[Sicon]

I remember back in grade school, when they started trying to teach us the metric system, which up until then, had not been taught in U.S. public schools before. The teaches were very insistent that we had to learn the metric system, because it was what they used in Europe. Even then (mid-1970's), at 10 or 11, we were all like, "Whatever. Who gives a crap what they use in Europe? I'll worry about that when/if I go there."

Not long after that, you started seeing metric units on cereal boxes and soda cans, etc. But really, apart from one and two liter soda bottles, what metric unit does anyone in the U.S. actually know or care about?

How many kilos do you weigh? How many liters of gas does your car hold? How many kilometers is it to work?

Almost 40 years later, and despite the efforts of the moron education establishment, the answer, with a few exceptions, is, "Who gives a crap?"

Millibars? Please. Give it to me in inches of Hg, Jacques.

[dr_lew]

Did you know that an inch is defined to be 2.54 cm ? Then the mile is exactly 5280 X 12 X 2.54 cm = 1609344 mm, exactly. So hey! How metric can you get?

[pigsmith]

I remember back in grade school, when they started trying to teach us the metric system, which up until then, had not been taught in U.S. public schools before. The teaches were very insistent that we had to learn the metric system, because it was what they used in Europe. Even then (mid-1970's), at 10 or 11, we were all like, "Whatever. Who gives a crap what they use in Europe? I'll worry about that when/if I go there."

The school was pushing the metric system when I was in third grade. Teacher said not to worry too much about learning quarts and inches and so on because soon we'd be converting to the metric system.

That was back in 1963.

[Bob]

The US is inching toward the metric system but we’ve got miles to go. :=)