the metric system... should it be universal?

W

wcwbf

Member
unless it's something you use every day, i probably have a better than average knowledge of the metric system... for an American. and that's not much! i know a meter is about 3" longer than a yard. a liter is a few swigs bigger than a quart. a kilometer... either about twice as big as a mile or half as big? i always have to ponder that one till my brain remembers a kilo by weight... about 2 lbs... and i have to thank Al Pacino (Scarface) for knowing that!

i remember a very brief time (early 70's) when it looked like we Americans might be forced to embrace the measurements that pretty much EVERYBODY ON EARTH uses except us! i recall gas pumps showing gallons & liters?? a bit apples & oranges, eh!?

i know it would produce whining heard round the globe, but i wish we used the metric system, like everybody else.
 

I do understand that changing measurements systems is extremely expensive. You would have to re-engineer almost everything in the US. But sooner or later, we will have to join the rest of the world in the standard measurement system. There are about 4-500,,million, who use feet and pounds, but 6 billion who don't. We should have done this years ago, so the pain is long gone.
 
Well we use the metric system, and there was a lot of fuss about changing over when it happened.. but in actual fact the metric system is way easier than the imperial system. That said..I still think very much in farenheit rather than centirgrade..wheras my husband always thinks in metric.

Our road signs are still in miles as well..and not kilometres.. but I'm completely au fait with kilometres because I have a second home on the continent.. Our petrol is in litres at the pumps..but I still think of it in gallons
 

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oh yes I also think of my weight in Imperial even tho' when I'm weighed at the hospital they always tell me it in Metric...

However I have no idea where you are Jules..are you in Canada ?
 
Do you know that all Air Traffic Controllers and pilots anywhere in the world must speak English when communicating over the radio?
English is the international language in aviation.
 
I don't care as long as they wait until I'm dead.

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oldman said:
Do you know that all Air Traffic Controllers and pilots anywhere in the world must speak English when communicating over the radio?
English is the international language in aviation.
Click to expand...

As you stipulated I only hear English spoken on the ATC frequencies but depending on the airlines communicating on their own hub frequencies instead of the ARINC shared frequencies a fair number of the pilots and the airline company dispatchers speak in their native tongue especially Spanish but late at night I listen to 123.025 MHz to listen to Central Florida medivac and law enforcement choppers which is very exciting and 123.45 MHz the oceanic & remote area air to air frequency and besides the usual unauthorized charter pilot and Embrey Riddle student pilot gossip there are a fair number of Spanish speaking pilots. I know 122.75 MHz is the authorized air to air frequency but I never hear anything on it.

I didn't know about this. Guess you gotta be in the industry to know some things, lol.

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www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=123509

www.translatemedia.com/us/blog-usa/english-language-skies/

www.simpleflying.com/english-aviation-language/

www.aerosavvy.com/how-pilots-communicate/

www.flightsafety.org/asw-article/speak-up/



 
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fuzzybuddy said:
I do understand that changing measurements systems is extremely expensive. You would have to re-engineer almost everything in the US. But sooner or later, we will have to join the rest of the world in the standard measurement system. There are about 4-500,,million, who use feet and pounds, but 6 billion who don't. We should have done this years ago, so the pain is long gone.
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Yes, I agree. Metric should be universal (well, at least on this planet if not the whole universe). It's so much easier for kids to learn, makes more sense, used in science, and way more countries already use it. We could always use both systems here in the U.S. until everyone who learned the imperial method has passed.
 
I'm in Canada. We are supposed to be on the metric system officially. But we still get stuff that is measured in Imperial. In the grocery store you will see meat and other products displayed in pounds and kilograms. Some radio stations still give the temperature in Fahrenheit and Celsius.
I took the metric system in high school. It used to be Centigrade for the metric system.
At one time both Canada and the U.S. were working together to convert to the metric system.
The United States backed out. And the primary reason was the gas pumps in the U.S. The station owners objected to having to convert their pumps to the point of threatening to shoot anyone who tried to lock their pumps.

It's expensive to switch. All scales have to be converted and anything measured has to be converted.

For me, even though I knew the system I cannot get used to metric.

All the recipes are in the Imperial system. You just don't throw them away. Fortunately the measuring devices are marked in both. You just don't throw away a thermometer that you paid a good buck for.

The metric system is supposed to be 'easier'. It's not any easier.

All the homes that were built are in feet and inches. The drywall you replace is still 4 x 8 feet. Although they also mark it in centimeters. The studs are still 8 feet long and the width is still 2 x 4 inches (which they haven't been for years)

When I go to the deli I just ask for two dollars worth and let them figure it out.

An easy way to convert the temperature mentally, Celsius to Fahrenheit is to multiply the Celsius by two and add thirty. It's not precise but close enough to find out if your hot or cold.



Two other countries that didn't convert are Myannmar and one other one. I think it's Liberia.

The idea behind switching was for the export trade.
 
I prefer imperial sizes to metric ones, though
as hollydolly says metric is easier to use if you
don't work it back to imperial.

What I don't really like about it is price rises at
the Petrol/Gas pumps if a gallon goes up by
10 pence or 25 cents that is fine, but if you are
in litres and a litre goes up by 10 pence, that is
45.5+ pence in the gallon and in America $1.12+
per gallon, using the numbers that I started with.

Long journeys seem to go quicker when the distance
is shown in Kilometres as there are 8 to 5 miles or
1.5K to 1 Mile, approximately.

Mike.
 
