Will America Ever Go Metric?

[Nagoyankee]

This issue has been bugging me for many years. I almost need a shrink.

I've been talking to many people from around the world in several languages on the Internet. Before the Internet, I had done so using snail mail. In real life, the majority of the non-Japanese people I've spoken to have been Americans.

Now, I have to confess that the only people I've had any difficulty discussing numbers have been Americans. With them, I can't freely talk about heights, weights, lengths, areas, volumes, outside temperatures, oven temperatures, body temperatures, etc...

It's always been me doing the conversions, either mentally or with a calculator, whenever we tallk about those numbers because they simply don't know how. I already get busy enough speaking to them in their language. How could they expect me to do all the conversions on top of that?

So, America, will you ever go Metric for me?

[Quailboy]

Honestly, I hope not, I totally forgot the metric system and am waaay used to american measurement system (name slips my mind). We should switch over though, seems like most of the world has.

[Sinestra]

Probably not you know what happens when a culture gets too comfortable with a certain system if it ever changes it will take decades for it to implemented. Its like asking if Americans will start driving on the left. I must admit i have forgotten the metric system if i ever had a use for it i would relearn it again such if i ever moved to country where it was used.

[TheLastFortnight]

I don't think it is something really related to Americans only, I mean there's a lot of people who aren't skilled in math to do the conversions and there's a lot of people who are lazy to do it, but it's too much to say most of them are Americans.

Maybe it has something to do with the base of unit and scales they use, in my country I use Celsius and Fahrenheit doesn't make any sense for me and I don't know how to do the conversion, really, haha. When they say a person is six feet tall it also doesn't make any sense too, here we say that person is 1.70 tall and etc.

[burkhartdesu]

The metric system left my pathetic American brain back in the 9th grade.


But if it makes you feel better, I'll start doing the conversions

[Quailboy]

Originally Posted by burkhartdesu

The metric system left my pathetic American brain back in the 9th grade.


But if it makes you feel better, I'll start doing the conversions

Thats exactly how I'm feeling about it haha

[Nyororin]

Even though I was born in America and grew up there, I feel the pain also. I`ve been in Japan long enough that metric comes first, and if I have to convert I try to think back and recall what it would feel like in the imperial measurements. So I just end up guessing with a lot of things - doing real conversions is too much of a pain. Especially as I`ve forgotten about half the imperial units... Pint? Quart? I honestly no longer have a solid grasp on them.

Clothes sizes are also killing me - Japan uses cm measurements for most clothing, and I have no idea what they convert to in US sizes. Relatives offer to send me clothes and such (for me and my son) but I never have a clue what size to say.

[Sinestra]

I guess it just boils down to what system sticks in what country. I know if America changed the system tomorrow it would probably be chaos. But as such most people live their whole lives here never having to use the Metric system and forget how to convert soon thereafter. What you dont use you lose just as you stated you grew in the states but you have lived in Japan for so long that their way of doing things has replaced what you learned while growing up in the US its like 2nd nature to you now.

I can see how it could be a pain in the *ss for you 2 though.

Nyororin, Nagoyankee nice to see you guys again after my hiatus.

[FeyOberon]

I'm not sure how it is anymore, but during my days in school we learned standard measurements first and metric just a year or two after that -- hypothetically along with the conversions.

The strange thing is that, even though I've learned many things that way (i.e. first A, then B too), I have never really got a good grasp on metric measurements. But I have bad spacial estimation skills, anyway.

I know the conversions. I have a solid concept of how long a centimeter, meter, and kilometer are. But if you tell me "I am xxx cm. tall," I have no mental image of that. (Sorry Nagoyankee!) However, chances are that if you tell me "I am xx in. tall," I will still have to devide it by twelve to form that mental image!

Ultimately, I think America should maintain its system, but we need to be willing and able to do the conversions for ourselves.

Now I'll go practice my conversions! Don't want to be a hypocrite.

[Nyororin]

Something I always find amusing is when I say "liter" and am asked "How much is that?" - and answer "Half a two-liter"...

And they are always like "Oh, I get it now!"