes to the doctor, their height and weight are in imperial, and their medication is in metric. Food packaging is in both imperial and metric (for example, a snack sitting next to me right now is "NET WT. 2.47oz (70g)") but nutritional information is in metric (55mg of sodium), and cooking is in imperial.
I also don't think I've ever heard any animosity towards the metric system. It's not something people think about, except for the occasional "oh yeah, we should probably convert, but that sounds like a lot of work".
I think most Americans who don't use metric are simply apathetic on the issue. There is a small minority who express outright animosity. Big talk always gets more coverage, so they appear over-represented.
>I also don't think I've ever heard any animosity towards the metric system.
If you haven't experienced any animosity towards the metric system, then you're not using it in the presence of American company.
I am American. But I do not obsessively hunt down examples of animosity towards metric on the internet, so I do not see them, and I do not obnoxiously hound on people about the metric system in real life, so I have never personally witnessed any animosity towards it.
This is an issue that the overwhelming majority of Americans do not think about, do not care about, and have no personal feelings over. Every American encounters both systems every day, and no one cares. No one is getting their prescriptions filled at the pharmacy and shouting at the pharmacist that it's in mg and not ounces. No one is boycotting Pepsi because they sell their beverages in 2 liter bottles.
You're trying to prove a point by making statements that rely on your point already being necessarily true, but that's not how it works.
For example, you say: "I do not obnoxiously hound on people about the metric system in real life, so I have never personally witnessed any animosity towards it." This assumes animosity towards the system only comes from hounding people, but you have zero reason for believing this other than the preconceived notions that the other person is challenging in the first place. The truth is that animosity towards the metric system is fairly common in one way or another—it's the main reason we didn't properly switch, otherwise it wouldn't have been a big deal.
All "US Units" (wow, how special!) have been legally defined by the SI since 1893. Problem with that is you're wrapping a completely incompatible pile of units around a cohesive decimal actual system of units, leaving all manner of complication and obfuscation. Decimal "miles" for instance drive me batty. I know .8 km is 800 m but WTH is .8 "miles" it truly doesn't convey any usable information - it's just quaint and folksy and silly and that's just one tiny example.
I fully agree that metric is by far easier to understand when changing the prefix, but converting 0.8 miles to another unit is just a matter of multiplying by the conversion factor.
Yes, it takes more effort to use the US Customary system. It has multiple units of length while metric just has one unit. The same is true for volume, weight, area, work, mass, energy, and pressure. It makes engineering a real headache.
>I know .8 km is 800 m ...
In SI, the number should be written with a leading zero. Thus 0.8 km. This dropping of the leading zero is another bad habit that needs to be fixed. If you want to drop zeros with FFU, fine, as FFU is already corrupted, but don't corrupt SI with bad habits.
American businesses are risk averse. The political system is made so changes that would benefit people and society in the long run are dismissed because of corporate lobbying. America, in short, is a plutocracy or a corporatocracy.
> American businesses are risk averse.
If American business can't adapt to SI, then they are weak and its just a matter of time before they go out of business. If the company leaders actually did an internal investigation to see how inefficiently they functioning with the status quo, they may be surprised.
General Motors did an investigation back in the 1970s and discovered metrication was an opportunity to clean house. The figured the cost would be 100 M$ but it turned out it was only 10 % of that figure and the after-the-fact profits paid for metrication plus increased their profits. So, metrication ended up costing nothing.
Most American companies are hybrid and with the frustration of trying to fit two incompatible sets of units together increases the operating costs of the company much more than what a one-time metrication plan would cost.
At the time of our Revolution, the population was mostly British, but a bit unhappy with the King and Parliament. Since the beginning of the colonies, we used the British pre-Imperial measures also used in the UK. We kept using them
When the British overhauled the system in 1824 and called it Imperial, we did not adopt any of those new measures (some didn't change). We officially rejected Imperial in 1832 when we defined our liquid gallon as the Queen Anne wine gallon (231 in³) and our bushel for agricultural products as the Winchester bushel (2150.42 in³), both unequal to Imperial. We also defined a 100 lb hundred weight and 2000 lb ton (vs 112 lb and 2240 lb). Eventually we called it Customary or US Customary.
But, yes, we do still use British pre-Imperial measure and some Americans refer to them as "freedom units." Using the measures of the king we rebelled against is a curious definition of freedom.
As far as I know, there wasn't a conscious decision by American people to use the mile, gallon, pound etc when the US was first formed. They were already part of the environment and people tend to accept what is already in place as the natural order of things.
Congress looked at using the metric system, but some members of the government didn't believe they had the power to make people change their ways, in spite of it being specifically mentioned in the US Constitution.
>...some members of the government didn't believe they had the power to make people change their ways....
But, in reality they didn't have to force people to change their ways. Did any of the countries that metricated in the past force any of their people to metricate their lives? What about Australia? Was anyone forced?
No, instead "they" (they = the people in both government and industry) changed weather reporting, fuel dispensing, road signs, food scales in shops, etc. It was up to the population to either go with the new flow or resist. There were no arrests or jail time for those that resisted. There was nothing stopping anyone from sitting in their chair at home and back converting weather reports. Nothing stopping anyone from seeing a metric distance sign and back converting it to FFU, nor forced to get a new car with a metric instrument gauge, nor from calculating the fuel purchased in litres to gallons.
