Why won't the U.S. use the metric system ?

I mean, come on , It's divisible by ten.

Sure, sure,
A meter is the distance light travels in A very large number of vibrations of a Cesium atom or 1⁄299,792,458 of a second.

But come on..
the rest of the world is using it.
Well, I know for a fact, malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh and Australia are using it..

Is there a historical reason for this, or did you guys just forget about it and put it in the category of shit that never gonna happen ?

 

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Well it might not be a complete transition and there is still a lot of people using old money, however there are people that do indeed use metric over there. Although you get to learn some rather interesting mathematics with the need to covert to and from metric to imperial and beyond. (Reminds me of the formula I had to construct to convert BTU's to Kg Vol or something similar, I can't remember off the top of my head but the conversion wasn't simple, I had to go through a bunch of old money to get there. )

 

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I know both pretty well. Even though I openly and verbally use the English system, I have no problem using the metric system either.

I have both standard and metric tools, and can probably translate 8mm-19mm into the SAE equivalent and vice versa in an instant.

 

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But I assume both of you are of above average intelligence..
The average joe, however, probably can't be bothered learning both systems..

So there's no historical "Don't tread on me" .. reason ?

 

As and American, I have no trouble with the metric system and in fact would support a move to the metric system. But most Americans just do not want to change plain and simple. And there are a lot of under educated Americans out there unfortunately...just look at how many ditto heads we have!

 

it French

1 metre was originally defined as 1⁄10,000,000 of the distance between the North Pole and Earth's equator as measured along the meridian passing through Paris

so eventually it will surrender back to the inch

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"Yes we can" notwithstanding eh ?

 

eh ?.
But what's the logic of that ?..
The meter is now the distance light travels in a tiny portion of a second.
It's universally constant. unless you want to define an inch that way.

 

Maybe one day Challenger, but for now we have too many ditto heads.

 

I don't where the logic came from but that's the original basis.

The US got as far as adopting the metric system with a can of Fosters

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what more did we need...Fosters the universal multiplier ..25.4 fluid ounces

btw.. with cnc machine tools which can be used in either system.. metric is slightly more accurate

 

they do,in some fields, such as NASA and the military
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_the_United_States

 

Nearly:

http://oig.nasa.gov/old/inspections_assessments/g-00-021.pdf

http://www.space.com/news/metric_policy_100199.html
Dated 1996!

And the military:

From the Wiki link.
Merely a "generally high use", not fully metricated.

 

The metric system is used almost exclusively in the science community, but it would be weird to use it in everyday conversations. It's almost like knowing another language. Most grade school students know the metric system, but rarely have to use it outside of school so they don't. I know them both so it doesn't matter to me.

 

Ahhh that's where Canada was in the 70s(ok I have some imperial wrenches around the house), so if your government switched officially, you'd only be about 10 years to total conversion.

 

cutsie, no it wouldnt or at least that wouldnt last for people. As the next generation was only taught it at school the impiral system would fall into the relms of curisosity for the young just as it is in places like australia. Most people have herd of an inch and could PROBABLY tell you it was somewhere around 2.5 cms but to actually use it?

most people dont even know WHY a Big M or a small botle of coke is 600mls rather than 500mls (half a L)

 

hahaha. if i wasn't in a library i would have lolled literally.

my parents grew up while australia still used the imperial system, and dad became an engineer as they were switching over, so he just goes with whatever he feels like. if he answers my questions in imperial i enjoy responding with 'dad i don't speak middle english'. who doesn't enjoy teasing their parents for being old.

 

codanblad

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i love asking mum what it was like to witness the pryamids being built first hand

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No what wouldn't? Most kids are taught the metric system in school, because you use it science and math. But since very very very few people in America use the metric system in everyday life the kids don't ever use it outside of school. I don't know what a Big M is, but the size of a coke bottle isn't exactly an a magical number in this system either 591 mL or 20 FL OZ or 1.25 PT so why is it 591mL instead of 500mL? I've never thought about the size myself.

 

Big M is a type of flavored milk and 600mls is 1 pint (or at least close to it "568.26125 millilitres (exactly)[3][4] ≈ 568 ml "wikipedia)

it wouldnt be hard to convert the whole country to the metric system, actually it SHOULD be easier for you than it was for australia because we didnt have the widespread use in maths and science that you oviously have and i THINK we converted EVERYTHING to metric and SI (ovious exception is time where the SI units arnt used) all at once including currancy which you already have.

 

my mestake, i should have read further down the artical

"In Australia and New Zealand, a subtle change was made in 1 pint milk bottles during the conversion from Imperial to metric in the 1970s. The height and diameter of the milk bottle remained unchanged, so that existing equipment for handling and storing such bottles was unaffected, but the shape was subtly adjusted to increase the capacity from 568 ml to 600 ml - a nice, round, metric measure. Such milk bottles are no longer officially referred to as pints. The pint glass in pubs in Australia (which is so called) remains closer to the standard Imperial pint, at 570 ml. A pint of beer in Australia is 570 ml, except in South Australia where a pint is 425 ml and 570 ml is called an imperial pint. In New Zealand, there is no longer any legal requirement for beer to be served in standard measures; in pubs, the largest size of glass, which is referred to as a pint, usually contains 450ml."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pint