Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Why we won’t kill the Imperial System
Mobile Hydraulic Tips ^ | November 2, 2012 | Paul Heney

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.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 121-140141-160161-180 ... 261-266 next last
To: Rio

Lumber is regular american 2X4s.

American 2x4’s haven’t been 2”x4” in a long time


141 posted on 11/05/2012 4:17:40 PM PST by Figment
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 99 | View Replies]

To: Figment
Not to mention when you are trying to measure small increments. A milimeter is too large and 1/100 of a milimeter is too small. The 1000th of an inch is the most logical measurement in the machine shop

That's why there's the micrometer (1/1000th of a millimeter) and the nanometer (1/1000th of a micrometer). 1/1000th of an inch is roughly 255 micrometers. European and Asian machine shops seem to work quite well with metric units.

The majority of the metric system's critics are those who don't know it. It's an education and acceptance problem, not inferiority.

142 posted on 11/05/2012 4:20:30 PM PST by TChris ("Hello", the politician lied.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 133 | View Replies]

To: Harmless Teddy Bear

2 cups = 1 pint
2 pints = 1 quart
2 quarts = 1 pottle
2 pottles = 1 gallon
2 gallons = 1 peck
2 pecks = 1 pail (or kenning)
2 pail = 1 bushel
2 bushels = 1 strike
2 strikes = 1 coomb
2 coombs = 1 cask
2 casks = 1 barrel, unless it’s beer, wine, oil, and depending on whether it’s in the US or the UK. From there a perfectly orderly system pretty much segues into the twilight zone...


143 posted on 11/05/2012 4:20:46 PM PST by null and void (Day 1385 of the Obama hostage crisis - Barack Hussein Obama an enemy BOTH foreign AND domestic)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: Harmless Teddy Bear
As a cook, I get really worked up over units of measure. 8 volume ounces of sugar = 5 weight ounces.

I can do gas mark 3 or 325F or 160C (close enough for a cook) and if pushed, could take it out to Kelvin...

I need to not get involved in these kinds of discussions. My logical brain says the only smart thing to do is go to the bad side of town, hire 2 pretty girls, a dwarf, a jello pool, score an 8-ball, 750 ml. of Jack, and ignore the issue. And that rarely solves anything for more than a month(lunar) or two. ;)

Buttons, I have one.

/johnny

144 posted on 11/05/2012 4:21:25 PM PST by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 136 | View Replies]

To: tx_eggman

“The wife recently converted to the metric system .. her concealed went from a .380 to a 9mm.”

Being the scientist that I am, I am on the ‘not metric’ system...mine is a .45 :)


145 posted on 11/05/2012 4:21:25 PM PST by GGpaX4DumpedTea (I am a Tea Party descendant...steeped in the Constitutional Republic given to us by the Founders.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: x

I think that some livestock in the UK are still priced in guineas (namely, sheep). Today, I think that works out to one Pound and five Pence in decimalised currency.


146 posted on 11/05/2012 4:25:28 PM PST by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 93 | View Replies]

To: Aevery_Freeman
What is a Mocron?

1/25th of a mil.

Motorola's semi-failed attempt to ease into metric mask layout.

Truth be told, I've never used Mocrons, I was just pulling your chain...

147 posted on 11/05/2012 4:26:17 PM PST by null and void (Day 1385 of the Obama hostage crisis - Barack Hussein Obama an enemy BOTH foreign AND domestic)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: TChris
It's an education and acceptance problem, not inferiority.

Wrongo! I majored in physics, so the metric system is something I understand well. The problem is replacing dreadfully expensive machine tools.

148 posted on 11/05/2012 4:27:45 PM PST by GingisK
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 142 | View Replies]

To: SampleMan

“The problem with the metric system is that a decimal system does not equate to daily human life in most respects.”

That’s been one of my favourite rants since we (Canadians) converted to metric. The Imperial system is more “high touch”. However, it must be admitted that learning Imperial requires a lot more work than learning metric. Metric is all base 10, Imperial is base 2, 3, 3, 8, 10, 12, 22, 32, 220, 1760, 5280, etc. etc. It makes calculations more “interesting”. If I were an elementary school student, I’d probably prefer learning metric. Since I’ve already learned it, I still prefer Imperial.

One of the more irritating things about the metric system here is the way we measure “mileage”. Instead of a perfectly sensible “kilometers per litre” (which would at least allow for easy conversion to MPG); we use “litres per 100 km”. Talk about something that’s hard to relate to! It’s supposed to make us think of efficiency more — but, I think that’s just a stupid rationalization for a stupid convention.

Quick, without using a specialized calculator, convert 8 litres/100 km to miles per gallon.

You might find this handy:

http://calculator-converter.com/l_100km_mpg_convert_mpg_to_l_per_100_km.php


149 posted on 11/05/2012 4:28:30 PM PST by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: Beelzebubba
(Also, he said that he heard the challenger audio tape after the explosion, and it was not pleasant).

