The metric system is very handy when it comes to math. The traditional system is better when it comes to human beings. A yard is about the length from one’s nose to outstretched hand, or a man’s stride. A meter is almost the same but really just a tad too long for either, because its length was as a fraction of the distance from the pole to the equator, which of course they got slightly wrong.
The gram is too small a mass to be all that useful for ‘weighing’ most things in daily life things, so the kilogram is the standard used which kind of goes against the philosophy of the metric system.
Since the metric system makes each ‘jump’ by a factor of 10, there are loads of metric units that are rarely, if ever used, eg. decameters or dekameters.
Even in Canada, which officially is on the metric system, I’ve heard that everyone lists his height in feet and inches rather than the metric equivalent. The metric system tends to be imposed as was attempted here in the U.S. back in the 60s rather than enthusiastically accepted. I guess the same reaction is true in the U.K.
And although France attempted a metric calendar and a metric clock back in the 1790s, they could never make it permanent even though the math was so much easier—one of the main arguments for adopting the metric system.
Years ago I had a summer job in Canada which required me to submit to a physical, chest x-ray and other nonsense in order to obtain a work permit. Pissed off my doctor every year because the form required that the circumference of my head be included in centimeters and he only had a tape measure calibrated in inches.
I think the first time I ever saw a Palm Pilot was when my physician dragged one out of his desk to perform the conversion.
>>The gram is too small a mass to be all that useful for ‘weighing’ most things in daily life things, so the kilogram is the standard used which kind of goes against the philosophy of the metric system
There are tons of examples like this where Imperial units are just easier to deal with from an engineering standpoint.
For an example, 40 PSI is a common tire inflation pressure. Converts to 276 kilo-Pascals, kPA.
Totally agree.
But I don’t understand why some prefixes are NOT standard for some things.
Why do people insist on measuring their height in CENTImeters?
So bulky and awkward - lots of syllables. At least use DECImeters. one-hun-dred-six-ty-seven centimeters. six-teen-point-se-ven decimeters. Oh well. I don’t know. The whole system is “too small” - with words too big.