Metric System (interstate, gallon, highway, revolution)
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It was already tried americans hated it..
[SIZE=3]America is the only major nation on the planet that has not gone metric. Twenty-five or thirty years ago, when the last big push was made to force the metric system on this country, there were dire predictions that failure to adopt metric would have a disastrous effect on the American economy. It was said, no doubt truly, that the old English system, with its eccentric or obscure units of measurement (exactly how big is an acre, for instance, and what is a rod?) is unsuited to a modern, high-tech economy. It was at this time that signage on the interstate highway system began to give distances in both miles and kilometers. Clearly, the end times were upon us.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]But the metric mob had reckoned without the reaction of the American people. Confronted with all those unfamiliar liters, kilos, centimeters, etc., they resolutely refused to stop thinking in terms of inches, ounces, quarts, feet, gallons, yards and miles. And so the dream of a metric America faded out. A few quaint remembrances linger—the two-liter soda bottle and the 5K race—but in the land of E Pluribus Unum, a pound is still a pound and if you give us an centimeter, we'll take a mile.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Despite the warnings of metric proponents, no economic disaster followed this rejection of the metric system. Indeed, the US economy has proved perfectly capable of working in either the metric or the English system as circumstances dictate. But clearly, America's rejection of metric still irritates many progressives:[/SIZE] Twenty-Six Letters
If we were going to try it again, we should just do it. No easing into it, hand everyone a meter stick and bean bag that weighs a kilo and get on with it. The problem is all the effort (and math) that goes into converting the systems.
Just forget about converting -- switch. You know how it is when you're in Europe? You adapt pretty quickly.
I think Americans hated it when we tried because Americans would rather take on an ax weilding cyclops than make the slightest change. And when change has to come we sulk in a corner and talk to our teddy bear for comfort.
I can admit that I think it would be a pain in the arse, but I think it would be more convenient overall after a while.
We do not need anything which would place an added burden on our economy right now, and this would. Reprinting labels, resizing containers, the list goes on. Why change a system which works perfectly well for us just because the rest of the world does something different? With that mentality we would never have started the Revolution and would still be kneeling to the King of Emgland.
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
16,259 posts, read 24,772,368 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crystalblue
Is it time for the US to adopt the Metric System?
and if so, how would we go about it?
dual systems for a while?
just teach the kids?
We already tried that and people were not smart enough to learn it so we switched back. I would like to switch to it because it hurts the USA in trade when we have to make 2 versions of everything while the rest of the world only makes 1 version.
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
16,259 posts, read 24,772,368 times
Reputation: 3587
Quote:
Originally Posted by ellie
If we were going to try it again, we should just do it. No easing into it, hand everyone a meter stick and bean bag that weighs a kilo and get on with it. The problem is all the effort (and math) that goes into converting the systems.
Just forget about converting -- switch. You know how it is when you're in Europe? You adapt pretty quickly.
But really I don't care one way or the other. LOL
I agree with that. That is how change should be made. Just do it with little or no transition time. Just like digital TV- come Feb 13th you either switch or you get no more TV. The government should simply state that a certain date is the cut off for the English system and after this date all items manufactured or sold within the country- including cars- shall be metric and all signage on interstate highways shall be metric.
The Metric System is much easier to use and teach. The US Armed Forces uses the Metric System. If our military can change and adapt so can civilians. My son is a swimmer, during the winter months he swims in yards and in the summer he swim in meters. At the Olympics, there are no 100 yd events only 100 M events.
The U.S. system is human centered. The French system was an attempt to introduce a French standard. Did you know that the original concept even had decimal hours and weeks?
Frankly, changing wouldn't make any difference anyway. Yesterday, I considered buying some ground beef at Walmart. The store had it in 2.25 pound packages and 5.5 pound packages, priced at odd prices, and used ounces (in VERY small print) for the required unit pricing. After wasting about a minute, I refused to buy the stuff, since I couldn't easily get a price per pound. I guarantee that stores will play the same game with metrics.
Besides, would we have to change everything? Would Shylock have to buy kilos of flesh instead of pounds of flesh, when the play was performed?
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