Liters, meters, grams: Do you use the metric system when communicating with an international audience?

i never switch to metric when communicating with an international audience, which i do every day at work (i’m an english teacher to mostly university-aged or older students). i guess i just think, you know, too bad. i’m giving you my best ‘normal english’ even if you have trouble with it. and along with my authentic speech comes my authentic measurements. and plus, there is basically no way in hell i could ever convert all those numbers in real time to make any of it meaningful anyway.

I’ve already learned all the practical US measurements, and I’ll never care what a bushel and a peck are since I don’t farm. If I started farming, I’d probably rather learn metric farming. I tried to make the conversion as a kid when they were saying that we were going to start using metric. Apparently, nobody else got the memo, so metric never caught on here, and I never finished my conversion.

When I did communicate with a global audience, it was in millimeters, grams, troy ounces, pennyweights, grains and carats. I’m not even sure how many systems of measurement that covers, but my audience and I were all intimately familiar with them.

@zemfira – I know it takes some effort. But so does learning a second language. Eventually you will be able to convert vocabulary in real time. Teachers are key. It might not make sense to retrain adults. Habits are hard to change. But for our next generation of kids metric should be their “first measurement language”, don’t you think?

Metric system rocks, i never understood why you gotta go to 12 inches and then switch to two feet.. thats just odd.

BTW, I remember something about a collaborative space program between US and Russia that went wrong because of the different calculations. That’s dumb!

I can’t believe we in the US haven’t made the switch. It’s ridiculous, really. I was born in 1967 and waaay back in 6th grade they told us we’d be switching over to metric any day. Ha! Since we never did, I’ve pretty much forgotten what I learned about it in school. I do remember though, that it makes infinitely more sense than the US standard.

Metric is simple and makes sense. Anyone can learn it instantly.

The world has embraced metric because it makes sense. Everything is deci this or decade that anyway. How difficult could it be to divide by 100?

You are 5’10.5” tall? You need a 9/16 ratchet? What the hell is that?

A metre is 100 centimetres. You are 180 centimetres tall. 10 more or less, you can envision it instantly.

Moreover, let’s go down to millimeters and (OMG) smaller. What’s an inch divided by 950,000? I can tell you what a centimeter is.

@tigran – Yes, it was about a crashed Mars probe. Instead of “Houston, we’ve got a problem” it was about “We got a problem in Houston”. Some engineer down there confused metric with his antiquated local system (please excuse the expression). Cost the taxpayer couple of millions.

@augustlan – Any chance Obama takes a new approach? He seem to have a very international focus.

@mattbrowne: thanks for clarifying that, it really was a huge waste of money. Also, I think Obama has way bigger problems to solve :P

@Zen – When I first came to America in 1988 as a student, I knew little about fluid ounces and inches and all the rest. I noticed that drugs were in milligrams, but packaged cheese was not. I also noticed how friendly the people of Lawrence, Kansas are and felt overwhelmed by their willingness to help me find my way around. There was even a phone number on campus supported by students which purpose was to “answer any question”. Wow! It was easy to meet people and make new friends. I fell in love with the country. Most people there are very open-minded, which might be related to the fact that in Lawrence everyone is more or less connected with KU, the large university.

After a while, whenever I mentioned my surprise over keeping the non-metric system, people told me, yes it makes total sense, but it won’t happen. Not in this century, anyway. Star Trek is metric. Well, I always wondered about this resistance. Canada switched, the UK switched etc. Now only 3 countries a left. I’d say it’s about 1000 times more difficult to learn a second language. Yes, there is some effort involved. The US announcing a switch would also send a huge political signal to the rest of the world. Yes, we’re all interconnected. Yes, it’s a small planet and we have to care for it together. I’m a bit more optimistic and think we don’t have to wait for warp drives. It will happen long before Zefram Cochrane and Jonathan Archer are born. International communication could be a grassroot effort.

@tigran – Yes, first things first. Absolutely. Maybe a topic after the end of the severe recession. See my comment above about the political signal.

@mattbrowne I think you are so right about that. It’s like the whole world calls it football – but the Americans call it soccer. It sends out a message.

@Zen – Yes, it would indeed send a huge message. The issue with the term ‘football’ is somewhat different in my opinion. When language creates ambiguities, people long for clarity. The world around us is different when it comes to various objects and ideas. Inuits need more words for snow. Cultures are different. I’m okay with using the words American football in the UK and football in the US. Likewise soccer in the US and football in the UK. But measurements from a scientific point of view are a universal concept. It doesn’t matter for the Inuits when they measure the length of a polar bear versus the guy in Houston determining the lenght of a component in a space probe or Sarah Palin hunting wolves in Alaska. It just doesn’t make sense. Not in the 21st century anyway.

I use SI (System International); it is almost equivalent to metric system. I’m not from US, and we’ve got used to with SI system. Education here, and all the companies here use it.
Only US based companies still make use of English system.
On my first job, where customers were US based company, then I had to use the English system as well as SI/metric to communicate with people here. I found the English system somewhat difficult to understand. For example, it’s so easy to convert 1 kg to grams, it’s 1000 g. But, for pounds it’s not so easy.
Also, people here in India find the English system difficult, both to comprehend and practise.

@prasad – Hey, India invented the number zero, which got adopted everywhere else eventually, so it makes total sense to adopt the SI system which is a worldwide standard. But it has its weaknesses too and one of course are the units of time: seconds and minutes. For energy we use 1 kWh for example instead of 3.6 million joules (only the latter is SI).

As an American, I’ve no problem converting to metric but have always been told the reason we don’t use it here is because of the costs involved to re tool factories? It does seem obstinate to be told this country is the most progressive and developed in the world yet still be using outdated measures.

Matt, I think if we weren’t facing so many other problems right now Obama would work on changing over to metric. He’s very logical. I don’t see why (in a calmer time) we couldn’t phase in the change over a number of years. Older factories could be grandfathered in until it was time to update their systems anyway.

@augustlan Kudos for “grandfathered in.”

Here in the UK we officially use the metric system for everything except in some bizarre cases. We buy fuel in litres and the measure the efficiency if our cars in MPG. Speed limits are in MPH.

In fact the “English” system you are talking about is officially the “United States customary systems of measurement”. The system that was in use in the UK is known as the “Imperial” system. They are mostly the same but Gallons are a bit different.

They probably made sense when an acre was the area one man could plough in a day and a league was an hours walk. The whole system is based on those sorts of generalisations. In the modern era I think a metric system is the only logical one, but it has taken the UK most of my lifetime to convert.

@VzzBzz – I’ve heard that the car industry has to use metric because the whole supply chain is so global. But you’re right there’s the issue of existing machines in factories.

@augustlan – Yesterday and today Obama left a huge impression in Europe. He might even be able to handle the Russians which has become very difficult recently. Yes, after reading his book ‘The Audacity of Hope’ I also think Obama has the mindset to see that the metric system does matter.

@lercio Very informative and well written. Thanks.

@lercio – Ditto.

@mattbrowne Yeah, I do agree.
Sometimes, it’s easy to opt for English system. And, some units like calorie, litre are more familiar too.