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Our use of pounds isn’t archaic. Pounds, pints, gallons, feet, inches, etc. are convenient measurements for which there is no metric equivalent

Our system is based on human-convenient measures. The metric system is based on nature. So water freezes at 0º C, which means a lot of negative numbers in the winter. A foot is based on an average-sized man’s foot. A meter is based on a fraction of an imagined distance from the north pole to the equator. Not quite as handy a yard, which is an average man’s stride. The only advantage that metric brings to the table is easier conversion—all by 10s. But how often do we need to know how many inches are in 2.7 miles?

I thought a cubit was the distance from the king's nose to the end of his middle finger if he held his arm out straight, and a yard was two cubits--from one middle finger to the other if both arms were held out straight.

A mile is from the Latin for "one thousand"--one thousand paces. Probably for most people a pace (considered as from when one foot leaves the ground to when it is on the ground again, while walking) is more like a bit over 5 feet rather than 6 feet.

The other practical advantage of the English system is that the number of inches in a mile is almost the same as the number of astronomical units in a light year. So if you make a model of space where the earth is one inch from the sun, Proxima Centauri is about four and a quarter miles away, and the other stars are as many miles distant from your starting point as they are light years away from the sun.

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>> “ The only advantage that metric brings to the table is easier conversion—all by 10s” <<

Until you bring Gravity into the picture! Then the metric system completely falls apart with crazy numbers that are hard to remember, while our system soars with powers of two that are easy to remember.
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