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...until the metric system is the only official measurement system for any kind of measurement?
I recently found out that only a handful of countries (seemingly about three of them) still have a non-metric system for measurements. Including America! Crazy. Surely they'll eventually make the official switch, though... and the same goes for all those countries that still have all their road speed limit signs in mph.
I will never accept the metric system!
A while. America tried to go metric in the 90s, and it was ultimate failure. I'm sure the metric system is easier when you're raised on it, considering it's all based in 10s, but no one is going to switch now. ;o And I'm pretty dandy with the Imperial system.
Why would you switch to metric?
I weight 160 lbs. I have no idea how many Kg that is.
I'm 5'6. I have no idea how many cm that is. I think it's 165 but I'm basing that on a 12" = 30 cm ratio. It's really 12 inches = 30.64 cm.
I drive on the highway at 100 km/h. That's around 62 mph
I can tell you that I max out at 100 mph on the highway but that's only a coincidence that 100 mph = 160 kmph
(actually it's 100 mph = 160.9344 kph)
:D I like both imperial and metric
I quite agree. The metric system can burn!Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunny
If anything's gonna burn, it's the imperial system. Système International for lyfe.
The metric system will never catch on in the US. It's been tried before. (and failed because it sucks).
The metric system is the best system to use in a lab setting. Science in every country uses metric measurements. But for day-to-day lives, people here like using the imperial system, including me. Fahrenheit, feet, and pounds, especially, would be hard to do away with. What do you have equivalent to a foot in metric? You jump from a tiny centimeter to a huge meter, whereas in imperial you have inches, feet, and then yards. Decimeter I guess would be a bit better, but does anyone use that?
Also, being divisible by 5 and 10 is nice, but being divisible by 3 and 4 is also really nice. There's a reason our time system is based on 60 minutes, 24 hours and everyone accepts it. Just like 12 inches in a foot, it's easily divisible by a bunch of common numbers (2, 3, 4, especially). Who needs to measure a tenth of a meter?
ok here. in canada, everyone still uses imperial for height and weight. weight goes so far as measurements of meat at the grocerie store too, but it's marked in both lb AND kg. our speedometers list both, though the MPH is listed smaller and less featured.
i'm 6'6", 198 cm tall.
i weigh 245 lbs, 111 kg.
not everyone is savvy enough to convert height and weight, and i'm sure most people here don't bother. we still use cups and spoons to measure dry cooking measurements, but we buy POP in 2L bottles.
we're half and half it would seem, but metric will have a imperial on us for sometime still.
oh raistlin is so right, metric time seems as ludicrous to me as a 12-hour system seems to people in europe.
Obviously it's difficult to change a whole country's measurement system even if it's over time, but I think the advantages of having a globally common measurement system would outweigh the obstacles. To me, keeping the Imperial system just seems stubborn.
Time makes sense given you're dealing with circles rather than fixed distance. I just don't understand how anyone over there would deal with physics/mathematics when you're using things such as mph (what do you use in place of mps?). That must be horrible.
When you've been using meters and centimeters all your life, it's pretty easy to say "Oh, 1.7 to 1.8m" instead of "Oh, 5'8" to 6'0"". If you can estimate a distance to that small a scale in one form then you can do it in the other form. I never understood why people think Farenheit is in any way better, though. What's the advantage with staying with that ol' thing? The zero has absolutely no use at all!
Who the heck uses metric time? UK's 24 hour time is easy to use if you are a visitor. Lawl.
It's not "metric time". It's the 24 hour time format. I don't really like the term "metrics" anyway. Metres are the length unit in the SI system, nothing else.
no no metric system in america!!!!
we're americans and we don't need god damn metric
cups and miles and inches haha!!!
I work in metric (e.g. millimetres, grams, etc) but I cook in imperial (pints, lbs, ozs etc)
Our road signs (UK) are also in miles per hour, which was a source of confusion for my cousin and me when we went on a coach trip in a European (Dutch, I think) coach, whose speedometer showed kilometers per hour... :confused:
As much as I like the IDEA of trying to switch to metric, SI, or whatever you fancy to call it. The idea is improbable, not because people are stupid (although many are), but trying being raised to think of this, how difficult would it be to try and switch a SI country to the Imperial system? People in America (and the two other countries which I don't know their names), are used to dealing with the Imperial system, so that's what they will stay with. Trying to change that would screw things up for a couple of years... or decades... ;p