Should the US get off the pot and go metric?

I am in my 70's and I have heard this comment off and on for all of my life (starting when I could understand what was being said). I don't think the American ego is welling to make this change! Most of us understand both systems...
 

Timewise 60+ said:
I am in my 70's and I have heard this comment off and on for all of my life (starting when I could understand what was being said). I don't think the American ego is welling to make this change! Most of us understand both systems...
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The US military uses metric exclusively.
 
I use some metric with work. And started using military time at work over 30 years ago and love it. No 8am or 8pm, it's 0800 or 2000.

I'm better with liquids than measurements.

What's the quilting community going to do? A fat meter vs a fat quarter?
 
I recall when I had to augment my large inventory of mechanics tools with metric sockets, wrenches, etc. It was so "un American" to me, and expensive. But now, most everything I work on - even my beloved American vehicles - have metric nuts and bolts and so on.
 
One metric measurement we all use in the US is a calorie, and we have no problem with that although most of us think a calorie is what tells us how much weight we gain from a cupcake. But not even knowing what a calorie actually is presents no difficulty at all, even if it's a metric measure:

An energy unit equal to the approximate amount of energy required to raise one gram of water by one degree Celsius.
 
There isn't a pot to get off of. The US uses both systems.

All of our rulers and tape measures have metrics along one side and empirical measures on the other. Medical scales, measuring cups used in cooking and baking, and products in cans and bottles have both, too. Everyone from surveyors to astronauts use both metrics and empirical in the US.
 
Metric is certainly easier to do conversions, but the truth is, I will never be comfortable with it. I’ve even taught it. I still have to pause and think which way the decimal moves when doing conversions, say from meters to millimeters. But inches to feet? Instantaneous ! The only reason I know how much a liter is is because soda comes in liters. And Celsius? Fuggedaboutit!

Having said that, I like to bake. I love recipes that give measurements in grams. So much more accurate than cups. And easier too.
 
Do you realize that there are dozens of metric measurement systems? People on this thread seem to be focused almost exclusively on SI length and mass, and Celsius temperature, but how many really advocate going "fully metric"? Can you even comprehend what that would mean? 😲 It would be a truly breathtaking undertaking.

For myself, I'm perfectly capable of using either meters or inches, grams or ounces. I seldom need to convert one to the other but it isn't terribly difficult. (I am still struggling just a bit with LED light bulbs . . . "watt equivalent" and lumens. :rolleyes:)

How about switching to decimal time? Ten hours per day (one megasecond), one hundred minutes per hour, 100 seconds per minute? Think of the advantages!!! :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

It strikes me that the U.S has more important things to address.
 
I lived for a number of years in Europe, so the metric thing is no big deal. For me, the biggest PITA was having to buy metric hand tools. SAE tools are expensive enough, so now I have to buy entire wrench sets, socket sets, etc. in metric sizes too? Grrrrrrr.......
 
Tommy said:
Do you realize that there are dozens of metric measurement systems? People on this thread seem to be focused almost exclusively on SI length and mass, and Celsius temperature, but how many really advocate going "fully metric"? Can you even comprehend what that would mean? 😲 It would be a truly breathtaking undertaking.

For myself, I'm perfectly capable of using either meters or inches, grams or ounces. I seldom need to convert one to the other but it isn't terribly difficult. (I am still struggling just a bit with LED light bulbs . . . "watt equivalent" and lumens. :rolleyes:)

How about switching to decimal time? Ten hours per day (one megasecond), one hundred minutes per hour, 100 seconds per minute? Think of the advantages!!! :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:

It strikes me that the U.S has more important things to address.
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Zackly. Converting to any kind of metric system would come at a serious cost -- and need I say that government estimates on cost are ALWAYS too low?
 
fuzzybuddy said:
In another thread there was a discussion of the metric system. I'm tired of trying to convert meters to feet, and who knows how big a kilometer is. Outside of the US, it's a metric world. And yes, we've had this discussion before. But isn't it time we ditch the 16th Century measures, so we can understand what the rest of the world is using?
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Probably. But in all honesty, I find feet and inches easier to think of. My brain was wired for it as a kid, and it's just my default always. Same with Miles and Kilometers. Much much prefer miles.
 
I think it would be easier to adjust to if we made a full leap. If my car speedometer (hey, why is 'meter' in that word?) was in kilometers and the speed limit sign was in kilometers and the distance to the next city was in kilometers, then my brain would sort that out easily. Same if the thermostat was in Celcius, I would pretty quickly know which number was too cold or too hot.

The slow weird way we are changing (2 liter coke, 5k organized walks, 9 millimeter gun, etc) may take the 'scary change' out of the experience, but I don't feel like it is easier.
 
HoneyNut said:
I think it would be easier to adjust to if we made a full leap. If my car speedometer (hey, why is 'meter' in that word?) was in kilometers and the speed limit sign was in kilometers and the distance to the next city was in kilometers, then my brain would sort that out easily. Same if the thermostat was in Celcius, I would pretty quickly know which number was too cold or too hot.

The slow weird way we are changing (2 liter coke, 5k organized walks, 9 millimeter gun, etc) may take the 'scary change' out of the experience, but I don't feel like it is easier.
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Have you looked closely at your vehicle's speedometer ? I bet it all ready has kilometers on the dial, perhaps smaller in size than the miles numerals, but it should be there, unless your vehicle is older than you are. Grin. For sure all the vehicles sold in Canada for at least the last 40 years are that way.

Temps in Celsius are pretty easy. The freezing point of water is Zero C. Plus 10 C is warm enough, Plus 20 C is shirt sleeve and shorts weather, and Plus 30 C is damn hot. Water boils at 100 C.
 
Fyrefox said:
The U.S. has often…all too proudly…marched to the beat of a different drummer than the rest of the world. Other nations have gun control, whereas our regulations by comparison are extremely lax. Other nations utilize the metric system, whereas we cling to the Imperial system. We also cling to the arcane and archaic Electoral College, whereby someone can be elected president while losing the popular vote. That’s remarkably happened twice in twenty years!

At several points in the past, the U.S. has seemed to declare the intent to go metric, but sadly never actually gone ahead with it. I suspect that we’d survive if we did, once the dust settled…
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True. It's only problematic for those who were educated differently.
 
jimintoronto said:
Have you looked closely at your vehicle's speedometer ? I bet it all ready has kilometers on the dial, perhaps smaller in size than the miles numerals, but it should be there, unless your vehicle is older than you are.
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Dial? What the heck are you driving?

Mine is a 2018 model, and much of the instrument panel is an LCD screen. The speedometer is normally a display of digits and defaults to MPH though it is easy enough to fiddle and change the setting to Metric. Most people won't bother, and thus not be pestered by the clutter of a KPH scale.

Changing it can be done without taking your hands off the wheel.

Instruments.jpg

I don't have a color image, but in color everything is much clearer.
 

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