Petition to make USA Metric

[MonKENy]

I assume its been tried but what was the most recent move to get us off this stupid system and on to the Metric system that ohhh the whole damn world uses.

Whats the reason not to switch? Just that we have been using it for so long it would be hard now?

 

[andylawcc]

it will never happen.

but if it does, please change from Letter/Legal to A4/A3 standard too please.

 

[Newbian]

 

[skimple]

Why is the Metric system so much better? Why not binary?

Seriously, why is some system based on 10's so much better? Because people can't do math?

 

[Fingolfin269]

I'll definitely stay off the roads for a week or two once this change is made.

 

[highland145]

We learned the metric system in the 5th grade (along with Roman numerals). 39 years ago. So far, we've got a 2 liter soda bottle. This might take a while.

 

[Number1]

Quebec has moved to metric time. It makes for some tricky scheduling with the rest of the world.

 

[gorcorps]

[Grandpa Simpson] My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it! [/Grandpa Simpson]

 

[highland145]

[Grandpa Simpson] My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it! [/Grandpa Simpson]

Still behind the times, Brandon.



Post 3

 

[Pocatello]

I grew up using the metric system. We all use the metric system for our measurement in science classes during my high school and college years in Idaho, so I'm all for it.

 

[darkxshade]

But the Celsius scale can fuck off... 32c is not hot... 90f is

Fahrenheit forever!

 

[Fingolfin269]

I grew up using the metric system. We all use the metric system for our measurement in science classes during my high school and college years in Idaho, so I'm all for it.

Amazing! I thought everything in Idaho was measured in spuds.

 

[Possessed Freak]

Have you looked at the SI units that metric is "based" off of recently? Completely arbitrary crap. Something about cesium 133 comes into play. Yeah that is real easy to witness.

Hell they even messed up the core fundamentals based on water. Nope, now it is something no layman can possibly reproduce.

 

[lxskllr]

Why is the Metric system so much better? Why not binary?

Seriously, why is some system based on 10's so much better? Because people can't do math?

Because retarded abstractions are retarded. I'd rather say 2013 than 1000+1000+10+3, same as I'd rather get a 9mm wrench rather than the 3÷8 wrench.

 

[surfsatwerk]

I assume its been tried but what was the most recent move to get us off this stupid system and on to the Metric system that ohhh the whole damn world uses.

Whats the reason not to switch? Just that we have been using it for so long it would be hard now?

Dems fightin werds

 

[nehalem256]

But the Celsius scale can fuck off... 32c is not hot... 90f is

Fahrenheit forever!

This. There is essentially no argument to be made for Celsius over Fahrenheit. Unless you only measure the temperature of water and care when it freezes and boils.

We learned the metric system in the 5th grade (along with Roman numerals). 39 years ago. So far, we've got a 2 liter soda bottle. This might take a while.

That is because there is a distinct advantage to have a 2 liter vs 2 quart soda bottle. Namely you get more soda

 

[Vdubchaos]

I come from Europe and have been using Metric most of my early life.

I don't mind Standard US system, heck actually like it.

 

[pmv]

You should follow us in the UK - decide to change to metric in a flurry of technocratic European-community idealism, then get halfway (or 0.5 of the way) and lose momentum, get stuck, revert to imperial, then decide to try and go for for metric again, then lose interest in the whole business and decide 'what the hell' and let everyone use a mixture of both systems according to personal preference.

So short distances can be in inches or cm, long distances are more often in miles, heights of people are in feet and inches but other things more often in cm, weights of people are in stone but weights of foodstuffs are in kg, temperatures are C or F depending on your age and generation (F means absolutely nothing to me and it infuriates me that so many people still use it). Alcohol and milk are officially in ltrs but everyone still thinks in pints (definitely for booze). And its not unknown to buy things with one dimension given in inches and the other in cm.

(These days, because I can never remember how many yards there are in a mile - its some stupid number that makes no sense - I tend to have to convert from one to the other by remembering 3 feet in a yard, 12" in a foot, 2.54cm in an inch, 100,000cm in a km, and a km is 5/8 of a mile.

 

[pmv]

This. There is essentially no argument to be made for Celsius over Fahrenheit. Unless you only measure the temperature of water and care when it freezes and boils.



