Why doesn't the USA adopt officially the metric unit?

[Teamcasa]

Why doesn't the USA adopt officially the metric unit?

Why? Because most of us don't want to, and vote that way.

That pretty much sums it up!


Dave

 

[Geoff_H]

Why? Because most of us don't want to, and vote that way.
Rick

Have you ever had a vote on this?

 

[Rick Murchison]

Have you ever had a vote on this?

I vote for representatives. They vote on the minutia. They hear from more folks who don't want to change than from those who do. It's our way...
---
Several years ago the metric bubbas were loud enough to get a metric policy passed. Alabama actually put up click roadsigns from one end of the state to the other. When the general public realized the congresscritters were trying to mandate metric without their permission there was such a howl that it was quashed, and Alabama took the kilometer markers down. Massive waste of money. I think we (Alabama) were the only state stupid enough to think the metric system would actually make it here and install the click markers.
Rick

 

[Tigerman]

I wonder how a shift to carpentry in metric would really work. I remember, a while back, my husband trying to build a rack that had several tiers to display dive gear in the dive shop he used to work in. My husband had a bit of learning in drafting and loves to draw up detailed little plans for things that usually never get made.

I walked into the shop on the day that they were building the whole thing out of 2 x 4's and those thin sheets of board stuff thats like a pressboard (the same type of stuff that they use to make those peg boards, the ones with all the holes in them). It was my husband, the shop owner and one or two other guys not real knowledgeable about carpentry and they couldn't figure out why the whole thing wasn't coming together. Measurements were off!

Well, I know precious little about carpentry but I've seen my Dad build enough decking and things to know that a 2 x 4 doesn't exactly measure 2" by 4". When I questioned them about whether or not they had taken that into account, they all looked at me I'd just landed from another planet! Took some convincing and making one of them actually measure one before they believed me!

Now, if they switched to metric in carpentry, what would a 2 x 4 really be since it doesn't really measure 2" by 4"?

5 x 10 (cm)

However, even if we use metric here, 2" x 4" is referred to as 2x4..
Nails are also measured in inches..
Dont ask me why, but thats what the carpenters does..

 

[highdesert]

The 360 circle is maybe 4000 + years old.
First you must ask the Sumerians, then the Babylonians, who noticed the Sun's annual path took about 360 days to complete a year's circuit. They divided that into days (360 degrees = days) to track each day's of the Sun's orbit.
One of the many oddities in our world today!
Dave

Just for giggles, what if the compass you dive with was calibrated in radians or grads, the two "other" ways of measuring an arc? Now wouldn't that be fun?

 

[Tigerman]

Just for giggles, what if the compass you dive with was calibrated in radians or grads, the two "other" ways of measuring an arc? Now wouldn't that be fun?

Would it actually MATTER?
As long as you know how many units a full circle is, it could be 1000, 500, 360 or 4 with the only actual difference in use being precision..
now 4 would be rather coarse of course..

 

[Teamcasa]

Now, if they switched to metric in carpentry, what would a 2 x 4 really be since it doesn't really measure 2" by 4"?

Side note: A 2"x4" board starts out at roughly this size. However, after final planning
In order to make is straight, it ends up at the traditional size of 1-1/2” x 3-1/2”

Dave

 

[D_B]

Units of 1000 for a complete circle? ... Na, that would make it easier to do a reciprocal heading

 

[Thalassamania]

The 360 circle is maybe 4000 + years old.
First you must ask the Sumerians, then the Babylonians, who noticed the Sun's annual path took about 360 days to complete a year's circuit. They divided that into days (360 degrees = days) to track each day's of the Sun's orbit.

One of the many oddities in our world today!


Dave

You could always work in grads.

 

[Geoff_H]

I vote for representatives. They vote on the minutia. They hear from more folks who don't want to change than from those who do. It's our way...

What a quaint view of your electoral process!