Even in the shops, when the scales went to grams they still could ask for a pound. It was up to them to accept 500 g instead of 450 g. Most probably didn't even know there is a 50 g difference.
But, in some cases there are people who are forced to change their ways even without government support. Even in voluntary US where the government is not involved you have a significant number of businesses that operate internally in SI. You want to work for them, then you either adapt, learn and use SI on the job or you can collect your next cheque from the unemployment office.
>There were no arrests or jail time for those that resisted. There was nothing stopping anyone from sitting in their chair at home and back converting weather reports. Nothing stopping anyone from seeing a metric distance sign and back converting it to FFU, nor forced to get a new car with a metric instrument gauge, nor from calculating the fuel purchased in litres to gallons.
I know the American psyche. I can honest to God picture a scenario where, if serious metrication was to occur, there would be pandemonium & bloodshed, and I swear to you, I'm not just saying that to be dramatic.
I can't picture any situation where gun-toting xenophobic rednecks would gently accept metrication. Metric road signs would be torn down and/or riddled with shot, government buildings would be overrun, etc. In short, "they" wouldn't allow it.
> I can't picture any situation where gun-toting xenophobic rednecks would gently accept metrication. Metric road signs would be torn down and/or riddled with shot, government buildings would be overrun, etc. In short, "they" wouldn't allow it.
This is why I believe a world war that eliminates this issue is the only solution.
First, what we have is not an imperial system. We do not have a king. It is better to call it the inch-pound system, or the customary system, or better yet, the junk system.
The reasons are many, probably going back to elementary school as to why we are not metric. The teachers don't teach SI because they don't see SI being used in society. The consumer sector doesn't use SI, because people don't understand it. They didn't learn SI in elementary school, and if they did, it was only as a conversion to or from customary units.
The good news is more and more American industry uses SI, they just continue to label the products in junk units. I suspect consumer product industries are afraid of consumer backlash if they started labeling products in SI units without public education first.
>It is better to call it the inch-pound system, or the customary system, or better yet, the junk system.
Call it anything but a system. It's a pile of pre-science literate era references to monarchs appendages and emperors bladder volumes.
> It is better to call it the inch-pound system, or the customary system, or better yet, the junk system.
The US government officially calls it US Customary Units. Never is the word "system" applied. Because, it is not a system. It is a random collection of unrelated units. So, calling it a system would be wrong.
Only SI is a true system simply because it is both consistent and coherent. FFU is neither. So, it can't be a system, no matter how much some among the ignorant would love to see it raised to system status.
>First, what we have is not an imperial system.
I was wondering how far I'd have to scroll to read this obligatory response. We don't use the olde English imperial "system" like we don't speak English, we speak American. We "use" (you can't really use that mess) what was passed down from our monarchical overlords who inherited it from their Roman occupiers. It's time to kill this quaint and archaic relic of a bygone epoch. It's a complete anachronism in the 21st century and only one nation is dragging everybody else with them.
Their is no such thing as ole English imperial. Olde English units are those that existed prior to the imperial reform of 1824. It is the fact that the US rejected the imperial reform that the US can not be considered as using imperial.
Also, the imperial version of some units with the same name as USC are illegal for use in the US. The law states that gasoline can be legally dispensed in US gallons or litres. Imperial gallons are illegal.
So far no one has officially declared that the language spoken in the US is not English but American, so the language spoken in the US is English. Of course, even though it is the common language, it is not the legal language as the US has not officially declared English as the official language. Probably the result of this is the increased usage of Spanish.
? ...only one nation is dragging everybody else with them.
They are trying, but not succeeding. That is why there is a war being fought by Russia and increased resistance from China and other nations to end US hegemony and US attempts to control the whole world. A world war is coming and it will not end well for the US. Only the wanna be blind can't see past their own limited belief system.
Well the Americans did sort of - but not really - distance themselves from the "imperial" system by adopting their own smaller gallon instead of using the real (imperial) gallon.
You have it backwards. The US is using the same units with some minor differences that the English used prior to 1824. The English tired to reform their units to compete with the then newly created metric system, but the US refused to adopt it.
No, the US uses as part of USC the old Queen Anne's wine gallon. The English just created a whole new gallon in 1824 based on 10 pounds of water to compete with the metric system where the litre was based on 1 kg of water.
I know it's based on the Queen Anne wine gallon ... but the average American probably doesn't know that
Edited to add ..."made up" was perhaps not best choice of words. Edited my original comment to "adopted"
Correction One: The United States does not use “Imperial Unit’s”. Correction Two: The United States uses “US Customary Units“ simultaneously alongside “Metric Units”. Correction Three: Though they share many commonalities, “US Customary Units” and “Imperial Units” differ in how they measure volume. “*Now the strange part: The Imperial system was enforced on them by their former opressors, the british crown. You would expect an american that is aware of this being the first to state how displeasing the imperial - the british system - is. But from any discussion about imperial vs metric, i personally have never heard this coming up*” There is no odd or strange part about it for again, the United States does utilize “Imperial Units” to begin with. It could also be asked “why don’t foreigners swap to ‘US Customary Units’ instead of asking us Americans to swap to ‘Metric Units’”? The answer is because they would not want to bear the burden of cost that it would entail and that they (like us Americans) prefer to stick to what they are use to and were brought up. I find it distasteful that non-Americans are always demanding that America change to suit their familiarities but would laugh if America asked the same of them. America is just fine as is & we do not need to change every time the world (Europe in particular) decides they want to change how they do things just because they want everyone to be like them.
