If the metric system takes hold in this country, football will be called 30.5 centimeter ball.
I had to think on it:
(25.4 x 10) + (25.4 x 2)= 254 + 50.8= 304.8 mm
That's 305 mm , or, shift the decimal to the left, 30.5 cm, more or less, which is good enough for me.
Metric works fine for nuts and bolts, but carpenters have little use for a system that doesn't allow clean division into thirds. Besides, fractions are easier to work with than decimals. I use feet and inches for anything larger than 25.4 mm, but have had to go metric for the small stuff. A lot of plywood is actually metric: "1/4"" designating an actual thickness of 6mm--.4mm shy of a true 1/4 inch-- and so on. (Nobody who accepts a 1-1/2 x 3-1/2" board as a "2X4" can complain about that.)
Maybe we should adopt the metric system and institute a base-12 number system. That would make everyone happy.
Anyway, I always come away from these arguments a little better educated. Thanks for making a useful intuitive connection: one foot = 305 mm (or 304.8 for sticklers). I think I can remember that.
And once we've resolved this, let's talk shoe sizes.