The United States finds itself in good company with Liberia and Myanmar as one of only three countries that have yet to officially adopt the metric system. (HT to Coming Anarchy)
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21 Comments
Good for us! I hate the metric system. It’s good for science, but horrendous for things that matter, like cooking.
I don’t think the Marshall Island have adopted the metric system.
I’ve always found the fact of the U.S not using metric weird to say the least.
# It’s good for everything, once you’re used to it. Having been brought up on metric I can’t fathom using imperial for anything, cooking included.
pretty simple:
1000 litres = 1 cubic metre ≈ 1 tonne of water (”cubic metre” is commonly used instead of “kilolitre”)
1 litre = 1 cubic decimetre ≈ 1 kilogram of water
1 mililitre = 1 cubic centimetre ≈ 1 gram of water
1 microlitre = 1 cubic millimetre ≈ 1 milligram of water
Aren’t the Marshal Islands a U.S territory?
Measure is taught from first grade through fifth or sixth grade. It takes twice as long to get through the unit because we have to teach both systems. Once the kids start doing science experiments in middle school, metric takes over.
The only reason metric is “horrendous” for things like cooking is that you cannot visualize in metric. Metric is actually ideal for cooking because of the easy convertibility of grams to milliliters.
typo: measurement
Korea remains the only country to use this measurement: ~
~ can mean any of the following:
1) about
2) up to
3) between
4) and so on
5) I’ve run out of ideas
Metric is actually ideal for cooking because of the easy convertibility of grams to milliliters.
Convertibility schmvertibility! Give me fractions, or give me death!
Grams are much too small to be a reasonable unit of measurement, and kilograms too high. Fahrenheit is based on human experience; 0 to 100 degrees represent the normal temperatures in central Europe. Pyeong represent a spread-eagled man. Feet represent feet.
The only thing the metric system has for it is efficiency. Why not just make everyone speak English. Tha
…t would be more efficient also.
The Marshall Islands became a republic circa 1985. English and Marshallese are the official languages, they use U.S. dollars, and can travel to the U.S. w/o visas. The RMI was a Japanese colony, 1914-1944 (they imported Koreans for labor, since the Marshallese didn’t work out so well as slaves), and the older generation (fast dying off) still speaks some Japanese and hate Japan more than Koreans do (at least South Koreans).
Hoju has good relations with the RMI govt, and in fact donated the vessel (yes, the one) that constitutes the RMI seagoing coast guard capability (I found this out after a minor (mis)adventure).
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The U.S. may eventually go metric, but keep in mind that there are hundreds of thousands of miles in the Midwest/plains laid out in mile section grids, subdivided by acres.
“Good for us! I hate the metric system. It’s good for science, but horrendous for things that matter, like cooking.”
Tell me, how is it different from counting your money in cents and dollars?
Tell me, how is it different from counting your money in cents and dollars?
Pounds, shillings and pence would be better.
“Grams are much too small to be a reasonable unit of measurement, and kilograms too high.”
I’m guessing you don’t cook much or read labels.
one serving of meat = 3 oz. or 20 grams or about the size of a deck of cards
Nutrition information on US packaging is almost exclusively in metric. Folks minding their fats, protein, and carbs think in grams, not ounces.
Sonagi, you’re unintentionally proving Josue’s point here.
3 ounces is equal to 85 grams, not 20.
“3 ounces is equal to 85 grams, not 20.”
Drawing on certain recreational activities growing up in Canada many moons ago, that sounds about right!
I think we switched in the mid-1970s, so a lot of us growing up in the transition period (ie. speed limit signs indicating both miles and km/h for a while) have the good fortune of being able to think/function comfortably in both. (Not to say that one had to grow up in Canada in the 70s to do that, but it didn’t hurt.)
Metric makes a hell of a lot more sense - someguy’s money analogy is a prime example - but I can understand why some people might want to stick with something familiar, especially when it comes to such basic day-to-day things as temperature, distance, weight, etc.
As for Myanmar, I guess that the checkpoints along the highways (or the sometimes-paved arteries that pass for highways there) must have been situated every few miles, but it could just as easily have been every km from what I can remember. Metric or not, there’s a police state for you!
Oops, you’re right. I must have been been groggy after my nap. Nutritional information is in grams, not ounces.
Wouldn’t it be easier for children to learn just the metric system in school? Then the next-generation Americans would find it easier to make the change to the metric system…. and I would find it totally annoying at school to use the English Imperial system in Maths then switch to the Metric system during Science…
Plus degrees celcius is easier- 0 being the freezing point and 100 being the boiling point.. rather than 32 degrees F being the freezing point and godknowswhat being the boiling point.
“Pounds, shillings and pence would be better.”
Only if you’re a 50 year-old Brit.
I remember being taught in school that America would be metric by 1976!
Try this;
http://www.weirdconverter.com/
“I would find it totally annoying at school to use the English Imperial system in Maths then switch to the Metric system during Science… “
It’s worse than that. Both systems are used in math AND science until 7th or 8th grade, when the need for easy convertibility pushes aside customary in favor of metric in the science lab.