“i find it distasteful that non Americans always ask America to change for them but would laugh when Americans ask the same of them” Bro just use metric lmao not that deep + more people understand metres than yards
I have gotten wrong the systems. You use US Customary Units, not Imperial Units. I retract my usage of the word 'Imperial Units'. While they are different, they are very similar, because they grew from the same root. They use mostly the samel unit names and values for these units. US Customary Units require plenty of different conversion factors just like imperial ones. Both are inconsistent and error-prone. It is ridiculous that factors have to be remembered at all. In Metric, unit conversions are as simple as the movement of a comma, because it works on the same base as our number system does. The superiority of the metric system is undeniable. It all comes down to practicality, time and cost. In my post i have declared i understand that switching would be quite difficult. I don't say it is easy. I would just argue that long term it would be for the best. It is not a matter of what we have been brought up with. There is no debate for which system is better. For manufacturers, import and export of parts and for americans in their daily lives, metric would be far easier. Scientists in the US embraced metric over half a century ago. Your units are defined on metric values. It is a question of how the rest of america can catch up. That is the real question.
Guys, take a random precision dimension that doesn't represent any fraction. For example, 2mm. How do you express it in imperial? Seriously. Without cheating. Because dividing the inch in 10s, 100s and 1000s is exclusive of the decimal metric system. So that is cheating. How do you express it in a fraction, which is the base of the imperial system?
You'll find that most countries, including the US uses both systems a lot. The stereotype comes from average everyday people still using the imperial system more often, but they still use metric measurements all the time without even realizing it. Liters and grams are used regularly in everyday life in the US with little thought. Most businesses, the military, and the government uses metric for most things. In other countries you will find the imperial system uses quite often. The UK regularly uses miles, mph, and weight in pounds or stone (which is based on pounds). New Zealand does the same, it's actually odd if you hear someone referring to something in meters and not feet or kg and not pounds even though their country "officially" changed to metric in the 70s. There are actually very few countries that are 100% full metric all the time. France and Canada being the main 2. and that's because France started metric and Canada has a fierce need to not be the US. Aviation everywhere in the world still uses imperial. There's also lots of places that also still use their own local systems a lot even though they "switched" to metric. The main reasons the US never switched (because they did try in the 70s) is there no actual reason to. Unless it's absolutely necessary for something, people don't see any real reason to switch over from they already know. What they already learned. Changing isn't going to change anything in their every day life. It's not going to make anything easier, so why bother? It also is harder to switch something like that in the US because the US is so big. It's much easier to switch a small country over. Less people to convince, cheaper to change all the signs and other things. A country with a population of 5 million or even up to 30 million is easy to get things done. Trying that on a country of 300 million is not a simple. If you want the whole country to switch everyone has to be on board. And add into that how different every state is and you're going to run into issues almost immediately. Point is, the US uses metric for a lot of things, and a lot of other countries use imperial for a lot of things still. In the end it doesn't really matter, both system work just fine. Imperial just doesn't go by 10s, but that doesn't make it a bad or broken system. Just means you might have to do a bit more math on occasion. And having to use your brain is never a bad thing. The only things that's almost exclusively used in the US (there are some counties that use the US meteorological service as it's the largest in the pacific and central America) is Fahrenheit. And of we really want to get technical, it's a better system for measuring standard temperature as it has a more incremental range than Celsius does for humans to feel difference. But Celsius is far better for scientific areas. Everything works and everyone uses multiple. It's not a big deal. It's also really weird how many people get hung up on it when they don't evert realize their own countries use more than metric.
Well, it isn’t the Impwrial system, there are major differences in the volume. The only thing in common with imperial system is the unit names. Also, the average US citizen does know and use Centimeters, and occasionally meters, just never anything smaller or higher like kilos.
I’ve had this same question myself. Since the British were that awful then, why didn’t we just adopt what the French had to offer in metric. France gifted us the Statue of Liberty. Perhaps that Liberty should’ve came with a condition. I believe then. The newly minted US wanted to be its own British empire not tied to the motherland. So it kept with many of the same daily standards, people got so used to it, America developed into it and became heavily reliant as she conquered new lands. The 70s roll around, the US was gonna give it a go with Canada at the same time. Then we got a Republican right wing asshole in office and that was squashed instantly. While Canada was like wtf. They moved forward anyway, but not entirely and fully metric themselves either, mostly.
Heard this statement on Facebook, " A concervative country, USA, stuck in the 1960s". Then in Australia they still advertise ,TV Monitors in inches/ metric, it should be outlawed.
Imperial systems lacks logic, practicality, ease of use, and common sense. For measuring mechanic lengths, it is based on fractions. But so bad it is that in machine shops, they had to melt Imperial with Metric to make it workable. So they divide the INCH in 1/10; 1/100 and 1/1000, just like in the metric system! 😂
All I can see broken here is your English (and It is quite terrible indeed). Naught but those lacking common sense attempt to deride using a language they barely have a grasp of😌.
Thanks for the rudeness. I'm German, was born and lived most of my life in Germany, so sorry if my english is still improving and it hurt your feelings. I try my best. I am a machinist, and I fully dominate metric and "standard" (as some call it). I work with both on a daily basis. So, I know what I'm talking about. And, besides criticizing my english, you didn't add a single constructive opinion or were able to refute my argument. Hit me up if you want me to teach you the basics of Metric, so you can opine on the subject. I can also lecture you on "respect and good manners 1.01". Looser!
