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

[BTravlin]

In my business, I buy product overseas in cubic meters and millimeters and then sell it here in the US based on thousand square ft (MSF) and inches. I waste a lot of time doing the conversions and really wish there was just one standard and I don't really care which one it is.

 

[Hemlon]

A few years ago, we had good chuckle in our electronics lab after someone pointed out how we continously swapped back and forth between metric and imperial units, depending upon what we were talking about.

For example, if someone was complaining that the lab was uncomfortably hot, he'd say something like "Man, it must be 80 in here". A couple minutes later, if someone asked him what the temp was when he took some measurements on something, he'd say "Oh, somewhere around 27."

The funny part is that until somebody pointed it out, most of us just unconsciously and automatically used metric units for lab work and imperial units for everyday conversations without even realizing we were jumping back and forth.

Hehe...I do the same thing.

Sometimes I catch myself mid-sentence telling someone a story using metric measurements. After they start to look glassy-eyed, it usually dawns on me that I goofed.

 

[archman]

We'll have it adopted eventually. Like hem said, it's already formalized in several professional disciplines. We're pushing it more and earlier in schools, so the younger generations will have progressively less trouble with it.

Unlike the cranky old farts.

 

[Hemlon]

Unlike the cranky old farts.

 

[dpbishop]

One word. Football!! You would have to go 10 yards, 2 feet, 9 and 11/16 inches to make a first down. Or announcers would be saying " the ball is on the 18.288 meter line after a touchback.

 

[scubabeachboy]

OK, everyone:
What is the system for measuring gun powder,.......
Its not metric, or NAS, or Imperial,
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!
and: what is it based on!!!!!
no looking in the dictionary!

 

[scubabeachboy]

It used to be the system for measuring medicine as well in the old days.

 

[miked]

Charlie99 is right (as usual) regarding the push to "go metric" in the US back in the late 70s.
I was teaching Math at the time, and all the (then) "latest" textbooks had problems in metric units. Same problems as always, but instead of "train A leaves town at a rate of 50 miles pre hour, and train B...." it was "train A leaves town at a rate of 50 Kilometers pre hour, and train B...."

We were also ordered to include a unit on metrics-conversions,etc in our classes.
The push to "metricize" never caught on-for many of the reasons posted, and also due to the fact (So we were told when we got ordered to "de-emphasize" the metrics) that "big business" in the U.S.-especially the auto industry- did not want to go through the expense required to retool machinery,bolts, nuts, fittings,etc. to the metric sizes.

I'm not sure how widespread that "industrial" resistance was, or if the people resisting the change just had the "ears" (wallets? )of a larger group of politicians.

IMHO-the metric system is theoretically easier to use-unless you are not familiar with it.

 

[almitywife]

i vote yes... will make things much easier for me if everyone was on metric

 

[Teamcasa]

... and also due to the fact (So we were told when we got ordered to "de-emphasize" the metrics) that "big business" in the U.S.-especially the auto industry- did not want to go through the expense required to retool machinery,bolts, nuts, fittings,etc. to the metric sizes.

Being in that industry, I can tell you that many of the parts, nuts, bolts and screws on modern car/trucks are already metric sizes.
The big hold up in my mind is simple. People don’t want to re-learn miles per hour (speed limits), gallons, (cost of gas) and weight (I way how much?) No one really cares about the rest of the stuff.

This leaves the carpenters/and builders. They have a minor concern but if the plans were in centimeters and tape measures were metric, they would be fine with it.

Dave