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

[DavidPT40]

Heres what a cowboy would sound like if the U.S. went to metric (wait for the flashback scene!).

YouTube - Liam Neeson in cowboy typecasting

 

[Tigerman]

The Best Thread EVER......

Where to start, hmmmmmm.......

Kim, Every machine I've installed that was manufactured in japan was made with US trade sized electrical conduit, and it just has a "electrical designator" sizing- rounded to closest whole mm. Based totally on our dated pipe sizing and thread design. Ain't conquest Grand?

As far as the frenchies are concerned, they have had a wonderful influence on art, cuisine and adult beverages, especially at Mickey D's- Le Big Mac.....perfect. I particularly like purchasing their guns, never fired and only dropped once. Or, why dothe french plant trees on the sides of their roads? Because they don't want the Germans to be grouchy (from marching in the sun all day) when they reach Paris.

The National Electrical Code has both US trade and Metric measurements.

The US military uses the metric system in almost everything, it's absolutely necessary due to our NATO allies' reliance on easy, mind numbing decimal swaps.

I believe the fact that the entire infrastructure of the US is based entirely on the imperial system is the reason we have not metricized. All building materials such as bricks and wood are made to a standard size that should remain the same. Re-naming them to a metric designation will further confuse the issue.

I'd have to say that many immigrant workers have the answer to all the trouble, they just turn the measuring tape over and make a pencil mark on it, hands the tape to the guy cutting the drywall, then the next guy makes the cut, erases the mark and hands it back. Problem solved.

Much more fun than Splits Vs Jets, good read!

I find it interesting that lots of you americans have so much trouble with the french..
Might be a lack of history knowlege? Like the fact that if it wherent for the french youd still be british? :14:
Oh, and speaking about your dumb allies.. When was the last time you won a war alone?

 

[RV]

I find it interesting that lots of you americans have so much trouble with the french..
Might be a lack of history knowlege? Like the fact that if it wherent for the french youd still be british? :14:
Oh, and speaking about your dumb allies.. When was the last time you won a war alone?

we are well aware of their tiny role in our independence...

and if it weren't for us/US, you'd all be speaking German or Russian..

but I'm sure that's already been said somewhere in this thread

 

[agilis]

Come now, RV, let's be accurate. The role played by the French during the Revolutionary War was defining, not tiny. Without their help the US would not exist other than as a more temperate Canada. All the human refuse subsequently washed up on these golden shores labored in mines and factories to enrich their betters, until a collapsing European world order after 1918 allowed the doltish descendants of those human donkeys to indulge their tastes for ugly excess to the dismay of the civilized world. They would otherwise have remained in whatever distant grim hovels they crawled out from.

And what was the last war that we nortamericanos won all by ourselves? Unless you count things like the occupation of Haiti and Nicaragua, I think it was the Spanish-American War. Certainly, the American contribution to the Anglo-French victory in WWI was important (Lafayette, we are here!), but it came very late, with active US participation in the fighting lasting less than 10 months.
And it was the Soviets who won WW2 in Europe. If anyone depended on American power to bring down Hitler, they'd have been miserably disappointed. The US did most of the work in defeating Japan, but even there it was not completely singlehanded. Things would not have gone too well without the Anzac forces, the British-Indian effort in Burma, and the continuing resistance of China. Were it not for the Atomic Bomb, the Asian war would have dragged on and on, possibly into the 1950s. Thats why we gave Stalin a free hand in Eastern Europe, in exchange for his declaration of war against Japan in August, 1945. We were not willing to invade the home islands all by ourselves.

Besides, the point has already been made- Scuba is a totally French development. The sport to which this board is devoted is based on yet another brilliant example of French genius. I'm not French, but credit should be given where it's due. And a hell of a lot of credit in virtually every area of human accomplishment is due to France.

 

[BarryNL]

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

That would stop all the fun caused by EAN50 and Oxygen stages both getting marked with "20".

 

[kelpmermaid]

I've been waiting since elementary school (3-4 decades LOL!) for the conversion, and I'm disappointed that it has not happened. Maybe our distances would just seem too far. The division by 10 thing, though, is a big plus. The weight and liquid measures are another matter. I have never liked the gallon/quart/pint thing, but kitchen measurements (cup, tablespoon) are easy to visualize. As a practical matter, the metric system just seems easier, though.

 

[Tomeck]

That's true that the metric system is not poetic, decimal is not cordial, too technical.