Yeah. I've always known it existed, and that it wouldn't be for the squeamish.

Fvcking management.

150 posted on 11/05/2012 4:29:14 PM PST by null and void (Day 1385 of the Obama hostage crisis - Barack Hussein Obama an enemy BOTH foreign AND domestic)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: Figment
American 2x4’s haven’t been 2”x4” in a long time

No kidding. I recently renovated the bathroom in my old shotgun shack, which involved tearing out part of a wall, and replacing it.

The inexpensive method of addressing that issue is to rip modern wood to provide tack strips which bring the replacement lumber back to 4". Air powered staple guns are heaven sent.

Try tearing out even somewhat rotted oak real 2x4s. My brother did mention that 6 lb sledge hammers weren't typical framing tools.

/johnny

151 posted on 11/05/2012 4:30:37 PM PST by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 141 | View Replies]

To: ThomasThomas
Ok I was just kidding, it is volume of the horn.

That's always been measured in liters?

Who knew?

152 posted on 11/05/2012 4:30:58 PM PST by null and void (Day 1385 of the Obama hostage crisis - Barack Hussein Obama an enemy BOTH foreign AND domestic)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 60 | View Replies]

To: DesertRhino
Ok, about the machine shops finding metric unwieldy. Why is that? Can you give an example that a non machinist can understand.

Because one-thousandth of a inch (.001") is at the limit of perceptibilty, thus the ideal smallest unit. To use micrometers, you need a microscope, and the next unit up, the millimetre (or even a tenthmillimetre - whatever that's called) is too coarse.

Metric units: either too small or too large

153 posted on 11/05/2012 4:34:24 PM PST by Oztrich Boy (A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 131 | View Replies]

To: Army Air Corps

Heh, groats from back when they went by four-pence increments to divide a shilling in thirds rather than three-pence and six-pence increments to divide it into quarters.

Prior to decimalization, the British penny had the same diameter as the US half-dollar coin. Remember the Beatles song “Taxman” and that line “Now my advice to those who die / Declare the pennies on your eyes”?


154 posted on 11/05/2012 4:39:26 PM PST by Olog-hai
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 77 | View Replies]

To: RPTMS

Yes, and Jacob would have stopped at ten sons . . .


155 posted on 11/05/2012 4:41:21 PM PST by Olog-hai
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 66 | View Replies]

To: Born to Conserve

I guess you’re right. 95% of the world does use the metric system, though.


156 posted on 11/05/2012 4:45:20 PM PST by x
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 117 | View Replies]

To: null and void

No matter which system is in use, I still now have to have TWO SETS of tools to do a simple battery change in my auto.

And for some reason my 10 MM wrench is constantly missing!


157 posted on 11/05/2012 4:45:49 PM PST by Ruy Dias de Bivar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: null and void
Oh, the memories...

Back when I was a child, in the '70s, the Canadian government was pushing the metric system. My dad got a whole book - probably handed out free by the Canadian government - on the metric system and I read most of it diligently. I was enough of a metric geek, I still remember that "hecto" means "hundred" - well enough to get mildly irked at the term "centimillionaire." Centi, of course, stands for hundredths.

But in everyday life? Like most people, a hybrid based upon what's easier to use and more memorable. Like, "I drove 5 kilometres to the building centre in 4 degree Celsius weather - fridge temperature. Damn gas cost $1.30 a litre, which is a real pain because my minivan only gets 20 miles to the gallon. While there, I picked up ten eight-foot 2 X 4s and three inch nails, plus a 15-metre extension cord for my electric lawn mower. The mower's a beaut, all right: it can sometimes blow a 15-amp circuit but it weighs less than twenty pounds so it's easy to haul. Easier to haul than a 10 kg bag of flour - try hoofin' that for a mile walk."

The point behind this measurement flip-floppery? We use measurements that are not only well-designed, but also memorable to us - and, as the defenders of Imperial pointed out, meaningful too.

So what if we use a mish-mash of two systems in everyday life? What counts is use-value. In this way, a measuring system is a lot like a language.

Also, with two systems, we have a choice. There are some who think that with choice come chaos, but I've yet to see such in North America.

158 posted on 11/05/2012 4:48:13 PM PST by danielmryan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Cicero

“Give them a centimeter and they’ll take a kilometer” will never have the same ring to it.


159 posted on 11/05/2012 4:50:08 PM PST by Olog-hai
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 88 | View Replies]

To: goldstategop
No, we’ve been brainwashed into thinking it’s “default”. The youngest system of measures has been spread around the world by leftists and useful idiots. It won’t last. We’re going to go back to twenty gerahs to a shekel and sixty shekels to a mina—now that is prophesied (Ezekiel 45:12).
160 posted on 11/05/2012 4:54:11 PM PST by Olog-hai
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 100 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 121-140141-160161-180 ... 261-266 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson