Why have most other countries converted to the metric system but not the US? (live, education)

[Mac15]

Originally Posted by John-UK

The UK had a metrication policy and only went half way. It should be carried out to the full. We buy petrol by the litre but petrol consumption is rated in miles per gallon. We still use miles not km's. We buy kitchen units in mm. We buy beer by the pint and wine by the 750ml bottle and in gasses of 175ml. We weight ourselves in stones and our height is in feet and inches. A joke. We need 100% metrication as it confuses.

It doesn't confuse anybody but Europeans. I am happy with the current situation.

[Mac15]

Originally Posted by Natnasci

Don't forget though, that your measuring cups aren't using the same Imperial measurement that Canada and the UK use/used.

1 US quart is equal to 1.2 imperial quarts and so on.

Erm no this is a misconnception in the UK we actually use USA imperial measurements. For example, we use american fluid ounces and not British.

[Mac15]

Originally Posted by irish_bob

when americans speak of being 240 pounds , they sound like they weigh a tonne

that said I would never state my height in metres , im 6 ft 2 , I state my weight in stone ( not KG )

Stone and pounds!

[Natnasci]

Originally Posted by Mac15

Erm no this is a misconnception in the UK we actually use USA imperial measurements. For example, we use american fluid ounces and not British.

What? Why would the UK adopt US standards of measure? I think people would be very upset if they got a US pint in a UK pub.

Please show me some links or evidence as to when the UK converted to US measurements.

Amount: 1 fluid ounce U.K. (fl oz Imperial) in volume
Equals: 0.96 fluid ounces US (fl oz)

1 pint US equals 16 US oz.
1 Imperial pint equals 20 imperial oz.

[zortation]

Originally Posted by John-UK

The UK had a metrication policy and only went half way. It should be carried out to the full. We buy petrol by the litre but petrol consumption is rated in miles per gallon. We still use miles not km's. We buy kitchen units in mm. We buy beer by the pint and wine by the 750ml bottle and in gasses of 175ml. We weight ourselves in stones and our height is in feet and inches. A joke. We need 100% metrication as it confuses.

That is very common. Canada attempted the same, we went full bore on metric in the mid seventies only to find out that people find comfort in certain things like inches and lbs.

How about a thread on the date format now? I'm sure we can beat this horse into a frothy paste without much more effort.

[JedlaRoche]

dd/mm/yyyy or yyyy/mm/dd looks logical to me.
But mm/dd/yyyy ? Who the hell though about this ?

[Magnatomicflux]

Originally Posted by JedlaRoche

dd/mm/yyyy or yyyy/mm/dd looks logical to me.
But mm/dd/yyyy ? Who the hell though about this ?

Really? lol

m/d/y makes the most sense out of them all. At least to me.


What day is it? It's March 23, 2014.

Canada does all three though.

[cmptrwlt]

Why is the month so important? I prefer day/month/year. Year/month/day also seems quite logical.

[Magnatomicflux]

Why are there different formats anyway?

It's not that the month is so important. For me, m/d/y just seems natural. Everything electronic I have with a date is set like that right from the factory.

[barneyg]

Originally Posted by JedlaRoche

dd/mm/yyyy or yyyy/mm/dd looks logical to me.
But mm/dd/yyyy ? Who the hell though about this ?

The only reason m/d/y exists is because it follows spoken English.