That is because there is a distinct advantage to have a 2 liter vs 2 quart soda bottle. Namely you get more soda

C over F makes sense because the normal range of temperatures people experience are a little above and below zero C. I know that 30C is a damn hot day, and that if its below zero its cold and there will be frost. Of course, its really just what you are used to, but temperatures given in F mean nothing at all to me.

Imperial is a perfectly usable system in general though, I wouldn't knock it. People ought to know both I reckon.

 

[Possessed Freak]

Because retarded abstractions are retarded. I'd rather say 2013 than 1000+1000+10+3, same as I'd rather get a 9mm wrench rather than the 3÷8 wrench.

Let's take volume for example. Yo own a quart measuring device... that's it. With this quart you can roughly figure out a pint by filling half. From this you can roughly figure out a cup by again filling half. Alternately if you fill the quart and dump it in a larger vessel 4 times then you have a gallon.

Try doing the same thing with a Liter container when it is asking for 230 mL.

Sadly the scientific world thinks that everyday man needs to measure stuff precisely. This is not the case, has never been the case, and I seriously doubt it will ever be the case. Metric makes sense when I need precise figures and I am doing math with these figures. It makes it easier for it that time. But when I want rough and dirty measurements, I will take Imperial/American any day.

 

[randomrogue]

The imperial system needs to die in a fire. It's retarded. I can't cook with it. I can't measure with it. I can't do shit with it. It makes zero sense.

12 inches in a foot and 5280 feet to the mile. WTF?! Ok so I have it memorized but it's illogical.

4840 square feet to the Acre. Completely ridiculous.

I can never get volume right and this is probably the easiest one. 20 ounces to a pint, 40 to a quart, and 160 to a gallon. Not logical.

16 ounces to a pound. 2240 lbs to a ton. I can never remember which ton is which.

Temperature? Fahrenheit is not used for anything useful.

I haven't even mentioned the other gazillion imperial measurements that are useless like the fathom, cord, rod, and all that. It's just stupid.

PLEASE BURN THE IMPERIAL SYSTEM TO THE GROUND!

Now you know how I really feel.

 

[RedRooster]

I love how the US holds on to this system so dearly. Its actually quite noble.

 

[randomrogue]

Let's take volume for example. Yo own a quart measuring device... that's it. With this quart you can roughly figure out a pint by filling half. From this you can roughly figure out a cup by again filling half. Alternately if you fill the quart and dump it in a larger vessel 4 times then you have a gallon.

Try doing the same thing with a Liter container when it is asking for 230 mL.

Sadly the scientific world thinks that everyday man needs to measure stuff precisely. This is not the case, has never been the case, and I seriously doubt it will ever be the case. Metric makes sense when I need precise figures and I am doing math with these figures. It makes it easier for it that time. But when I want rough and dirty measurements, I will take Imperial/American any day.

You make it sound like we're all living on a deserted island or are part of a Saw movie where we need to drain exactly one quart of blood or be killed in a woodchipper.

If i need 230ml I use this amazing thing:

 

[Greenman]

Have you fellows ever seen a metric tape measure? Every carpenter in the US will be blind a month after the change. Nothing would ever get built again.

 

[skimple]

The imperial system needs to die in a fire. It's retarded. I can't cook with it. I can't measure with it. I can't do shit with it. It makes zero sense.

12 inches in a foot and 5280 feet to the mile. WTF?! Ok so I have it memorized but it's illogical.

4840 square feet to the Acre. Completely ridiculous.

I can never get volume right and this is probably the easiest one. 20 ounces to a pint, 40 to a quart, and 160 to a gallon. Not logical.

16 ounces to a pound. 2240 lbs to a ton. I can never remember which ton is which.

Temperature? Fahrenheit is not used for anything useful.

I haven't even mentioned the other gazillion imperial measurements that are useless like the fathom, cord, rod, and all that. It's just stupid.

PLEASE BURN THE IMPERIAL SYSTEM TO THE GROUND!

Now you know how I really feel.

You can't do math, so everyone else should change?

"A pint is a pound the world around" - try that with your precious base 10 system.