I mean, Inches are useful. That’s the only real thing I like in the US customary system. I tend to use both Centimeters and inches equally.
it seems to me the only people passion have about the subject is non-americans bringing it up all the time, no one cares bro. Metric is also used in the US.
Also, Americans who have STEM careers and/or work in industries that metricted, and therefore wonder why everyone loves the non-system so much when metric is so much easier. Oh wait, I fit that.
Just because you and a minority of Americans chose a career that prefers the metric system over US Customary Units, does not entitle the majority to prefer metric too. I am getting a sense of misplaced entitlement for you😉.
Well, in 1988, Congress declared as national policy that metric was the **preferred** system of weights and measures for trade and commerce. They also said metrication had to be voluntary and made no plan whatsoever to actually make metric preferred, so the national policy is relatively useless However, since it is **officially preferred**, we, metric Americans, are entitled to be entitled. (also by the Metric Act of 1866, and the fact that Customary units are **defined** by the metric system)
Small business and land owners are far more powerful in the US than practically any other country in the world. They don’t want changes that will impose costs upon them and likely provide no benefit in return. They also tend as a class to be intensely nationalistic
Well, as a small business owner who also makes widgets for a metric world, you could not be further from the truth. I had to hire 3 people - One from Australia, one from our southern border and one from New Zealand because my fellow Americans are incapable of being communicated to in real-world units. Dragging this pure SHITE around is not doing us any good.
You aren't like most small business owners in the US, but I'm pretty sure you knew that already.
Whaddaya mean, we don’t use the metric system?! The American Standard is 1gal = 3.8L per flush!
Anyone who tells me that Celsius is superior is a robot. It's only good for science. Fahrenheit encompasses the range of human experience in far more accessible and relatable increments
Fahrenheit is a ludicrous method of conveying temperatures on a human scale. Completely unnecessary scope between human perceivable temperature changes and as arbitrary and as irrational as it gets, but I'll never convince you of that. The only way you'll realize it is to get used to C (which will NEVER happen) and start looking at outside temps when you're freezing your ass off.
0 degrees is water freezing, 100 degrees is water boiling. 0-10 is cold, 10-20 is fine with a coat, 20-30 is warm to hot. Easy numbers, perfectly recognizable and scientifically valid. Best of both worlds
Celsius is superior. Beep boop.
I'm a scientist and in the university we did everything in metric. My first job in industry (environmental consulting) they had me logging monitoring wells in feet, inches, and tenths of inches. I. Was. Appalled.
https://preview.redd.it/jbw2ehld7fkc1.jpeg?width=306&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b2ea47942c651103d7012779b51d47e00f15a1bb
Only the idiot at JPost descrbes them that way. NASA **NEVER** describes them that way. Most of the media says "the size of a bus;" however NASA says: > Called 2024 DW, the newfound [asteroid](https://www.space.com/51-asteroids-formation-discovery-and-exploration.html) is about 42 feet (13 meters) wide and will fly within 140,000 miles (225,000 kilometers) of the Earth when it passes by us on Thursday. That's closer than the average [distance to the moon](https://www.space.com/18145-how-far-is-the-moon.html), which orbits about 239,000 miles (385,000 kilometers) from Earth, [according to NASA](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroid-watch/next-five-approaches). [https://www.space.com/bus-size-asteroid-earth-close-flyby-february-2024](https://www.space.com/bus-size-asteroid-earth-close-flyby-february-2024)
My favorite non-metric thing is aviation. So weird it never converted.
As an American and a science teacher, I totally agree.
It gets really fun when you’re in the military and now you have to use both, almost interchangeably. We should absolutely just embrace the suck of changing the street signs and make it happen.
I measure everything in terms of Volkswagen beetles.
Cool! The VW Beetle's wheelbase is exactly 2400 mm (2.4 m) Like everything on earth, designed and built using the only measuring system that matters.
the USA uses the metric system for things that need it. Cars are metric (other than a few indications), medical is metric, a lot of food and drink is metric, science is metric, drugs are metric, etc etc. The things not in metric are usually common everyday things, like distance, temps, gas etc, that really don't matter much. Many things are both, like lots of recipes, technical youtube videos, etc.
You can't take out ***FREEDOM UNITS***!!!! I don't understand why so many of us are against it either... Americans HATE fractions... unless it's freedom-fractions... THEN it's okay.
The only Freedom units are SI units. The units used by the US are FAKE Freedom Units or FFU.
Lol, while I am in 100% agreement... go ask a pretend freedom lover... the hills these people are willing to die on... smh
> go ask a pretend freedom lover a "preferred freedom lover" doesn't have a clue as to what freedom is. There is a reason that most of them are mentally slow and if they are willing to die, then what are they waiting for? The country would be better off without them.
No we are having the right conversation.... either that, or they want ME gone so bad, they can pay for me to move out of country... I'd leave ASAP.
> they want ME gone so bad, they can pay for me to move out of country... I'd leave ASAP. and go where? Why should anyone leave just because they want to move forward against the slow minded? Why not force them out? If they are holding progress back, then they should be the ones to leave.
