Do you think the Metric System is stupid? I do.

[FelixDeCat]

Phooey on the metric system!

I remember in 1980 when I was in 4th grade the government had this grandios plan to foist it upon us. Our teacher said, "Yup, buy 1985, the entire country will have converted over. You better learn it now and change your thinking about distance and weight or youll be left behind." So much for the stupid metric system.

 

[Infos]

Agree wholeheartedly

:disgust:

 

[911paramedic]

I am 36, and remember them saying it would be the standard when I was in 4th grade too. It is much better for math and science that is for sure. If you ask me, it should be the standard.

 

[rahvin]

Anything sold internationaly will be in metric. Most cars are metric these days. Most soft drinks are. Just a matter of time before you buy a 1/8 kilo burger at mcdonalds (before cooking). The US and two other countries (both in africa) are the only countries that don't use metric. The english that invented the imperial system of units that we use don't even use it anymore officially.

 

[Linflas]

I really hate a system that is based on the powers of 10. It is so much easier to memorize 12 inches = 1 foot, 3 feet = 1 yard, 5280 feet = 1 mile etc rather than know that 1 kilometer = 1000 meters etc..

 

[Derango]

Unit conversion in the metric system is much easier than in the system the US uses....(I'm in the US by the way).

Its a lot easer to divide 567 centimeters by 100 to get the number of meters equal to 567 centimeters than it is to divide 567 inches by 12 to get the number of feet equal to 567 inches.

 

[Booster]

Please... mentioning of other systems than metric makes me feel sick. I don't understand other systems. Even England uses metric system now. I don't understand feet, inches or pounds.

 

[rgwalt]

Dude, the metric system is great! What are you talking about? Trust me, any scientist or engineer would much prefer to use the metric system over english units. Why? Well, with the metric system you don't have to lookup conversion factors. You don't have to remember conversions for inches to feet to yards to miles. Or teaspoons to tablespoons to cups to pints to quarts to gallons.

Now, that being said, I wouldn't want to have to convert my kitchen to the metric system. I understand english units, it is just harder to work with them on paper.

Ryan

 

[waggy]

i disagree. i think the metric system is easy to use.

i still suprised that the US has not really tried to convert over. since everyone else in the world uses it it seems silly not to.
it well worth learning to use. when i hit college thats mainly what they used in the science and math classes i took. so if you think its not worht learning you may be in for a surpise.

 

[mchammer187]

Originally posted by: rahvin
Anything sold internationaly will be in metric. Most cars are metric these days. Most soft drinks are. Just a matter of time before you buy a 1/8 kilo burger at mcdonalds (before cooking). The US and two other countries (both in africa) are the only countries that don't use metric. The english that invented the imperial system of units that we use don't even use it anymore officially.

too bad americans are too dumb/lazy/stubborn/elitist

i wonder how many ppl would freak out if everything changed tomorrow

 

[Derango]

Originally posted by: mchammer187

Originally posted by: rahvin
Anything sold internationaly will be in metric. Most cars are metric these days. Most soft drinks are. Just a matter of time before you buy a 1/8 kilo burger at mcdonalds (before cooking). The US and two other countries (both in africa) are the only countries that don't use metric. The english that invented the imperial system of units that we use don't even use it anymore officially.

too bad americans are too dumb/lazy/stubborn/elitist

i wonder how many ppl would freak out if everything changed tomorrow

I wouldn't. I wish everything would switch over to it tomorrow. However, thats not going to happen.

 

[Beau]

I'd much rather be using the metric system.

 

[Michael1897]

me no like metric

 

[vi edit]

I wish we would have years ago. Soooo much easier to use. Not only for engineers/lab workers, but for carpenters and masons as well. Basically, any one who uses units of measure frequently throughout the day would have a much easier go of it.

 

[Linflas]

The reason we have not switched is because schools insist on teaching the metric system in conjunction with the conversions into English units. If they just taught it without that junk people would see the simplicity of it all and never want to deal our weird system.

 

[rahvin]

Originally posted by: mchammer187

Originally posted by: rahvin
Anything sold internationaly will be in metric. Most cars are metric these days. Most soft drinks are. Just a matter of time before you buy a 1/8 kilo burger at mcdonalds (before cooking). The US and two other countries (both in africa) are the only countries that don't use metric. The english that invented the imperial system of units that we use don't even use it anymore officially.

too bad americans are too dumb/lazy/stubborn/elitist

i wonder how many ppl would freak out if everything changed tomorrow

Our lack of conversion has benefits to our own economy so don't think that it's entirely stupid that we don't convert. There are plenty of areas where our use of the imperial system prevents foreign competition because foreign countries can't use the Imperial system in manufacturing.

We can play the metric game when we want to export and then require imperial imports we can influence the loss of american jobs to foreign labor.

 

[isasir]

The metric system is the tool of the devil!

 

[Cattlegod]

haha a Kiloburger

aaahhhh

 

[samgau]

I cursed the Imperial system when I did engineering.... the same calculations in metric took me half the time... so guess what i did... convert all the figures in metric... do the calculations and convert back into imperial... still took less time.... Metric is the way to go...

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

2.54cm by any other name, is still an inch.

 

[Viper GTS]

Try doing chemistry, physics, or engineering in imperial & you'll appreciate metric.



Viper GTS

 

[edmicman]

is memorizing english conversions all that different from memorizing what power of 10 pica, deca, deka, milli, centi, wtf-a is?? you've got a different prefix from like 10^-million to 10^+million. sounds like the work of communists to me

my rod's four score to the hogs head

 

[dman]

I'm comfortable with converting between metric and imperial, but, I think in imperial units. Logically, the Metric system is superior. The imperial system is stupid.

Unfortunately it's built in now, If I need to estimate how much something weighs, I think lbs. If I look at something and need to know it's measurements or distance I think in inchs / feet / yards / miles. I'm 29, so, I also was told we'd be doing everything metric by the time we grew up. Unfortunately, the gov caved to the stubborn old folks and we still go by the Kings foot. Or something like that. Many things have changed, but, not enough. I think people in the US are rather comfortable with the current 2-system model, so, I don't see a push to get rid of imperial system any time soon.

 

[Zebo]

Do you think Swahili and German are stupid too? It's only stupid because we as Americans did'nt grow up with it so it's a foreign language and it's hard to quantify the measurments unlike our "standard" system.

What's 1.0 deciliter vs. 1.0 ounce of Jim Beam? What's 35 centimeters vs. 2 feet? See it's easier for us Americans to visualize and ounce and a foot.

But it is a much superior system for mathmatical calculations. If we want to muliply, divide, add or subtract different measurements we simply have to move the decimal point using the metric system.

 

[Derango]

Originally posted by: edmicman
is memorizing english conversions all that different from memorizing what power of 10 pica, deca, deka, milli, centi, wtf-a is?? you've got a different prefix from like 10^-million to 10^+million. sounds like the work of communists to me

my rod's four score to the hogs head

It tells you somthing that I know that there's 1000 meters in a kilometer and that I need to look up the number of yards in a mile. and I live in the US. The imperial system is much, much more complex than the metric system.

When I use the metric system (and when anyone else I know uses it), I tend to focus on a 4-5 of the units that I use. pica, deca, deka....they aren't used so as much as say, kilo (1000 meters/liters/grams), meter/liter/gram, centi (1/100th of a meter/liter/gram), and mili (1/1000th of a meter/liter/gram)

There's also a little saying that helps with conversion, but I'm not going to type it out now, since I'd have to explain it...a little hard to do when I'm at work.

EDIT: Damn typo!