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

[Tom Winters]

All this metric nonsense will go away after the European Union becomes the 51st state. The holdup all these years has been designing the flag. Any mention of Australian measurements is moot because they eat Vegemite (the second most grossest thing I ever ate in my life) Down Under.

 

[Walter]

Walter...I'm not sure what point you think that article proves. In any case, have a good evening.

Perhaps you should read it. It's really quite clear.

 

[Randy43068]

I for one wish we'd adopt the metric system here in the USA.

 

[Matt S.]

It's got nothing to do with the government, business, or conspiracies.

It's cultural. It's part of American culture to think of miles and pounds. Yes, there is such a thing as American culture! We tip waiters, too.

In science and engineering, metric is ubiquitous, even here. I guess some disciplines use Imperial units also, but I doubt you will find an American engineer of recent vintage who is confused by SI units or who doesn't prefer them. Those guys who crashed that Mars probe were probably old beards.

Anyway, it's not like we're the only one. When I watch Top Gear, they often speak of miles and gallons. I don't care what the official stance is, the man on the street in the UK still seems to use a lot of Imperial units.

(For the record, I prefer SI, as I did the sciences in school.)

 

[Bryan]

I'll take a darwin stubby, please!

LOL, I suspect there are many jokes relating to Darwin Awards and the darwin stubby!

 

[Geoff_H]

No it doesn't. The only advantage is the ability to make calculations by shifting the decimal.

Might help avoid $125 million mistakes like this too

CNN - Metric mishap caused loss of NASA orbiter - September 30, 1999

(CNN) -- NASA lost a $125 million Mars orbiter because a Lockheed Martin engineering team used English units of measurement while the agency's team used the more conventional metric system for a key spacecraft operation, according to a review finding released Thursday.

Intrangisence of stuborn old people is one of the biggest reasons it is so hard to adopt a full metric system.

 

[Geoff_H]

Anyway, it's not like we're the only one. When I watch Top Gear, they often speak of miles and gallons. I don't care what the official stance is, the man on the street in the UK still seems to use a lot of Imperial units.

Yes, it is still a hotchpodge to some extent. Miles and pints are the two imperial units that have not yet sucuumbed.

 

[diver 85]

Why doesn't the USA adopt officially the metric unit? Almost all the countries adopted the metric system, because measurements and calculations are easier thanks to the base of 10. Even with NASA the American scientists use the metric system. The unit imperial was very much used in the Anglo-Saxon countries, but now another large countries Anglo-Saxon like Canada or Australia decided to use the metric system. Why is the USA the only large Anglo-Saxon country to remain "irreducible"?

It's there where needed......I've used it for over 30 years......

 

[Thalassamania]

I like my accelerations in furlongs per fortnight squared, thank you very much. And furthermore measuring my liquids in megaparsec barns does not appeal.

 

[Tomeck]

Perhaps you should read it. It's really quite clear.

Hemlon is right . This web is not serious.

I am engineer and I am glad to use metric unit, because I work much with very complex calculations and I must to convert different units.

For example : 1 liter of water = 1 kilogramm = 1 decimeter3

If with imperial unit : 0.2642 gallons = 2.2046 pounds = 35.3147 foot3

But I use imperial unit for you. I convert from meter to foot by multiply 3.2808 (1 meter = 3.2808 feet or 0.3048 meter = 1 foot).