Should the USA go metric?

[xcorps]

I mean - has anyone seen an American designed/made car outside North America besides the odd collectors vehicle?

You aren't trying to say that's because of the metric system are you?

[ZetaX]

You aren't trying to say that's because of the metric system are you?

No, read his post again.

[PakledHostage]

As it has already been said, this is a non-issue. Other countries have changed currencies, switch driving sides, or switched to metric before... It's a bit of a big deal, but nothing that can't be overcome with a few years of preparation and adaptation.

I found these public relations relics on YouTube (one from Australia and one from Canada):

[Sampa]

one word: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - man in Austin Powers before being run over by a steam roller

[Shpaget]

Funny you should mention that scene.

The metric system is just like that steam roller, and no matter how much you scream and kick and resist, it's coming for you.

[vitekc45c]

It should either go metric or become an empire.

Dun dun dun dun-dundudun dun dun-dudun.....

[peadar1987]

You know, I'd say we'd be having a very similar conversation if we were in 14th Century Europe, and people were suggesting replacing Roman Numerals with Hindu-Arabic ones:

"I don't care if it's easier to do basic arithmetic with these funny new numbers. I know I'm VI feet tall, and it's MDXCLVIII yards to the marketplace. The Roman system is based on counting on your fingers, I is one finger, II is two, V is the shape between your pointer and your thumb, X is two Vs on top of each other, it's just far more intuitive. What is this weird shape "5"? And what's going on with this concept of "0"? It's unnatural!"

[AngelLestat]

And what's going on with this concept of "0"? It's unnatural!"

Yes, it's what I always told my language teacher whenever I received the test results.

[Wesreidau]

You know, I'd say we'd be having a very similar conversation if we were in 14th Century Europe, and people were suggesting replacing Roman Numerals with Hindu-Arabic ones:

"I don't care if it's easier to do basic arithmetic with these funny new numbers. I know I'm VI feet tall, and it's MDXCLVIII yards to the marketplace. The Roman system is based on counting on your fingers, I is one finger, II is two, V is the shape between your pointer and your thumb, X is two Vs on top of each other, it's just far more intuitive. What is this weird shape "5"? And what's going on with this concept of "0"? It's unnatural!"

That's not a number. Furthermore, try using an abacus with Roman numerals. Just try it. It is shockingly intuitive. They had the equivalent of bronze pocket calculators as tiny bronze pocket abacuses. They still teach math using the (arguably Roman) abacus in Japan, and if you watch the high-scoring math students they'll flip around imaginary beads using their fingertips, visualizing the entire process and ticking it out in muscle memory. But nooo. Lets just have ten trillion errors in our math because 100000 and 10000 look so similar when you're writing in a hurry. Nobody ever screwed up for .

[peadar1987]

That's not a number.

Which doesn't invalidate my point. Every combination of Arabic numerals is a number. There's no way of doing what I just accidentally did.

Furthermore, try using an abacus with Roman numerals. Just try it. It is shockingly intuitive.

They had the equivalent of bronze pocket calculators as tiny bronze pocket abacuses. They still teach math using the (arguably Roman) abacus in Japan, and if you watch the high-scoring math students they'll flip around imaginary beads using their fingertips, visualizing the entire process and ticking it out in muscle memory. But nooo. Lets just have ten trillion errors in our math because 100000 and 10000 look so similar when you're writing in a hurry. Nobody ever screwed up http://www.infoplease.com/images/chars/Cbar.gif for http://www.infoplease.com/images/chars/Xbar.gif.

Still less intuitive than using a system that is to the base 10. Or the base anything really. An abacus in base 10 is just as fast, if not faster than one in the Roman base-I-have-5-fingers-but-don't-understand-exponentials system.

The difficulty telling the difference between 10,000 and 100,000 is the reason we have a thousands separator, and scientific notation. Don't even get me started on how Roman numerals represent large numbers like 10^8, or 1.88*10^12.