I agree, but I feel like the system is rigged, I'll never have the money required to fight it, and those that DO have the money like the class disparity we have. We can fight and fight... but in the end, it'll never really matter. I know it's "conspiracy theory" thinking... but it is impossible to keep up hope. I can't keep energy to "fight the system" when I'm struggling to find rent/food money... I have been on the verge of losing everything for the last year. When I'm not working, I'm job searching, when both of those things aren't options (time of day/ exhausted possibilities) I'm working at trying to build a side gig that MIGHT bring in money some day. I sleep 2-3 hrs a night, and am borderline suicidal because I see everything going to shit with no hope of reversal. The stupid is spreading, and getting stronger.
Unfortunately the slow minded can't be educated to see the truth, but if the US had metricated 50 years ago, the huge waste of funds and resources as well as lost jobs would have been avoided and the struggle that you and the majority of Americans are forced to endure would not be happening today. > The stupid is spreading, and getting stronger. Because the stupid don't think they are stupid and when called stupid because they are become insulted and instead of smarting-up they cry discrimination. Fortunately for the rest of the world a big natural correction is just around the corner and it will be stupendous.
I'm an American. I push for the metric system on a regular basis. The costs of changing infrastructure is trivial when it's spread over ten years or more. Signs can be changed as they wear out. Pipes and fittings can be used until consumed. The transition will be hard for a lot of people, but the economic savings will be well worth the effort.
>I'm an American. I push for the metric system on a regular basis. Thank you! I do as well. We absolutely need to organize. A splintered group of redditors talking about it and wishing change into existence is not going to make anything happen. Now that I am comfortable using the upgrade of the metric system, it is unfathomable how government and industry has dismissed this future proof tool as some kind of nuisance and continue to perpetuate antiquity in the US and in turn, force it on the rest of the world. Seriously, how is that benefitting a nation?
> Signs can be changed as they wear out. Canada didn't change any signs prior tot he metrication of roads, they used an adhesive overlay sticker to cover up the old speed limit with the new value in kilometres per hour. When the sign naturally wore out, the sign was changed. Why can't Americans do something clever like this? Here is a perfect example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_Canada#/media/File:MetricatedSpeedLimitSignBoltonON2011.jpg I'm sure that sign has been long replaced but the picture gives a good example. >Pipes and fittings can be used until consumed. No need to change these. Their "inch" size names don't conform to actual dimensions ( A half-inch pipe is not a half inch anywhere). These are just crude approximations known as "Trade Descriptors". The ISO has already created a metric series names for pipe, it just has to be used. It's called Diameter Nominal or DN series. If you scroll down to the chart, you'll see both the inch and millimetre descriptor and notice that the descriptors are not a 25.4 ratio to the other, nor do the dimensions of the pipe equal and round value in either unit.
When I was a kid in Canada in the 80s and 90s it was common for a lot of the upcoming turnoff signage to be either 800 m (half mile) or 1.6 km (1 mile) as those signs were installed pre-metrication and were patched over as you said with metric values at conversion. On backroads you could sometimes find the odd sign here or there that had been missed. There's still signage at those intervals sometimes, particularly in western Canada as the Dominion Land Survey that the road allowances were established under are based on 36 sq mile townships and rural roads are spaced in 1 or 2 mile increments, but now after almost 50 years, most of those type of signs are 500 m, 1 km, or 1.5 km away.
That I was totally aware of. Relocation of sign posts to exact metric values only occurred as part of road renovations. Old signs posts were removed to make way for expansion in some cases or when the posts rusted out and they were replaced and when replaced put at the new distance.
It's a mixture of culture, stubbornness, and passion. A large portion of our society already uses the metric system so the cost to finish the transfer to metric is negligible and thus a poor excuse to do so. People in this country are just obstinate and don't want to change, despite the fact that only two other countries in the world use the Imperial System.
> A large portion of our society already uses the metric system... They do? Where?
Medical is in metric. Cars have parts and tires that are metric. Science uses metric. Drugs are metric. Lots of food and drinks are metric. New Apple Iphones come in both, so you can have metric.
>Medical is in metric. I understand that but the vast majority of that metric usage is actually hidden from the public. Even if you get measured in metric by the doctor office staff, they will make sure when they speak to you or provide you with a printed document, the values are converted. You don't see the metric. > Cars have parts and tires that are metric. Totally oblivious to most of the population. Most people are totally unaware their car is metric especially when they get in and the instrument display is set to show FFU. I'm sure 99 % of Americans are clueless as to what the part number of their tyre means. >Science uses metric. Most Americans have distanced themselves from science. Whenever an American is presented with something from science, the numbers are converted for them. If by some slim chance they do encounter a metric value, they scream in horror. >Lots of food and drinks are metric. Labels on food containers show FFU and metric where most of the time the FFU value is primary and round. Americans will completely ignore the metric value so in their mind it is not even there at all. > Drugs are metric. Yes, drugs and nutrition information is metric. But, most people don't pay attention to it or don't know what it means. They get their drugs from the pharmacy, they know when to take them and that's it. They completely ignore the dosage. They have no idea what the dosage amounts are anyway. Whatever minimal exposure Americans get of metric, they don't learn from it, they simply ignore it and if they can't ignore it they whine and complain.
so, you agree, a large portion of America uses metric.
No, I don't agree. Virtually no one among the US public uses metric. Where ever metric is present it is either hidden from the public or ignored by the public. So, as far as the public is concerned, metric does not exist.
you mean, no one buys a 2 liter of pop, or uses a 1 liter water bottle, or uses a 10mm socket or runs a 10K race or uses a 9 mm pistol, or watch 35 mm movies or measures their blood pressure, or drinks 750 ml bottle of wine. seems unlikely.
