I understand that you are used with them.... but they just don't work very well, ya know?

Whatever Happened to the Metric System? (http://encarta.msn.com/column_metricsystem/Whatever_Happened_to_the_Metric_System.html)

Swallow your pride and get over it, americans. Your measure systems are just confusing for everyone else. It cost a lot of money to convert your systems to the "normal" systems of the world. It i so much easier to look at temperature with Celcius. You just need to look at water! And it is so much easier to measure in meters than in feet!

Today, is the metric system. Tomorrow, is Faherenheit! :D

you're preaching to the choir buddy. scientists use metric. i don't even know how the english system works.

ahem, do you mean yesterday is faherenheit?

Don't you still use Farehheintewkf?

Gee.... it's hard even to spell it! :D

haha no. i can just imagine putting a package from sigma marked "store at 2-8 degrees" in the freezer. someone would hit the ceiling!

What? :confused:

Our system is the best, you BUFFOON.

It takes to much trouble to convert the systems. People are used to it and it will take a shit load of time to do it.

but the metric system REALLY is soooooooooooooooooo much easier. Canada went through the painful adjustment when I was a kid (and it was painful) but it was worth it. Any idiot knows how many meters in a kilometer or how many milliliters in a liter. The system is idiot proof and requires memorizing almost nothing, it's just common sense. Hell, the names actually define the measurement, you cannot get a more simple system to use.

Pounds, feet, ounces? not only do the names not relate to the measurement in any useful way there's no logic to it. It's like comparing a library that sorts books alphabetically with one that sorts them by the color of their covers, the old system of measurement is totally arbitrary.

yay metric, i remember telling americans that here we have metric time 2 that was funny, oh yeah i rememer now:

inch = 2.504cm
foot = 30.048cm
yard = 90.144cm
mile = 1.601km

farenheit to centigrade, F -32 * 5 / 9
Centigrade to farenheit, C * 9 / 5 +32

If we would have bit the bullet and converted with the rest of the world, we'd already be done with the transitional pains. Hardheaded bastards. I truly wish they would convert. I know many people that just can't get the hang of measuring because of fractions. And it becomes a major chore sometimes when converting feet, inches, yards, blah... Would be so nice to just shift decimals around. *sigh*

Metric time? You're joking right? Has anyone implemented that? Is it a 10 hour day? What are you going to do with the earth that refuses to submit to your metric conversion? Call it names for being a stubborn reminder of the past? :p

I remember an old saturday night live skit about metric time. They used a 100 hour day. Which was really 100 hours, several of our days in one metric day. To keep people synched with metric time, the government was issuing G.A.S. (Government Adrenaline Supplement). Jane Curtin told her story of the day, visiting Uncle Joe at the hospital, shopping, kids to school, blah, blah, going to uncle joe's funeral, blah, blah, blah. Funny stuff.


edit: Maybe we should go back to the cubit. Worked for Noah.

Also, don't Brits still use Stone as a unit of weight sometimes? Is the transition complete?

stone is the most illogical weight measurement in the world. A big fat prick will be like 19 stone, and you're like what? There's only 19 of these measurements in that offensive mass of flesh?

I actually prefer pounds to kilograms, they're precise.

And I prefer feet and inches to centimetres and metres, I don't know why. You just know what 6 feet is. People, at least, should be measured in feet and inches, and lbs.

Metric system is much better. So much easier to use.
And all the time I have to look how many inches 2.02 meters are or how much whatever is 1 litre of water and such things. It´s really annoying and I do not see much precision in the non-metric system. As another factor the non-metric system is bar of any logic relations between the different entities like inches, foot, yard and so on.

we use the metric system for hundreds of years now, so come on an change to, it never brought any harm.

ive got an idea... lets just bomb america(mind canada and mexico though) and get it over with

personaly I freaking hate the english system. thing is I've used it all my life so its REALy hard to flip over. My brian doesn't think in KPH it thinks in MPH etc etc... I assure you though when I have kids they will learn the metric system.

haha vslayer i just read your post. good luck there.

for the record i think the current time system is more idiotic than the english system.

I assure you though when I have kids they will learn the metric system.

no, without a significant change, your kids won't. I assume many americans have said that over the years.

BTW - English system? I think you'll find it's the international system today (minus america of course.) Since the US has lead science and education in recent history, that's kind of ironic really.

