NationStates Jolt Archive

Wasn't America supposed to switch to the metric system, like, a long time ago? Whatever happened to that?

Anybody?

Wasn't America supposed to switch to the metric system, like, a long time ago? Whatever happened to that?

Anybody?

The people over there were too stupid to get it.

/I kid, partially.

Recession

I think NASA decided that it would interfere with their plans for smashing billion dollar probes into the sides of planets.

I think NASA decided that it would interfere with their plans for smashing billion dollar probes into the sides of planets.

A wonderful pastime! :D

It was never really planned.

I remember the halfhearted attempt.

We got a week of it.

They gave us a paper with the conversions. We were told to memorise them and then they gave us a test.

They declared it was not feasible.

Silly astronauts.

But for real...I remember being in elementary school and learning about meters and stuff and how our teacher thought it was so important that we learn the metric system because the government was going to flip over to metric. Kinda seems like a waste of recess time in retrospect.

Well, Coke and Pepsi use liters for most of their products, except for the 12-oz. can. That's a start, right?

Well, Coke and Pepsi use liters for most of their products, except for the 12-oz. can. That's a start, right?

True

Silly astronauts.

But for real...I remember being in elementary school and learning about meters and stuff and how our teacher thought it was so important that we learn the metric system because the government was going to flip over to metric. Kinda seems like a waste of recess time in retrospect.

Anyone in a science career will use metric - often moreso than the English/Imperial system.

Personally, I think in metric for some things, and English for others.

According to the Simpsons, the Stonecutters kept it down... And gave Steve Guttenberg a career... And rig the Oscars...
Don't know if that helps but I find the Simpsons provide the answers to most of lifes questions.... ;)

I find the metric system much more rational sense everything is base 10 rather than the random assortment of 12, 16 and 5280 that is the English System.

officially you guys are metric.

you just don't fix your damn roadsigns and textbooks.

Well, Coke and Pepsi use liters for most of their products, except for the 12-oz. can. That's a start, right?
you mean the 355mL can?

I think NASA decided that it would interfere with their plans for smashing billion dollar probes into the sides of planets.
hahahahahahaha.

Actually what happened was the US was switching the signs and such, but it was back in the 70's and the recession hit. When it did, the government didn't have the money to afford all of the new road signs that would be needed for the job. Actually there are some places where you can still find the metric signs that did get posted.

Nationalism is part of it. Same reason that US, Canada, and England all have their own variety of English. Which frankly makes my spellcheck hate me because I sometimes spell Brit-style...

Laziness/Cheapness is also part of it.

Back in the 70's, I heard. I wouldn't know, that was when my parents were kids. I kinda wish we had though. It would be so much more convenient.

We figured out how stupid metric is and how the Imperial system is superior.

dontcha know that americans are too lazy to learn an easier system of measurements? :rolleyes:

I think it's just alot of stupid people saying no.
Since the US military uses metric, and so does the scientific community.
Of course according to my parents, the US "was going to, then changed their mind."
Maybe there was a big hassle over it and they decided not to? There was a big hassle here in Canada when we changed, but we did anyway.

Well, Coke and Pepsi use liters for most of their products, except for the 12-oz. can. That's a start, right?
and 20 oz plastic bottle!

Wasn't America supposed to switch to the metric system, like, a long time ago? Whatever happened to that?

Anybody?

Because we are stubborn notheads who are, in general to stupid and/or to lazy, to learn something new even if it is better.

"But we've always done it this way"

I wish we'd change.

Up here in Canada you'll get the weathermen giving the temperature in Celsius, and to less and less of an extent (as the older generation drops off) its' equivalent in Fahrenheit.

I grew up with Celsius. It's so easy it's foolproof. Zero is the freezing point of water. 100 is the boiling point. Easy. Everywhere I travel, I know what the local temperature is at a glance.

Not so in the States. I once didn't get the chance to do a conversion while on a business trip to L.A. until after I'd got home, and discovered I'd lived through an entire week of conditions in the mid-forties. Wow. Brutal.

But the whole time I was there, all I ever heard was it was over a hundred and something-or-other. It was hot, that's about all I could figure out. No-one else I met seemed to know what I was talking about, other than one or two people who vaguely remembered something about metric from their high-school science days.

Weird. And yeah, what's up with those 355 ml cans, anyway? Ought to be 500 mls.

It was 1976 that the rest of the world switched from imperial measurements to metric. The US was to change as well but for whatever reason, didn't.
A lot of US companies that export large amounts of products do label the products in metric eqv,
And a point, the US system of measurement is not really imperial, other than speed and temperature the amounts differed (1 US gallon did not equal 1 Imperial gallon, 1 US acre did not equal 1 Imperial acre etc)

I just thought of something.
Don't drug dealers in the US use the metric system (grams)?
I'm probably wrong about that, but in an odd connection on why they don't use it.
"The drug dealers use it, so I won't."

I think the reason that we didn't switch is because it's too ingrained in our brains. It's like we have to learn to speak all over again, or go from using our right hand all our lives and then switching to our left hand. It's a great system I agree, but for some people, they just can't (at least in my case) percieve what it would seem like. When I hear a metric measurement, I have to compare it to an English measurement to get a bearing on how big or small something is. It's weird I know, but I'm stuck with it.

Wasn't America supposed to switch to the metric system, like, a long time ago? Whatever happened to that?

Anybody?

i believe the official, unanimous vote by public services, auto manufacturers, service providers, technology manufactories, resource distribution, and supply coordinators was: "And you're paying for this, right? Okay then."