Why America Doesn't Use Celsius (Canada, London, different, amount)

[theunbrainwashed]

Originally Posted by irlinit

I use both, but lean towards metric, which makes far more sense. This is what I use:

Measuring height of a person: imperial
Measuring height in general: metric
Measuring weight of person: imperial
Measuring weight in general: metric
Measuring distance: imperial (only in miles, otherwise I use metric)
Measuring volume: metric


Basically, I only use imperial for measuring height and weight of a person, and road distances.

I pretty much would be the same as well if the US went metric. The thing that irks me the most about metric are longer distances. I think feet and miles are much more practical than mm and meters. I also think it's funny that the UK uses yards for distances as well, like 200 yards to the next exit where in the US we just put up signs saying 500 ft. Another thing I noticed too, your road distances are basically set up to mirror metric as close as possible (speed limit by the 10's instead of 5's in the US) and using yards (would be meters on the continent and ROI and 1m ~ 1yd) as opposed to feet for shorter road distances

[Sickandtiredofthis]

Temperature: Celcius
Wind: mph
Speed: mph
Distance: miles and yards
Height: feet and inches
Weight of me: pounds or stones
Weight of food: kilograms, grams, ounces and cups.
Elevation: feet

I really hate Kilometres and metres when using height. Everytime I fly and the distance says KM I have no idea how far we have travelled.

[Shutout]

The healthcare field is slowly converting to metric in terms of height and weight.

[mkpunk]

The problem is we are set in or ways as Americans. For example, football is measured in yards. We'd need to convert the length to meters which wouldn't be clean. It would be about 81 meters off the the top my head. Then you have driving distance which would throw people off too. At least km/h is on your speedometer though.

[Ethereal]

They're just stubborn I thought.

[theunbrainwashed]

Originally Posted by Shutout

The healthcare field is slowly converting to metric in terms of height and weight.

it is already converted. You just see imperial measurements on there for the convenience of the patient. The height and weight are all recorded in metric in the patient charts

[divisionbyzero0]

I'm completely fine by both...

SI units are metric though, except for temp (Kelvin)

[Botev1912]

the metric system is superior

[In_Correct]

Originally Posted by tom77falcons

Actually the article is more about "metric", but I wanted to stay on the weather topic less the thread be moved ha ha.


Thoughts anyone from US and rest of the world on the article linked below. Interesting how people that favored going metric were called "communists". Sound familiar, hmmm?


America's only metric road



Here is a little bit from the article, which btw is about a new book justifying the USA reluctance about going metric. The Author wants us to stay out of it.


"People say the metric system makes sense," Marciano says, "But in nature we don't think about dividing things by 10, do we? We think of halves and feet and thirds."

Acres, for instance, were based on the amount of land a man could plow in a day.
"Throughout history we have measured things by ourselves," Marciano says. "We are really losing something with metric."

And another thing: People think the metric system has something to do with science. It doesn't, Marciano says, except that it is used in science and every scientist will probably put forth a convincing argument for why it's silly not to be metric.

"That's the biggest misconception," Marciano says. "The metric system has everything to do with capitalism. It's all about a selling system."


Seems Abraham Lincoln was a strong proponent of going metric, and one year after his assasination Congress authorized metric.

Another bit:


In 1866, the U.S. Congress authorized the use of the metric system and almost a decade later America became one of 17 original signatory nations to the Treaty of the Meter. A more modern system was approved in 1960 and is commonly known as SI or the International System of Units.

And Neither Does Many Other Things U.S.A. does.

[forgotten username]

I think it's fine if both systems coexist because I like the "fear of a monoculture" argument, but that's quite funny coming from an american perspective.

The fact that the brits use both is another symbol of their love/hate relationship with the rest of Europe, aka the "Why be normal ?" problem.

Now I remember the time I was in London during a school trip in high school, asking someone the way to some place, and hearing that I had to turn at around 400 hundred yards.

I was like "thanks..." and then I started scratching my head.

Historical Footnote:

The meter is a product of the enlightment and the French revolution. At the time, things also changed to measure time. The day started to be cut in ten hours, the week in ten days and the months changed names according to nature. The year started at Autumn equinox. This system was used in France for about 15 years then abandoned in the beginning of the 19th century.