My feet are exactly one foot long. My thumb is exactly one inch wide.
Very convenient (for me, anyway).
No part of me is exactly one meter long (not quite), so I use the "non-metric" system when I don't have a measuring device handy.

As far as simplicity is concerned, "moving the decimal around" causes more errors than having to think about what you're doing.

I grew up (in Canada) learning the metric system as a "second language". I'm reasonably comfortable in both, but Ye Olde System is "handy" (literally) and logical, whereas the metrique system is arbitrary.

but Ye Olde System is "handy" (literally) and logical, whereas the metrique system is arbitrary.

the only way that statement can be true is if you are using an unfamiliar definition of the word arbitrary. Lets put the two systems side by side:

503 yards in a mile
3 feet in a yard
12 inches in a foot

1000 meters in a kilometer
100 centimeters in a meter
10 millimeters in a centimeter

you may be more comfortable with "ye olde system" but metric is UNDENIABLY easier to use.

By "arbitrary", I mean "based on random choice or whim".
"Meter" means "measure". It gives you no idea how big it is. "Foot" does.
Simple multiples of 10 do not make the metric system more logical. They just make it easier to misplace the decimal point.

As I said, I am comfortable with both systems and I do deny that metric is easier. Millions of Americans agree.

The metric system is also quite handy I think. For example, my arm is one meter long. My middle finger measures 10 centimeters. My lower leg (from knee down to the underside of my foot) measure half a meter. I think this pretty convenient. Myself, I am just a bit over 2 meters, and I hate converting it into feet and inches.

As I said, I am comfortable with both systems and I do deny that metric is easier. Millions of Americans agree.

ok meter = measure, fair enough but since it is a measuring unit we're talking about here, that seems pretty nonarbitrary to me. Go up or down in size and you just have to tack on a prefix to that word, and the prefix tells you how it relates to the main unit (meter). "Mile" means... nothing (at least relating to measurement), "inch" means "to advance slowly" and a "yard" is the big space behind my house. None of those words hint at their meaning or, more importantly, each other.

ye olde system tells you nothing unless you happen to have a foot that is 12 inches but 99% of the population doesn't. More importantly, how does the word foot relate to the word yard? or the word mile relate to the word inch? they don't.

I honestly understand the discomfort of a system change (I went through it myself) but your argument in ease of use (mathematically, practically) and the arbitrary nature of the metric system is nonsense.

In a forum I am usually uncomfortable with saying "you are wrong" because so many issues are grey but this isn't one of them. I can say without the slightest hesitation... you are wrong.

BTW - millions of americans agree that the sun revolves around the earth (http://net127.com/archives/000083.html) too, it doesn't make them right.

It's amusing how people uphold the metric system with such religious fervour.

I have tried to make it clear that I have no problem with the metric system. I had no trouble learning it as a child. I have had no trouble "adjusting" to it as an adult.

I just don't agree that it is "better".

If I have stated my case badly, I apologize. I did the best I could.

One more try: We have two systems, neither of them perfect. It is ridiculous to suggest that one is "better" because you multiply by the same number all the time instead of using your head.

Enjoy the metric system. Put in a good word for me with the metric gods.
But don't hold your breath waiting for the Americans to switch.

Heres the simple politcial way to put it.....We americans are too lazy to convert and learn something else. Being the 'Top' nation we make everyone else change for use. Thats about it in simplier terms. But hey, whats wrong with a little change?

actually, england was top. hence the use of the english sytem and why we speak english. but god, even they gave it up (although not entirely).

Actually, Canada is on top, geographically, at least. Ha ha.

lol SideShowBob

SwedishFish- Keyword "Was". Now USA is, hence the change.

It's amusing how people uphold the metric system with such religious fervour.

LOL, I was about to say the same thing about the imperial system.

I guess the advantage of the metric system is, like science vs pseudo-science, there is actually more than fervor to back it's value. Both sides are equally adamant, of course, it's just that the "religious" side is the one that can only supply a "feeling" to base their point on.

Ah, it appears to seem that a lot of things are based on Religious theories [and I don't use the term lightly]. Hmm I do not belive in relgion but I must start learning some of the stuff just so I can keep up with most of the deabates....[And more then enough always have a responce reflecting relgion...more then I would like].

eh, science vs religion is arguably the biggest debate in the world. It's only natural that comparisons would be made to unrelated discussions.

