Posted on 11/05/2012 2:14:59 PM PST by null and void
Back in grade school, we were told that the Imperial System was a thing of the past, that eventually we’d be living the Metric System life, with all it’s base-10 logic built right in. We’d be just like the rest of the world. But those predictions have proven about as accurate as the flying cars and moon colonies that we all imagined we’d be enjoying in the year 2012.
Occasionally, the issue bubbles up and people argue back and forth about why we haven’t gone Metric, but I think it’s all about inertia. There would be a huge intellectual cost in moving to a new system—training ourselves to think of temperatures in Celsius when we’re leaving home and trying to decide on whether to grab a jacket. Straining to remember what kilometers per liter really comes down to, when we’re used to a lifetime of miles per gallon. Attempting to determine whether you’re losing enough weight, as you stare at the scale showing a strange number of kilograms.
While there are economic costs—heck, just think of the signage issues on our roads—they should be lower today than they would have been a generation ago. Many consumer products in this digital age already allow us to toggle between Imperial and Metric units. And the prevalence of smartphones means that no one has an excuse not to have a conversion app (or at least a calculator) on them at virtually all times.
What this issue comes down to is, as I said, inertia. It’s laziness. No one wants to be the generation that has to juggle two systems in their heads all the time. If we switched today, my kids would grow up pretty much thinking in Metric and would have no problem. But I feel like I’d forever be doing that calculation in my head. Even if I knew 28° C was a nice warm summer day, I think I’d always be converting it back to 82° F just to make sure I knew exactly how warm it was, based on my past experiences. We don’t want to be the ones straddling the two worlds, dealing with parts in both sizes or wondering how to deal with machinery that still had Imperial components that were no longer allowed to be manufactured.
Besides, who has the guts to push an idea like this forward in the country today? If Republicans championed the cause, Democrats would rail against it. And vice versa. And unfortunately, engineers, scientists and the like don’t have the kind of lobby that would be needed to get politicians interested. Even a public relations disaster like losing the Mars Climate Orbiter (due to a conversion mishap) didn’t move the needle on fully switching to Metric. So I guess I’ll just wait with you for that long-off day when we get the first flying car—and wonder what kind of miles per gallon that thing will get.
A ha'penny was almost exactly one cent. A pence was almost exactly two cents. A thruppence was a little more than a nickel. Sixpence was a smidgen more than a dime. A shilling was a little less than a quarter. A florin was close to a half-dollar.
It got a little weirder when the higher denominations came in, but our ancestors could still cope. A half-crown? Right around sixty cents. A crown? Less than $1.25. And, a British Sovereign plus two bits was almost exactly five dollars.
In Newfoundland - yes, the Dominion of Newfoundland - one Newfie cent was fixed by law at exactly one ha'penny. So, a Brit shilling was exactly twenty-four Newfie cents. A florin was N$0.48. A crown was exactly N$1.20. And a Sovereign plus a twenty-cent Newfie coin was exactly N$5.00.
I have a Newfoundland gold coin with face value N$2.00. In small letters, it says: "Two Hundred Cents - One Hundred Pence." The funny thing is, the gold value of the coin is well over £100 now.
Real 2 X 4s? Then they must have been unmilled. Milling takes a quarter-inch off each of the four sides, leaving the standard 1 1/2" X 3 1/2" dealie.
I have seen real, unmilled 2 X 8s: a full two inches thick. Needless to say, they were hammered into place a long, long time ago.
The good old French Revolution; the real birth of communistic revolution and a failure that collapsed in on itself.
There was actually a time when the British government issued a half-farthing. First issued in 1828; ashcanned in 1869. Believe it or not, the Brits even issued a third-farthing around that time. Both were intended for use in British colonies: Ceylon and Malta respectively.
A 1/3 farthing coin? Egad, that was a terribly small denomination.
I've actually used it that way, when times were harsher than they are now.
The thing you didn't mention about unmilled 2x4s is the gritching splinters. They are not happy-happy, joy-joy making kinds of things.
The floor was worse.
/johnny
The Canucks use it in curling.
Vehicle wheel (and tire wheel fitment) sizes are all in inch. Even in Europe and other ‘metric-only’ areas.
The Europeans tried to introduce metric-sized wheels and it turned out to be an expensive total failure in the market place.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelin_TRX
Their draftsmen don’t like it much either. Toyota, Nissan and VW all send their blueprints in standard increments, not metric.The parts themselves are in metric, and will have screws, nuts, and bolts in metric. They will be done to standard measurements though
Metric might be more convenient for SI units and scales in manufacturing of widgets smaller than breadboxes, but for land and real estate and most Civil Engineering projects, even if shown in metric or soft metric, most US projects are still designed in English/Imperial units.
While Metric allows for easy base 10 mathematical operations, the English system has a penchant for multiples of 3 and 4, allowing easier intuitive trade transactions.
Other elements of the Imperial/English system were based upon agricultural and commonly used hydraulic basis of design. HVAC is based upon ‘tonnes’ of ice cooling. Miles, although originally equivalent to 5000 ped (feet) from the Roman Army, became associated with 8 furlongs in the days of Queen Elizabeth (5280 ped/feet) allowing real estate to be composed of sections and townships and ranges, distinguishing local areas of governance manageable by horseback and footraffic.
There are advantages to units of weights and measures divisible by thirds and quarters. Areas may be subdivided rather than simply bisected. Divided parcels tend to fall more orderly for municipal planning functions for utility networks.
Even today, US pipelines tend to be designed in inch diameters, even if measured in centimeters or meters. 2.54cm = 1 in, and one will find 4” diameter lines and 10.16cm dia lines, but rarely 10 cm dia lines.
Ergonometrics tends to favor the Imperial/English systems of measures.
For myself, I still favor the Imperial/English system of measures for construction, though if engaged in nanotechnology or interplanetary travel, the metric system has its advantages.
Albert Champion Spark Plugs.
Don’t mess with a 12 ga.
That from an age when money slowly increased in value over time. How's that for a vignette?
Speaking of low denominations, the early Republic saw the Mint issue a half-cent coin. Despite its small monetary value, it was about the size of a quarter. The switch from the large cent to the small cent in 1858 put the kibosh on the half-penny. The original large cent was more than an inch in diameter.
27-29 millimetres for all you metric guys :)
No wonder so few people complained about the 1/4" shave-offs of milled boards...
The metric system’s forte is that it has a much better grasp on the concept of mass.
Yeah, but pretty much every Canadian knows what 454 g means. And there are lots of grocery items that are sold in exactly that weight.
The beer in my fridge is exactly 341 millilitres per bottle. Care to guess what that translates into?
“And for some reason my 10 MM wrench is constantly missing!
“Ha, I’ve ended up with a plethora of 10 mm wenches and sockets.
A ripoff?
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