Anyone remember "The Great Metric Conversion"?

[Mizmoon]

LOL - I was in grade school at the time. For a year they drove us crazy with metrics. Then they seemed to give up completely and left us to our beloved inches, pounds, and gallons. Thank God.

It's the only thing I hold against Jimmy Carter. What was The Big Peanut thinking? :)

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. I hold it against him that we never made the full conversion to metric

It's such a better system, and would place us nicely with the rest of the world.


Though on the other hand, there is something wonderfully archaic about our bizarre English system of measurements that are based on no patterns at all.

[Heidi]

10. I absolutely agree with you.

I was forced into the metric system out of survival, but now I can hardly think in the old, illogical way of measuring.

American kids are plenty smart enough to learn the metric system at an early age, but I believe total immersion is the best way to learn it, and I'm not holding my breath on the possibility of that happening.

[LostinVA]

11. I remember it and I agree we should have done it

Like Australia: we should have been educated on it for a year or so, then just went metric overnight. It puts us at a huge disadvantage, imo.

[Lethe]

2. why are soft drinks served in metric sizes

and like nothing else is?

[Pool Hall Ace]

3. What? You're saying that the Big Gulp, Super Big Gulp, and

7-Eleven X-treme Gulp are metric sizes???

(Jus kiddin'. I see what you're saying!) :hi:

[qnr]

4. GIve me metric any day. n/t

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

5. I wish he succeeded.

Metric is far better than the ridiculous English system.

[crispini]

6. Yes, I learned everything in metric and now

I have no idea about quarts and cups and gallons and so on and whatnot. I blame the metric system for the fact that I am so completely ignorant about the regular system. :D

[flamingyouth]

7. It was very confusing at the time.

I was still struggling to understand Imperial measurements when Metric ones were thrown at me. Metrics make *way* more sense, though.

[qnr]

15. Where I was at, a lot of the confusion came from people trying to

convert to metric, and vice-versa. I think it would have been easier if it was just taught, period,

[LostinVA]

16. Same with me

Instead of our teachers just TEACHING it, we we told that X amount of X equals x amount of x. So what? It confused the hell out of this then sixth grader....

[Left_Winger]

8. I prefer metrics, but can use either

[Ivan Sputnik]

9. Metric system = Godless European socialism

And we can't have that! Why it's almost as outrageous an idea as universal healthcare! :)

[CanuckAmok]

12. It's much worse in England.

They use Metric and Imperial.

Roads are measured in miles.

Volume is measured in pints, gallons, etc.

Industrial/commercial measurement is metric.

Energy is measured in metric.

Mass is measured in both, plus they still use medieval weight measurement for some things (weight is measured in lbs and "stone". I believe a stone is 18lbs, but I can't remember).

British cars (which have to be serviced nearly every day), ships and aircraft are built using metric and sae screws and bolts. A mechanic has to have two complete sets of every tool.


When I was growing up in England, they were phasing out one monetary system, so prices were in two different scales (shillings, sixpences, etc and pence, pounds, etc). Now they have the "new money" and the Euro!

[miss_kitty]

13. A stone is 14 lbs

And IIRC, gas or 'petrol' is sold by the litre.

[Fox Mulder]

14. I wish the US used metric.

That way, we could fit in with the rest of the world for a change.

[Xithras]

17. We're metric everywhere that matters

The engineering fields are almost entirely metric nowadays. Cars and trucks, even so called "American" cars and trucks, have largely ditched the old SAE fasteners in favor of their metric equivalents. Major construction projects, aeronautical designs, and spacecraft are fully metric. Basically, we're metric everywhere that counts.

If Joe Sixpack would prefer to buy one gallon of milk instead of 3.7854118 liters, or wants a car that gets 30 miles per gallon instead of 12.754311168998839175172434343867 kilometers per liter, that's his business (yes, that is the actual conversion).

Aside from a brief economic boon to signmakers, what economic, scientific, or cultural advantage is there to having our speed limits in KPH instead of MPH? None really, which is why we've never bothered making that conversion.