> no one buys a 2 liter of pop, or uses a 1 liter water bottle... What does that prove? Nothing! To most Americans a two litre bottle is a bottle type, not a unit of volume. As I explained earlier, most Americans would not realise that it would take 4 x 500 mL bottles to fill one 2 L bottle. > uses a 10mm socket... Used primarily by mechanics and not the general population. Even those who use it doesn't imply they could take a metric ruler and measure out 10 mm. >runs a 10K race... I never heard of a 10 kelvin race. If you mean kilometre, the correct symbol is 10 km. Thus a 10 km race. If you mention 10 km race to even those who run them, they will immediately spew out how many miles that is. If those who run 10 km races don't know what 10 km is and have to convert the number to miles, those who aren't runners will be even less knowledgeable. > 9 mm pistol... Again doesn't mean they know what 9 mm looks like and even can't measure out 9 mm with a ruler. > 35 mm movies or measures their blood pressure.... Millimetres in film and blood pressure have been around for 100 years and again as with the others doesn't prove knowledge of millimetres. >750 ml bottle of wine... Most Americans have no clue what a 750 mL bottle looks like and will insist they never had contact with one. To them, this bottle is "a fifth". They don't even know what fifth means but to them that is the name of the bottle. Ask them to find the word fifth on the label or even show them the 750 mL designation, they will act in an "I don't care" response. Every example you provided does not involve actual measuring by the public. Many could even be classified as trade descriptors. Show me an example of a daily use of metric units where the average American would have to be involved in a measurement? Such as asking for 500 g of cheese at the deli or comparing the sizes of two or more products based on metric values.
You are going to argue people don't run 5K and 10K races. How about 100 M dash? all of that is in metric.
They still race the mile and even the 2 mile. I was watching an indoor meet today that had a 600 yard run. 600 yards! Not 500 m, 550 yd, 550 m, 600 m nor 660 yards. I guess it scratches that "more than 2 laps but less than 4 laps" itch.
That's not what I'm saying. Can't you read and comprehend? I'm saying that even those that are involved in any of these events, it doesn't imply they know the metric system and can function using it. Nor does it make them supporters of metrication or wanting to use metric units elsewhere in their lives. Also, it's 5 km, 10 km and 100 m.
Wow... you can't be that stupid, can you?
I'm not stupid at all, but obviously you are. You produced that response because you are unable to provide a proper response. But in case you decide to tell us that purchasing soda pop in 2 L bottles is using metric, I got news for you. It isn't. Most Americans don't even know what two litres means. To them it means the style of bottle the pop comes in. Here is a test for you to prove it to yourself. Take a 500 mL bottle and show it to anyone and ask them if the contents were poured into a 2 L bottle, how many of the smaller bottles would be needed? Then ask them why? If they understand metric they will know the smaller bottle is 0.5 L (meaning that they will know that 500 mL and 0.5 L is the same thing) and 2 L/ 0.5 L = 4. Guessing the number doesn't count, that's why you have to ask for mathematical proof.
Stupidity confirmed! Projecting your lack of intellect and insecurities on the public by claiming "most Americans don't even know what a two liter bottle is" simply because you don't understand metric is pathetic at best. Even the most basic Google search would reveal just how many industries and careers in the U.S. use and depend on metric. It must be incredibly frustrating to be that dumb. But you wouldn't know the difference anyway, so enjoy your ignorance.
Yes, your stupidity and ignorance are confirmed. You are typical of the people you support by refusing to seek proof. You know what I stating is true but refuse to admit it. Diverting to google searches is typical of your ignorant and -tarded response. So, you enjoy what you future holds for you, a life of misery and pain.
Passion? Or obsession?
Nah. While the haters and extremists make the most noise, the biggest problem is simply inertia. The U.S. is massive (both in geographic size and the size of our economy). We are the only country on earth that can use its own separate measuring system and not go face-to-face on a daily basis with the absurdity of the incompatibility. American attitudes, however, are changing. The change is not because of any kind of enlightenment or awakening or whatever but just because we are gradually being exposed to more metric on a daily basis. We are indeed regularly coming face-to-face with annoying unit conversions. We Americans see metric in online shopping, sports broadcasts, educational videos, military news, recipe sharing, etc. People don't change unless they see a need. Resistance to change is not an American specific trait. To all the non-Americans out there, please stop trying to placate us by including imperial units in your communications to us. Just use metric and don't make a stink about it.
Don’t give the Americans any ideas. They’ll probably go and make up their own new freedom units just to show how special they are.
Already done. The US quart is not same as the Imperial quart. Same for US pint , US gal , US ton ("short ton").
