Replies

I was being a bit sarcastic, actually. I do that too often as my age advances, and without a warning label. When I was in high school everyone hated the metric system because the government was basically trying to force it on us. The government should know that if it wants the public to hate something, they should force it on them.

But seriously, instead of standard multiples of 10, isn't it easier to remember that there are 5,280 feet in a mile, 12 inches in a foot, and 16 ounces in a pound (or is it 12?)? No wait, that was sarcasm again. Sorry.

I actually prefer the metric system while measuring or calculating things. I never use the inches side of the ruler anymore. So there.

And my family left Europe because they were being rounded up and killed by Russians. My great grandmother who lived to be 102 recited from memory to me the story of how they were lined up in a ditch and shot because they refused to be conscripted in some war, I don't know which one. Who would want to fight for the Russians? They were Germans, given some land in Russia in order to farm it. And then that happened. Never trust the Russians.

isn't it easier to remember that there are 5,280 feet in a mile, 12 inches in a foot, and 16 ounces in a pound (or is it 12?)? No wait, that was sarcasm again.

It used to tick me off, but except for inches, the whole thing is easier once you bother to think about it. There are some common references:

A meter is a little longer than a yard.

A kilometer is a little more than 1000 yards (10 football fields). So in field and track, a mile is measured in yards: 440 = 1/4 mile, 880 = 1/2 mile etc.

Water being the standard....A liter is about a quart. (two pints). Just like a fluid ounce of water weighs an ounce (a pint's a pound the world around)....a milliliter weighs one gram....hence a liter (1000 ml) of water weighs one kilogram (1000 grams).

Everything in metric is 1/10th or 10 times something...no whacked out multipliers like you said.

Conservatives eschew change.

taking up the metric system is change

Conservatives continue to use the Anglo system

We were required to use metric dimensions on a contract we had. There was lots of grumbling. I collected all the Anglo tapes and provided metric tapes. Some brilliant soul found a metric anglo tape. After a while, they realized metrics were really not all that bad.

I use metric measurements mostly. I can think in millimeters