[Pixel of Life]

That's not a number. Furthermore, try using an abacus with Roman numerals. Just try it. It is shockingly intuitive. They had the equivalent of bronze pocket calculators as tiny bronze pocket abacuses. They still teach math using the (arguably Roman) abacus in Japan, and if you watch the high-scoring math students they'll flip around imaginary beads using their fingertips, visualizing the entire process and ticking it out in muscle memory. But nooo. Lets just have ten trillion errors in our math because 100000 and 10000 look so similar when you're writing in a hurry. Nobody ever screwed up http://www.infoplease.com/images/chars/Cbar.gif for http://www.infoplease.com/images/chars/Xbar.gif.

Nobody ever screwed up 100000 for 10000 either. Only an idiot doesn't use digit group separators. 100000 becomes 100,000 or 100 000, 10000 becomes 10,000 or 10 000. English-speaking countries use the comma, most European countries use the space.

[ZetaX]

English-speaking countries use the comma, most European countries use the space.

Or the dot. Which causes another set of ridiculous effects.

[*Aqua*]

Or an inverted comma (100'000) which adds more confusion.

[damerell]

Or, for that matter, the useful set of prefixes like kilo- and mega- and so forth. :-)

[UnionPacific1983WP]

I'm American, and I want to switch to the metric system. Although, the USA did try to switch back in the '70s and '80s, and that went well... not.

[Bill Phil]

Nobody ever screwed up 100000 for 10000 either. Only an idiot doesn't use digit group separators. 100000 becomes 100,000 or 100 000, 10000 becomes 10,000 or 10 000. English-speaking countries use the comma, most European countries use the space.

Or someone who wishes to not cause a whole other set of problems.

The dot is a decimal point in the system I use. The comma separates digit groups of three. That's reversed in other areas.

[windows_x_seven]

Frankly, the entire world using metric units would be great, but the transition to it is very, very hard.

I'm glad that I use metric units. I can't interpret Fahrenheit.

[Spartwo]

Frankly, the entire world using metric units would be great, but the transition to it is very, very hard.

3 nations left.

[windows_x_seven]

Oh, really?

Huh. Way less than I thought.

Still, teaching 382 637 000 people the metric system would still be hard.

[*Aqua*]

Why would that be hard? They all learned it in school.

[windows_x_seven]

Well, most of these people used the other unit system for their entire lives.

Some of my country's grammar got changed some years ago, and it was chaotic. People just couldn't get it, and it took a very long while for us to get used to it, I predict it would be the same with transitioning to the metric system.

[PakledHostage]

Well, most of these people used the other unit system for their entire lives.

Pffft... You clearly didn't read the previous 34 pages of this thread. If you had, you would know that it has been pointed out ad infinitum that several other countries quit the imperial system cold turkey. To my knowledge, none of them subsequently fell off the wagon.

[Bill Phil]

Pffft... You clearly didn't read the previous 34 pages of this thread. If you had, you would know that it has been pointed out ad infinitum that several other countries quit the imperial system cold turkey. To my knowledge, none of them subsequently fell off the wagon.

We, as in us humans, wouldn't be where we are if we couldn't adapt.

Countries that quit cold turkey were probably already using the metric system, at least a little bit.

But here's the thing:

I don't care if I'm one mile from a city or one kilometer. As long as I know my speed in the appropriate units. Luckily, American cars usually have miles and kilometers on the speedometer. But the exact system doesn't matter. As long as I know how numbers work, I can use both.

There's a similar thing with cooking/baking. I only need the units and the ability to measure those units for what I'm baking.

Of course that's just me, but numbers work the same no matter where you are, right?

For the U.S.A., mile markers are everywhere. However, you would need km markers in very different spots. It would be expensive, but it could be done.

[LN400]

As a completely random side trip: When will Norway stop calling B (the note) H? H doesn't even make sense. The notes in A minor goes A-B-C-D-E-F-G, NOT A-H-C-D-E-F-G.

We've all got our problems, be it ridiculous musical scales or other scales. Granted, an H won't total a multi million dollar probe.

[Pixel of Life]

Granted, an H won't total a multi million dollar probe.

Don't underestimate the power of a typo in the code An H in the wrong place can do a lot of damage.