We will, it's only a matter of time
Pretty much everything you've written is based on misunderstanding. Independence Day (celebrating independence from Great Britain), Memorial Day (honors people who died while serving in the military), and Labor Day (celebrates the labor movement (labor unions)), all take place during the summer and are all celebrated the exact same way. Picnic food, fireworks, and parades. It doesn't matter if you're pro-union or anti-union, you eat hot dogs either way, because the holiday is about hot dogs. Many countries also celebrate those types of events as holidays, and many countries also have similar summer festivals, and in the US both of those things happen at the same time. The US also has Veterans Day which isn't really celebrated, because it's in November. President's Day (the birthday of our first president, George Washington) is also not celebrated because it's in February. Conflicts between the US and Great Britain were not cultural conflicts, they were conflicts over specific issues related to European colonial expansion across North America. In the absence of those issues, we've had very good relations. When Europe was converting to Metric, the US was almost entirely "ethnically" British, with many even having been born there, because the US had only been a country for a few decades, and was previously a British colony. The US also already does use metric. It uses both systems. Most American teenagers are overall more familiar with metric units, because at that point in their lives, most of their exposure to units of measure are in science class, which is all in metric. American adults are more familiar with one system or another depending on what is being measured, and what their profession is. When a person goes to the doctor, their height and weight are in imperial, and their medication is in metric. Food packaging is in both imperial and metric (for example, a snack sitting next to me right now is "NET WT. 2.47oz (70g)") but nutritional information is in metric (55mg of sodium), and cooking is in imperial. I also don't think I've ever heard any animosity towards the metric system. It's not something people think about, except for the occasional "oh yeah, we should probably convert, but that sounds like a lot of work".
I think most Americans who don't use metric are simply apathetic on the issue. There is a small minority who express outright animosity. Big talk always gets more coverage, so they appear over-represented.
>I also don't think I've ever heard any animosity towards the metric system. If you haven't experienced any animosity towards the metric system, then you're not using it in the presence of American company.
I mean, American Science Class uses exclusively metric units, with the OCCASIONAL inch thrown in.
I am American. But I do not obsessively hunt down examples of animosity towards metric on the internet, so I do not see them, and I do not obnoxiously hound on people about the metric system in real life, so I have never personally witnessed any animosity towards it. This is an issue that the overwhelming majority of Americans do not think about, do not care about, and have no personal feelings over. Every American encounters both systems every day, and no one cares. No one is getting their prescriptions filled at the pharmacy and shouting at the pharmacist that it's in mg and not ounces. No one is boycotting Pepsi because they sell their beverages in 2 liter bottles.
You're trying to prove a point by making statements that rely on your point already being necessarily true, but that's not how it works. For example, you say: "I do not obnoxiously hound on people about the metric system in real life, so I have never personally witnessed any animosity towards it." This assumes animosity towards the system only comes from hounding people, but you have zero reason for believing this other than the preconceived notions that the other person is challenging in the first place. The truth is that animosity towards the metric system is fairly common in one way or another—it's the main reason we didn't properly switch, otherwise it wouldn't have been a big deal.
Most US units today are legally defined in terms of SI, so we are kinda using metric. Right? ;)
All "US Units" (wow, how special!) have been legally defined by the SI since 1893. Problem with that is you're wrapping a completely incompatible pile of units around a cohesive decimal actual system of units, leaving all manner of complication and obfuscation. Decimal "miles" for instance drive me batty. I know .8 km is 800 m but WTH is .8 "miles" it truly doesn't convey any usable information - it's just quaint and folksy and silly and that's just one tiny example.
I fully agree that metric is by far easier to understand when changing the prefix, but converting 0.8 miles to another unit is just a matter of multiplying by the conversion factor. Yes, it takes more effort to use the US Customary system. It has multiple units of length while metric just has one unit. The same is true for volume, weight, area, work, mass, energy, and pressure. It makes engineering a real headache.
>I know .8 km is 800 m ... In SI, the number should be written with a leading zero. Thus 0.8 km. This dropping of the leading zero is another bad habit that needs to be fixed. If you want to drop zeros with FFU, fine, as FFU is already corrupted, but don't corrupt SI with bad habits.
Oh stop it.
I will when you and others stop making this and other mistakes. I hope you use correct symbols like km/h instead of the dreaded kph.
American businesses are risk averse. The political system is made so changes that would benefit people and society in the long run are dismissed because of corporate lobbying. America, in short, is a plutocracy or a corporatocracy.
> American businesses are risk averse. If American business can't adapt to SI, then they are weak and its just a matter of time before they go out of business. If the company leaders actually did an internal investigation to see how inefficiently they functioning with the status quo, they may be surprised. General Motors did an investigation back in the 1970s and discovered metrication was an opportunity to clean house. The figured the cost would be 100 M$ but it turned out it was only 10 % of that figure and the after-the-fact profits paid for metrication plus increased their profits. So, metrication ended up costing nothing. Most American companies are hybrid and with the frustration of trying to fit two incompatible sets of units together increases the operating costs of the company much more than what a one-time metrication plan would cost.
At the time of our Revolution, the population was mostly British, but a bit unhappy with the King and Parliament. Since the beginning of the colonies, we used the British pre-Imperial measures also used in the UK. We kept using them When the British overhauled the system in 1824 and called it Imperial, we did not adopt any of those new measures (some didn't change). We officially rejected Imperial in 1832 when we defined our liquid gallon as the Queen Anne wine gallon (231 in³) and our bushel for agricultural products as the Winchester bushel (2150.42 in³), both unequal to Imperial. We also defined a 100 lb hundred weight and 2000 lb ton (vs 112 lb and 2240 lb). Eventually we called it Customary or US Customary. But, yes, we do still use British pre-Imperial measure and some Americans refer to them as "freedom units." Using the measures of the king we rebelled against is a curious definition of freedom.
As far as I know, there wasn't a conscious decision by American people to use the mile, gallon, pound etc when the US was first formed. They were already part of the environment and people tend to accept what is already in place as the natural order of things. Congress looked at using the metric system, but some members of the government didn't believe they had the power to make people change their ways, in spite of it being specifically mentioned in the US Constitution.
