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The entire civilized world outside of the U.S. uses SI metrics, where as the U.S. is still stuck on ridiculously outdated measures such as feet, inches, pounds, fahrenheit, etc. Can we somehow persuade Joe Sixpack to turn off television for five minutes and get acquainted with the SI system, or are we destined to continue to embarrass ourselves with units of measure the rest of the world ditched when the horse and buggy went out of style?
No. Can't be done. For starters, referred to person can not count in tens. It's beyond them. It's somehow referred to as "very hard" whilst adding 17/32 to 19/78th is not. Beats me.
Also, do you realize that country actually has 7 systems of measurements? I did paper on this when I was in my ESL class. SEVEN. How do you want to bring all this together into one?
Besides, it's a simple marketing tool. And sales tool. Same object weighs more in pounds. It's 2.2 pounds of something vs 1 kilo. Same time, allows you to charge twice for the same weight in lilos. Real basic, but money making principle.
We had a cartoon back in old country. Series, actually, about 4 friends - Elephant, Monkey, Piton, and Parrot. All about 9 yo equivalent of a child.
So one cartoon was when Piton decided to figure out, how long he is. Each buddy measured him in their own body length. He was something like 2 Elephants, 14 Monkeys, and 27 Parrots long. At the end, Piton proudly purrs - In PArrots, I am the longest.
Same principle is here - you "get more stuff" in lesser weight units. 2 pounds sounds more than 1 kilo. And you pay twice.
I hope you got it.
I don't think there is really that much friction as people suppose that there is in switching. I think the only thing truly stopping us from switching is inertia. Sure some may complain about the transition, but I don't know anyone who doesn't think that switching will be beneficial.
The Metric System is fine for people with low intelligence.
Those with higher IQs are quite competently able to integrate the Decimal, Duodecimal and Sexigesmial Systems into their daily lives.
Seeing how the Metric System is founded on sheer hatred, it's no wonder some people like it.
Its pretty clear reading many posts here. ..America is not ready. How dare the OP even bring it up... lol
I love the metric system and wish we had implemented it 100 years ago. What's not to love about moving the decimal point?
The expense for many things like signage could be huge, that is only a one time expense but could be implemented over many decades with dual markings negating costs. On the other hand for things like construction that issue will persist as long as those buildings exist, that will be 100's of years.
The entire civilized world outside of the U.S. uses SI metrics, where as the U.S. is still stuck on ridiculously outdated measures such as feet, inches, pounds, fahrenheit, etc. Can we somehow persuade Joe Sixpack to turn off television for five minutes and get acquainted with the SI system, or are we destined to continue to embarrass ourselves with units of measure the rest of the world ditched when the horse and buggy went out of style?
Most country's have SI as their official unit of measurement. This does not meat that it's all that's used.
It's an objective fact that the SI system is more efficient and simpler to use, but it's not necessary to accurately measure things. I would support the change, but it's not worth pushing it as far as I'm concerned. There are far bigger issues.
I consider speed limit signs to be a suggestion not a rule. While I was driving my Buick wagon in Canada I saw an exit ramp signed for 40. Adding my usual 20 mph I drove into the curve at 60 mph. About halfway through I realized they meant 40 kph and I was doing about 90 kph. Tricky driving and a lot of tire squeal was the result.
When I work on cars I have used the Imperial, Whitworth and Metric systems. The trick is learning which wrenches work on fasteners in more then one system. For instance 7/16 is the same as 11 mm. There is no equivalent of 17/32 Whitworth. Most cars, American of elsewhere are built in metric except for tire diameters I inches and width in millimeters.
One of the big advantages if the SI is the clear difference between the units of force and mass. In SI force is in Newtons and mass in Kilograms. In the Imperial it is force is in pounds and mass in slugs or poundles. That can be confusing.
I would prefer the use of the decimal system, this would be a simple transition from the currently used inch system without the need of doing any retooling, it would just require relabeling. The decimal system is taking the current 12 inch foot and dividing it into 10 equal sections and so on down the scale of measurement. This system has been used in engineering for many years.
One of the most difficult parts of various health profession schools (medicine, nursing, pharmacist, etc...) in the USA is getting Americans to wrap their heads around pharmacology math which is largely uses the metric system.
Leaving aside comprehending units of measurements and their relation to each other (grams to milligrams, liters to milliliters, kilograms to grams etc...) for persons who supposedly came out of high school with "excellent" grades in math working with decimals just isn't often a strong point.
Even with computers both in medical offices and other facilities people still make errors with the metric system that sadly result in adverse incidents including death. One common mistake is not noticing whether a dosage of medication is written based on metric system (kilograms of body weight) vs. avoirdupois pound. Systems/paperwork often does highlight this but when nurses or others are busy picking up orders things can be missed.
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