I spent my career as a tool & die maker where precision measurements are a way of life. Many years ago there was a movement in the U.S. to change to the metric system. I was in favor of it but one of my bosses at the time was dead set against it. He wasn't very bright.
The first things we had that were made to metric dimensions were huge molds that made the plastic liner that was the inside of a refrigerator. All the blue prints were in metric but most of our machinery wasn't capable of metric dimensions so we had to convert them to our system.
I got the job of making a major change to the molds which involved turning them on their side and hoisting them onto a large boring mill and clamping them onto large angle plates, I the had to mill a slot about 2 inches wide and 1/2 inch deep down the back of the mold, then take it off the machine and reset the angle plates to 45 degrees, hoist the mold back on the machine and continue the cut,
Now my boss was a nervous wreck. This was our first job converting from metric and he was worried I might not have got the dimensions right.( he didn't have a clue how to do it).
He left for awhile and I got started, finished the first part and had was setting the angle plates to a 45 degree angle when he came back around. Knowing how clueless he was about the metric system and how nervous he was about this particular job, I decided to have a little fun. As I was starting to set the angle I said by the way, Glen, what's 45 degrees in metrics. He thought for a minute and said I don't know but I'll go find out. He went across the shop to the tool room office to ask, As lck would have it, instead of just the other foreman was in the office, this was the time of day the engineers were in the office having coffee, the place was packed with people. I could hear the roar of laughter all the way across the shop when he asked the question. He came out, his face red as a beet, gave me a cussin' and said you did that on purpose.
I just grinned.
 
I learned conversion of imperial units to metric ones in school, and was led to believe that it was just a matter of time before the U.S. joined the majority of the world, and went metric. Hype existed about an impending conversion, which would have been phased in over a number of years rather painlessly. Unfortunately, vested interests and bullheadedness won out, and we continue to march to the beat of our own drum and outdated system...
 
The i
Mike said:
I prefer imperial sizes to metric ones, though
as hollydolly says metric is easier to use if you
don't work it back to imperial.

What I don't really like about it is price rises at
the Petrol/Gas pumps if a gallon goes up by
10 pence or 25 cents that is fine, but if you are
in litres and a litre goes up by 10 pence, that is
45.5+ pence in the gallon and in America $1.12+
per gallon, using the numbers that I started with.

Long journeys seem to go quicker when the distance
is shown in Kilometres as there are 8 to 5 miles or
1.5K to 1 Mile, approximately.

Mike.
Click to expand...
Ah :love: man a trip doesn't go any quicker. It still takes the same amount of time whether it's in kilometers or miles.
Your dashboard shows it in both on the newer cars.:love:
 
Fyrefox said:
I learned conversion of imperial units to metric ones in school, and was led to believe that it was just a matter of time before the U.S. joined the majority of the world, and went metric. Hype existed about an impending conversion, which would have been phased in over a number of years rather painlessly. Unfortunately, vested interests and bullheadedness won out, and we continue to march to the beat of our own drum and outdated system...
Click to expand...
What are you worried about? The money is still metric.
$10. $20, $50, $100
;)
 
Oh for heavens sake, nations have more serious problems to solve than getting/teaching citizens of every nation into learning the metric system and using it only. :) This one American citizen had even gotten confused over the meaning of some words a Canadian friend used. lol
 
WheatenLover said:
54 years ago, when I was in 5th grade, our teacher told us the US would soon switch to the metric system. I prefer it because it is a lot more exact. I like to use it in baking, especially.
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Really? You like to use it in baking because it is a lot more exact?

So how do you measure grams in a recipe?

The reason I am asking is because with Imperial you use cups and tablespoons and teaspoons which is a measurement.

With grams it's weight so you need a scale to measure out the quantity.

This is what bugs me with some recipes. They mix the metric in with the Imperial so I have to guess because you can't convert grams to tablespoons or teaspoons exactly.

Yep all the cup measures are in cups and millimeters that's easy.

Grams are weight, milliliters are volume. If you see grams, grab your scale. If you see milliliters, grab your liquid measuring cup
 
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rkunsaw said:
I spent my career as a tool & die maker where precision measurements are a way of life. Many years ago there was a movement in the U.S. to change to the metric system. I was in favor of it but one of my bosses at the time was dead set against it. He wasn't very bright.
The first things we had that were made to metric dimensions were huge molds that made the plastic liner that was the inside of a refrigerator. All the blue prints were in metric but most of our machinery wasn't capable of metric dimensions so we had to convert them to our system.
I got the job of making a major change to the molds which involved turning them on their side and hoisting them onto a large boring mill and clamping them onto large angle plates, I the had to mill a slot about 2 inches wide and 1/2 inch deep down the back of the mold, then take it off the machine and reset the angle plates to 45 degrees, hoist the mold back on the machine and continue the cut,
Now my boss was a nervous wreck. This was our first job converting from metric and he was worried I might not have got the dimensions right.( he didn't have a clue how to do it).
He left for awhile and I got started, finished the first part and had was setting the angle plates to a 45 degree angle when he came back around. Knowing how clueless he was about the metric system and how nervous he was about this particular job, I decided to have a little fun. As I was starting to set the angle I said by the way, Glen, what's 45 degrees in metrics. He thought for a minute and said I don't know but I'll go find out. He went across the shop to the tool room office to ask, As lck would have it, instead of just the other foreman was in the office, this was the time of day the engineers were in the office having coffee, the place was packed with people. I could hear the roar of laughter all the way across the shop when he asked the question. He came out, his face red as a beet, gave me a cussin' and said you did that on purpose.
I just grinned.
Click to expand...
I always remember the advice I was given when I was promoted to a manager's position.

Never hire someone smarter than you.

Time marches on in hours, minutes, and seconds.

Weeks are measured in 7 days using Roman names

Years are measured in Months using Roman names.

That's never going to be converted to metric.

Gold is measure in Troy weight.
 
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