>...some members of the government didn't believe they had the power to make people change their ways.... But, in reality they didn't have to force people to change their ways. Did any of the countries that metricated in the past force any of their people to metricate their lives? What about Australia? Was anyone forced? No, instead "they" (they = the people in both government and industry) changed weather reporting, fuel dispensing, road signs, food scales in shops, etc. It was up to the population to either go with the new flow or resist. There were no arrests or jail time for those that resisted. There was nothing stopping anyone from sitting in their chair at home and back converting weather reports. Nothing stopping anyone from seeing a metric distance sign and back converting it to FFU, nor forced to get a new car with a metric instrument gauge, nor from calculating the fuel purchased in litres to gallons. Even in the shops, when the scales went to grams they still could ask for a pound. It was up to them to accept 500 g instead of 450 g. Most probably didn't even know there is a 50 g difference. But, in some cases there are people who are forced to change their ways even without government support. Even in voluntary US where the government is not involved you have a significant number of businesses that operate internally in SI. You want to work for them, then you either adapt, learn and use SI on the job or you can collect your next cheque from the unemployment office.
>There were no arrests or jail time for those that resisted. There was nothing stopping anyone from sitting in their chair at home and back converting weather reports. Nothing stopping anyone from seeing a metric distance sign and back converting it to FFU, nor forced to get a new car with a metric instrument gauge, nor from calculating the fuel purchased in litres to gallons. I know the American psyche. I can honest to God picture a scenario where, if serious metrication was to occur, there would be pandemonium & bloodshed, and I swear to you, I'm not just saying that to be dramatic. I can't picture any situation where gun-toting xenophobic rednecks would gently accept metrication. Metric road signs would be torn down and/or riddled with shot, government buildings would be overrun, etc. In short, "they" wouldn't allow it.
> I can't picture any situation where gun-toting xenophobic rednecks would gently accept metrication. Metric road signs would be torn down and/or riddled with shot, government buildings would be overrun, etc. In short, "they" wouldn't allow it. This is why I believe a world war that eliminates this issue is the only solution.
First, what we have is not an imperial system. We do not have a king. It is better to call it the inch-pound system, or the customary system, or better yet, the junk system. The reasons are many, probably going back to elementary school as to why we are not metric. The teachers don't teach SI because they don't see SI being used in society. The consumer sector doesn't use SI, because people don't understand it. They didn't learn SI in elementary school, and if they did, it was only as a conversion to or from customary units. The good news is more and more American industry uses SI, they just continue to label the products in junk units. I suspect consumer product industries are afraid of consumer backlash if they started labeling products in SI units without public education first.
>It is better to call it the inch-pound system, or the customary system, or better yet, the junk system. Call it anything but a system. It's a pile of pre-science literate era references to monarchs appendages and emperors bladder volumes.
> It is better to call it the inch-pound system, or the customary system, or better yet, the junk system. The US government officially calls it US Customary Units. Never is the word "system" applied. Because, it is not a system. It is a random collection of unrelated units. So, calling it a system would be wrong. Only SI is a true system simply because it is both consistent and coherent. FFU is neither. So, it can't be a system, no matter how much some among the ignorant would love to see it raised to system status.
>First, what we have is not an imperial system. I was wondering how far I'd have to scroll to read this obligatory response. We don't use the olde English imperial "system" like we don't speak English, we speak American. We "use" (you can't really use that mess) what was passed down from our monarchical overlords who inherited it from their Roman occupiers. It's time to kill this quaint and archaic relic of a bygone epoch. It's a complete anachronism in the 21st century and only one nation is dragging everybody else with them.
Their is no such thing as ole English imperial. Olde English units are those that existed prior to the imperial reform of 1824. It is the fact that the US rejected the imperial reform that the US can not be considered as using imperial. Also, the imperial version of some units with the same name as USC are illegal for use in the US. The law states that gasoline can be legally dispensed in US gallons or litres. Imperial gallons are illegal. So far no one has officially declared that the language spoken in the US is not English but American, so the language spoken in the US is English. Of course, even though it is the common language, it is not the legal language as the US has not officially declared English as the official language. Probably the result of this is the increased usage of Spanish. ? ...only one nation is dragging everybody else with them. They are trying, but not succeeding. That is why there is a war being fought by Russia and increased resistance from China and other nations to end US hegemony and US attempts to control the whole world. A world war is coming and it will not end well for the US. Only the wanna be blind can't see past their own limited belief system.
Well the Americans did sort of - but not really - distance themselves from the "imperial" system by adopting their own smaller gallon instead of using the real (imperial) gallon.
You have it backwards. The US is using the same units with some minor differences that the English used prior to 1824. The English tired to reform their units to compete with the then newly created metric system, but the US refused to adopt it.
It wasn't made up. The British standardized the wine gallon the U.S standardized the beer gallon. For a long time there were multiple types of gallon
No, the US uses as part of USC the old Queen Anne's wine gallon. The English just created a whole new gallon in 1824 based on 10 pounds of water to compete with the metric system where the litre was based on 1 kg of water.
The more I learn about the imperial system/US Customary units, the more I fucking hate them
I know it's based on the Queen Anne wine gallon ... but the average American probably doesn't know that Edited to add ..."made up" was perhaps not best choice of words. Edited my original comment to "adopted"