We have five fingers. Maybe we’d divide stuff by five more often if our system were designed to, you know… be divided by five instead of three or four or six. I mean… 5, 10, 15, 20… it’s not that hard.
And the Imperial system does?
So… the boots, which aren’t part of your body, are exactly 12 inches long. That’s as relevant as me having a sweater which is exactly one meter in length, and weighing exactly 1 kilogram.
My foot, when bare, is a little over 10 inches long. How does the Imperial system relate to that information? Genuinely curious.
Yes, we need to measure things, so we need to have a system of measurement. Human systems are arbitrary (or become arbitrary with use – the astronomical unit as a measurement of distance between the sun and earth is fine if you need to measure things between the sun and the earth… it’s less useful when you’re talking about galactic distances). Metric has a rational design, but it’s still arbitrary – that’s not the important part, however.
The important part is: the rest of the world uses metric, and we don’t have especially rational or compelling arguments. “How could I possibly cook grandma’s recipe which uses cups and teaspoons?” Yeah, that’s an impossible puzzle, worth holding up the entire country.
I can’t believe how many people are missing the obvious.
Science is done in SI, which is based on metric. Carlson et. al’s agenda is anti-science. The fact that the roots are French (both the origins of metric and the term SI) are just a bonus smokescreen.
The language of science is increasingly becoming one Americans don’t understand. Carlson and his ilk want to increase that illiteracy. Science can’t be trusted because they use measurements and language that the “Average American” can’t parse.
This isn’t about goofy delusion. This is literally about keeping people confused.
It’s about keeping America isolated. Metric is international. Right now if you want to do business, you adapt for the US. But that’s changing. Keep in mind that you’re dealing with nationalists. They want to be different from the rest of the world, for the specific purpose of making the rest of the world appear scary and threatening. It doesn’t matter that it seems that it’s something small and insignificant – as pointed out in the quote about pints above, the small things are what make the outside world bewildering and frustrating, not the big ones.
Just because it seems like a joke doesn’t mean that it is one.
Mr Bow-tie smugly claimed the US system ties us to our ancestors so we can cook their recipes. You know what kind of cup my grandma cooked measured with? Whatever coffee cup she grabbed off the shelf. Pretty sure I can do that in metric, too.
The point that is not lost on me is that the 6-pack, 12-pack and 24-pack (case) are superior to their decimal equivalents because you can divide those amounts equally between 2, 3, 4, 6, or more of your friends. Once again, beer. And if you have 5 friends, one of them is probably a socialist anyway, so fuck that guy. Give me a case of pints over a decaliter any day.
Yessiree. After more than a decade on metric system easy street, my fractions are slipping, too. “Gimme some 5/32” wood screws, please; 1 5/8" long, thank you kindly"… I have to concentrate for a long minute to even visualize what that would look like now.
Last woods screws I bought was a bag of “four point five by sixty” and bless every one of them.
Is there a reason why you couldn’t purchase and enjoy a six pack, twelve pack, or twenty-four pack if the US adopted the metric system? The metric system doesn’t preclude selling items in units not divisible by five, right?
Only instead of a six pack of pints, you’d have a six pack of half-liters. I fail to see how that stops you from sharing a drink with friends.
Actually, in the United States, beer is packaged in 12 oz containers. So, each friend gets 1 1/3 cans (one pint). Nine friends can share a 12 pack. This is why Americans travel in packs.
I grew up with metric and we managed to bake just fine. Still use teaspoon and tablespoon measures too. Moved to New Zealand where they use cups a lot in recipes. Was quite confusing until I figured out that 1: 1 cup = 250 ml and 2: You can get nice cup/spoon measure sets cheaply.
A now-obsolete unit of measurement in Scotland known as the Scottish pint or joug equals three imperial pints. It remained in use until the 19th century, surviving significantly longer than most of the old Scottish measurements.
I admit that school and work (mechanical engineering related for a time, all in Canada) have left me pretty thoroughly bilingual between the two systems, but the complete confusion and fierce resistance to using metric has always baffled me.
To this day in Canada, you can hear older people kvetching about it. The weird thing is that it’s usually a) in situations where precision isn’t important and estimates will do fine (a gallon of gas is close enough to four litres, 2mi is 3k, 3m is 10’…), and/or b) in situations where there are gauges or scales provided, making any calculations simple and making the units of measurement irrelevant (i.e. since if you know the price per unit, and how many units you’re buying the calculation never changes…)
Also, 100+ posts in, and nobody has mentioned the goofiest Imperial unit of all. My friends, I give you… the Slug!
There’s amazing watch collection at Louvre Museum in Paris. I didn’t know that “metric” watches were ever made, and now I wonder if they have one and I didn’t notice it not knowing what to look for.
Some photos I took:
Another place that I highly recommend is Musée des Arts et Métiers. They have lots of early measurement devices, also lathes, milling machines and other science and technology stuff.
