Why aren't we measuring (exclusively) in metric yet?

“We”? Amerika and Liberia are the only two nations on Earth which haven’t officially adopted metric. There are plenty of people on Fluther not from Amerika or Liberia. And the reason Amerikans don’t adopt metric is the same reason they don’t have universal health care, and that 21% believe the Sun orbits the Earth: a combination of unwarranted arrogance and crushing ignorance caused by a deliberately sabotaged educational system.

Because the metric system is arbitrary, and unrelated to natural instinctive measures.

A foot is a natural distance, based on how an average person interacts with the world, roughly the distance between one’s hands when held in front of you. A cup is about what one will drink at once. A yard is like holding out one’s arms a bit. A mile is a good walk, 100 miles is about what you one can ride on a bicycle in a day.

And Fahrenheit is directly related to one’s weather experiences. It is really hot out when it is 100. Zero is just about as cold as it gets in most places. In the 50’s is moderate weather.

And a pound is about what a pint weighs, and relates to a useful measure for cooking. A kilogram of something is way more than a family of four will eat; in many metric countries.

A liter of gas won’t get you very far. And neither does ease of multiplication.

I agree with @SmashTheState except for two minor points. 21% believe the Sun orbits the USA., and there are three countries still using it: USA, Liberia, and Myanmar. ( All the world’s powerhouses – Myanmar is considering switching)

I’ve lived in countries that use Metric and it is a breeze. It does not take long to start thinking in those units and once you do you everything becomes easy. 0C is freezing, 10C you need a sweater, 20 C is room temp,. 30 C is hot. Done.

My knuckle is 2 cm wide. My hand is 10 cm wide, My [redacted] is [redacted] A penny weighs 2.5 grams. A liter of milk weighs 1 kg. I consider a good walk to be 10 km. 100 km distance is how far I drive in a hour. The density of water is 1 gm/cc. Quick what is the density of water in the English system?
Americans don’t realize how we are isolating ourselves from the rest of the world by sticking with a system so archaic. But 21% think the Sun orbits around the USA, and they vote, so what can you do?
I heard a joke while in Asia:
What do you call a person who speaks three languages? Trilingual
What do you call a person who speaks two languages? bilingual
What do you call a person who speaks one language? American
There is much truth to it.

@SmashTheState Don’t you mean America? You used a k

In America, millions of people are used to the “English” system. e.g. Machinists are used to easily machining and checking 0.001” increments. Mechanical engineering calculations are actually easier in English units. These two examples, alone, result in manufactured products remaining safe for the public (in the short term).

And in America, short term is how we roll.

I wish the US customary measurements would disappear.
I’ve used it my entire life and I still have to look up how many ounces are in a gallon or cups in a quart.

Particularly when figuring pharmacy dosages, straight metric measurements would make my life much easier and probably remove several swear words from my vocabulary.

@XOIIO He’s being like, rebellious and stuff.

I happen to like the Standard system, actually. Perhaps it’s the real-world roots that @zenvelo points out. I wore a 12” shoe for quite some time. Made measuring distances in the field very easy.
The federal government has officially adopted the metric system, but since nobody else did, they have to include both sets.

@LuckyGuy I happen to speak English and Italian fluently, Spanish poorly, German smatteringly. Stereotypes only work in marketing.

@RocketGuy Mechanical engineering calculations are actually easier in English units. These two examples, alone, result in manufactured products remaining safe for the public.

Tell it to the Mars orbiter…

@dappled_leaves Done and done. The problem arose when not converting from one to the other. Had they left the units in Standard, or started in SI to begin with, there wouldn’t have been a problem.

@Nullo Well, obviously we disagree on that… if the US is going to work with people outside its borders, it’s going to have to recognize that not everyone is resistant to progress.

@Nullo I lived overseas for quite while and was responsible for introducing US made control systems and components to overseas OEMs. The engineers hated to deal with our “standard” units. They were always converting our silly inches and pounds to mm and grams. Their domestic suppliers (the ones I was trying to push out) gave them components and drawings in metric units – the units that match all the tools in their tool box; the units that match all the parts in the hardware stores; the ones that 98.3% of countries in the world use.
If we want to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world, fine. But realize, we are handicapping ourselves in the trade war by carrying useless baggage.

And about the stereotype, sure there are some exceptions to every rule, but if you had to bet, the smart money would be placed on the stereotype of the random American only speaking one language.

You can’t count knowing a few curse words in another language as proficiency, nor the 2 years we were required to take in school (but remember nothing). I took French in elementary school, 4 years of Spanish in high school, 2 years of German in university, but worked and studied in Japan for 9 years and am considered fluent in Japanese.
If anyone asks how many languages I speak I say 2. English and Japanese because I can discuss anything in either language, be it: business, engineering, divorce, dating, food, etc.
Ciao.

@dappled_leaves – Mars Orbiter was done in by metric-english error in an electronic sensor => electrical engineering.

Narcissism of a state level. For the same reason the American ultraconservatives don’t want to be part of international organizations like the United Nations. “Liking an outdated systems” is more important than easy international cooperation. It sometimes comes at a price like the $125 million Mars Climate Orbiter loss clearly demonstrated.

Every educated person on this planet is willing to learn English. Because it enables us to communicate on a global level. And everybody knows that learning English is much harder than learning metric.

I can understand that we can’t put too much pressure on people who are 40 or older. Old habits die hard. But American kids should be raised metric from day 1 at school. No exceptions. Whenever a traffic sign is lost to rust, a new one should show both miles and km.

Gene Roddenberry will prevail. The future is metric on the USS Enterprise.