Will America Ever Go Metric?

[seiki]

I don't think it is selfish to not know metric. We have just always not used s.i. I don't think it is hard to learn both systems but I do not expect others to do that. Also my phone and probably everyone elses phones has converters for temp weight time lenght even tip and currency. You just need to remember it because I know that at least everyone in america that made it to 6th grade learned the metric system and then learned it again in physical science and chemistry. Its not that hardlol

[Nagoyankee]

Originally Posted by seiki

　
Its not that hardlol

It may not be that hard in theory but in actual practice, it can be a pain in the you know where at times.

I was chatting with my American friend a few months ago. We were talking about our pets and mine is a turtle. She asked me how big the turtle was. I paniced because we had had trouble talking about numbers before. I took out my metric ruler and measured the diameter of the shell. Then I had to go get a calculater to do the division. Now, what am I gonna do with the remainder? Remainders are very easy to treat in the Metric System because the base number is always 10. But in my American frined's system, the base number seems to be 12 (12 inches to a foot. Not 10!!). It took me a few minutes to figure it all out. I finally get back to my PC and tell her the result and apologize for making her wait.

Guess what she said to me. She said, "Thanks for going to all the trouble. You could have just replied in Small/Medium/Large."

[Sinestra]

Originally Posted by Nagoyankee

It may not be that hard in theory but in actual practice, it can be a pain in the you know where at times.

I was chatting with my American friend a few months ago. We were talking about our pets and mine is a turtle. She asked me how big the turtle was. I paniced because we had had trouble talking about numbers before. I took out my metric ruler and measured the diameter of the shell. Then I had to go get a calculater to do the division. Now, what am I gonna do with the remainder? Remainders are very easy to treat in the Metric System because the base number is always 10. But in my American frined's system, the base number seems to be 12 (12 inches to a foot. Not 10!!). It took me a few minutes to figure it all out. I finally get back to my PC and tell her the result and apologize for making her wait.

Guess what she said to me. She said, "Thanks for going to all the trouble. You could have just replied in Small/Medium/Large."

That gave me a good laugh today has been so depressing i needed that

[Ryzorian]

Typical American response to if you think about it, heh.

I think folks sometimes mistake our blissfull ignorance as a type of arogance. Honestly, most Americans are just happy go lucky misfits with a fiercely independant streak. But really, what do you expect from a nation born from rebels, renagades, rogues and the occational convict?

[Sinestra]

Originally Posted by Ryzorian

Typical American response to if you think about it, heh.

I think folks sometimes mistake our blissfull ignorance as a type of arogance. Honestly, most Americans are just happy go lucky misfits with a fiercely independant streak. But really, what do you expect from a nation born from rebels, renagades, rogues and the occational convict?

Um are you sure your not talking about Australia?

Check your history again friend and see just who it is that are Americans forefathers.

"komitsuki" i hope you dont think i was picking on you because i wasn't and the comment was directed at you. You have spoken with me plenty and you know how i get with ignorant comments.

[Ryzorian]

Gorgia was originally a penal colony founded by John Oglthorp. The Puritans where fanstics who left England so they could practice thier fanatical ways freely. America became the "green country" of many Irish ballads during the potato famines of the 1800's. During the Revolution, of the 12000 Hessian mercs sent here to fight us..8000 ended up up staying after the war and 6000 were fighting for us before the war was over.

I strongly suspect our troops made such a dramatic turnaround after Vally Forge as much by the addition of several thousand Hessian troops as by the German Baron.

America was and is the country of dreamers for dreamers. It's that freedom to dream that attracts people from around the world. Dreamers, by definition, look at the world a little different than the average person.

[stealstreet]

Well, the US uses Metric is the Sciences to keep things standard. I think the US does a good job at making things that need to be standard standard. Its not like we don't have metric at all its just daily life is so embedded with the Imperial system. I like that one guys post about only knowing his height weight etc in Imperial. Our daily lives are lived in imperial but our math science is in Metric which apparently seems to be good enough because we do just fine in those departments worldwide.

[ModusOperandi]

A simple answer to the question will probably be no.
I've only lived in the states for a few years now and I can honestly say that I wish America was in tune with the rest of the world. It sure would have helped me ace some of the math questions I failed due to inches, yards and what not..... but (shikashi.. right?) from what I've seen, this country is a world of its own. Most Americans take pride in their individuality.
They're simply working with what's best for them.
Besides neither of the systems are hard to deal with if you take the time to review them. If I can do it (which I did) anyone can. You know what they say...knowledge is power. It never hurts for both groups to understand each other.

Now...if we can only convince Americans to acknowledge football as football and not soccer...

[komitsuki]

Originally Posted by ModusOperandi

knowledge is power. It never hurts for both groups to understand each other.

I, for one, would like to revive all of the old measuring standards across the world. The world isn't just made out of inches and centimeters.

Now...if we can only convince Americans to acknowledge football as football and not soccer...

Soccer used to be called football in parts of USA and Canada. The word, soccer, is a shortened and modified from "association football".

[Odin]

Originally Posted by wriot

I don't get it? America's founding fathers wanted America to be based upon imperial units? ....

No, that is correct. In fact there was a serious effort by Benjamen Franklin and a number of other "founding fathers" to make the metric system the standard of the land. However, the prevailing philosophy was that is was not the role of government to force the people into any one religion, language, or even system of measurement. So there was no official system in the U.S. for 120 years. The Mendenhall Order of 1893 actually made the metric system the official standard of the US. Although, it has been the official measurement system since that time, the government still maintained the position it had no rights to force it upon the population.

This is why the so called "American system" is formerly called "United States customary units". They are used simply because it is the custom to do so. The official standard of the US is metric!