So it seems. -sigh- I'm on science's side but I keep seeing all these threads with religious based answers and its starting to get tiresome.

I'm on science's side but I keep seeing all these threads with religious based answers and its starting to get tiresome.

I agree, and I apologize for bringing it up.

Buffy,
You win, because (like a pseudoscientist) you think your point is unassailable.
Maybe it is. I'll let the readers decide.

I win too, because the Americans will never change.

lol

Not unassailable just unassailed... so far anyway.

I disagree S.S.B

The future of america is scary. Be very afraid. [Ah strange people help make the world different. And Yes, goths are people too.]

Evil,
I hope you're wrong about the future of America. But I've had all the fight kicked out of me (for now) by Buffy, so I won't try to prove it.

Buffy,
Well said. No hard feelings.

By "arbitrary", I mean "based on random choice or whim".
"Meter" means "measure". It gives you no idea how big it is. "Foot" does.


Whose "foot"? not mine. The choice of whose foot marks off an official "foot" length seems like an arbitrary choice to me. What about a "yard"? Most houses have a yard that's wider than a "yard" :). What about "gallon"? Or "pound"? Aren't they also arbitrary?

I do like that a foot is divided into 12 smaller units. It makes more fractions, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/6 available for dividing up a foot. This is more a support for the duodecimal society (apparently now called the Dozenal Society (http://www.polar.sunynassau.edu/~dozenal/)) than the Imperial system though. Also, imperial gas mileage is usually given in miles per gallon, which I find more comfortable to use than x litres per 100 km. That's just me though, and could easily be fixed.

What I really love about the metric system is how mass, length, and volume all tie together nicely. How many litres of water in a 1x1x1 metre tank? How many kilograms does it weigh? Simple to do the conversions in metric, not so simple in Imperial.

Alas, the US will likely never change.

Ok they may never change the system but don't say Americans in general won't change. You didn't specify it so it made it a generlization, so that automatically make you wrong since theres always an exception to the rule. Which exsplains why you are wrong S.S.B.

Had to re-read all my posts before I took one last Parthian shot:

I never meant to give the impression that the "other" system is "better" than metric. I should have stated more clearly that both systems are arbitrary.

I stand by my statement that you have not proven that metric is "better". I will leave the verdict to better judges than I.

I hope I didn't step on anybody's toes (er...centimeters?) while playing Devil's Advocate.

Well noone can actaully state one is better then the other just by polls and ect because its an opinion, a statement if you will. It can never be a fact :) [Among countless of other things] Ah, I love this site.

the guy who wrote this post doesn't realize that there's no such thing as an american measurement system. its an "english system".

by the way pound isn't really an english invention. its abreviation is lbs as it is called libra(with subtel variations) in the latin languages(portugese, spanish, italian, french, etc)

The funny thing is that many professionals in the US don't actually use the english system anymore. At my place we do all our work in metric, as do most of the companies we work with.

Things are only translated into the english system for management. You'd be amazed (if you don't live in the US) how many people don't know how many cm are in a m.

The metric system is sooo much better and reasonable....! :cool:
And Celcius is also much better than Fareheit. :D
Common! It is obvious that the american systems make no sense at all! It is like basing a system on 3.7 rather than on 10... :bugeye:

I totally agree, the metric system is accepted in many nations in the world, why is US still using the imperial system
it's so much easier to use the metric system because it is based on 10

When I did CAD schematics, I was using Metric however the boss at the time wasn't, he was using Imperial. This caused problems since it meant I had to constantly convert backwards and forwards between the two.

The schematics I was doing were engineering ones that required metric because engineers require as accurate figures as possible, which Imperial doesn't cover.
However if I was designing a House, Architects still use the Imperial system, and the main reason why it won't completely die out is the number of "laws" where Imperial is used as a legal measurement.

The UK is suppose to be housecleaning it's system for old Imperial system users due to European Union legislation, which is why there were many court cases involving Fruit and Veg marketeers who were refusing to use metric on the basis that their customers prefered Imperial.

I think the overall crossover in the UK is pretty much paved and the only people that still seem to use Feet and Inches are an older generation.