Poll: I hate the imperial system. America, I'm looking at you! Give it up, metric is simply better!!!!

[Marble Dragon]

Someone's a little late to the party. Seriously, I thought we had all agreed by now that the metric system is superior, even a lot of Americans. And in science, we use the metric system anyway. I use feet, inches, miles, cups, whatever, because it's what everything's written in here and it would be stupid to use the metric system here. That would mean craptons of conversion, which I like to keep to a minimum. But I'm willing to learn.

Only, all the idiots you seem to label as 'America' aren't willing to learn a new system. So...imperial.

 

[AgDr_ODST]

I agree with the sentiment(ie USA USA USA!) but I honestly feel that my IQ dropped by about 10 points after having watched that whole thing...

Then in the interest of further ruining your IQ.

nope....not gonna watch it...

But you must! It's Mangasmic!

if its anything like the last and the title is any indicator I'll watch Happy Tree Friends instead

 

[The Urban Moose]

Oh, metric is way better, no doubt. The problem is, America will never, ever switch, because we have invested too much into the imperial system. Switching over would mean converting blueprints, changing road signs, updating navigational systems, and whatnot. All that means monies, and that is something that the good ol' US just doesn't have right now.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

quote

Don't worry, man! The day will come when people won't give two-rat's-left-ass-cheeks about what America thinks, and on that day metrics will rule simply because every other human being on the planet uses it. Every great civilization falls some day.

 

[ApeShapeDeity]

My point is it's really only the U.S.A. that insists on continued use of the imperial system in fields such as mechanics and engineering. Which is neither helpful to Americans nor the rest of the world.

Untrue. As an American engineer, the vast majority of the time we use metric. The only thing that is used often is miles vs. kilometers (mostly when dealing with autos). Yet all my drawings, models, etc. are in metric.

Good to hear! I've had to do a number of re-fits on American built plant over the years and it bites chunks out of the bughet getting everything converted and reapproved. Not to mention having to special order stuff from the US.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Snip

First off is it Empirical or Imperial? Cause nothing against you, but we should be calling it the correct name it has. Or doesnt it matter?

Anyway, Lets go with your example. you're using a standard ton, and it was pointed out to me that a metric ton is slightly over 2200 lbs. So youre starting standard, when you could just start metric. Dont ask me how that works, I learned a a ton was 2000 lbs regardless of standard or metric. Just feel I should point that out.

besides, I dont know, maybe its just me, but I like the extra work. thats an exercise and math, and the more challenging, the more beneficial. and it keeps you sharp. I've found that when you use metric you get lazy. And most things like grams to ounces are usually used in weight (which I personally like better in standard for over an oz, but in metric when under. I.e. capsules of medicine). ANd most things that do need the conversion have both Standard and Metric measurement (baking for example).

But you are saying that we as americans should change. And you're saying the sooner the better. But why do we need to change? why cant americans just keep going, just keep converting. Perhaps I'm looking too large scale, but then we run the precedent that will cause a change in currency, giving us all once central currency because it would be easier then converting money. Or one language cause its easier then translating. It leads to a centralized world, the vision and purpose of any genocide, which any humane human agrees is wrong. There would be no race, there would be no Europe/Asia/Americas/Australia. We would be one thing, obeying one rule, using one currency. There would be no option for change or variation. And when there is, it would just happen again.

I'm not saying turning everyone to Metric will do that, but its a step to one unified world that doesnt have variation or different or what makes us us. But again, I may be going to large scale, and like I siad, I like to use metric, I just dont see the need to change completely. Americans should be taught Metric only when it is necessary, and allowed to use Standard whenever else they want. And most classes where you need metric, you are taught it anyways.

 

[Imbechile]

Well they are Americans, they NEED to be diffrent from the rest of the world for a reason that only they know :-(

 

[MoNKeyYy]

Our days are broken into 24 parts, which are then broken into 60 parts, yet nobody complains about our system of time. Computers read in binary and many programmers use hexadecimal, base 16, as a way of more easily translating into that system.

My point is, it does not matter. The human brain is not so rigid that it requires base 10 to be used effectively. Get off your high horse.

Metric time exists...it's just a really fucking stupid system.

The reason we use weird time units is because we can't control the amount of time certain stuff takes. Like having 365.25 days in a year. Besides that time is much more definitive to our society than measurement. Also units of measurement physically exists. Literally any distance can be named anything and made the bases for a system of measurement and can be shown to physically exist. To suddenly say "A second used to be this...but now its this...." is a concept that's far more alien to people, partly because of the natural sense of rythem most people develop with regards to seconds. Seconds/minutes/hours is our way of quantifying the passage of time which in itself is only a concept that exists within our heads to describe the passage of events and the universal plane within which those events exist. It's also worth noting that once units of time smaller than seconds become nessisary the system actually does switch to metric, and everything larger than a year does as well (decade, century, millenium).

 

[Sight Unseen]

Besides, I'll still stand by it that Imperial weight system is much easier then Metric weight system. and height too. And length. you know, the normal stuff that every day people use.

Okay then could you tell me quickly how much 10 grain, 5 drachm, 55 ounces, 15 lbs, 5 stone, 3 quarters, 2 hundredweights, and 1 short ton is in a single number?

8 different units of measure for mass with completely arbitrary conversions is harder than one unit with qualifiers for exponents of base 10? I realise that most of those aren't used commonly anymore, but still, I hope you see my point.

 

[Jader7777]

I'm 193cm. I weigh 105 kilos. I love 10 and the various 0 and . that could extend or shorten it.

 

[Mcface]

Oh look, this thread again.

also, you hate something because another country you dont live in does something differently than you.

Just think about that for a second, and reflect on how stupid you sound.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Besides, I'll still stand by it that Imperial weight system is much easier then Metric weight system. and height too. And length. you know, the normal stuff that every day people use.

Okay then could you tell me quickly how much 10 grain, 5 drachm, 55 ounces, 15 lbs, 5 stone, 3 quarters, 2 hundredweights, and 1 short ton is in a single number?

8 different units of measure for mass with completely arbitrary conversions is harder than one unit with qualifiers for exponents of base 10?

Oka... well, lets see. Of those, I've never seen
- grain (used as a measurement at least. I've seen it used as the plant and as way of measuring quality)
- Drachm
- Quarters (unless you mean fourths)
- hundredweights
or
- Short ton
used before in measurement. I've seen stone used, but that was in the UK, and that was in metric. SO no, I dont imagine I could if I dont know what five of those are, and what a stone is percisely, since it seemed to change when I asked someone. And since you're not telling me which one you want it in. Since those would all be radically different numbers based on which is going to be my final and base goal.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Because we are America, and we use whatever the fuck we want because we can.
If you disagree you clearly hate freedom and are a communist, socialist, or some evil combination of the two.

It's disheartening to see how many people actually believe that false dichotomy.

OT: WOO METRIC!

 

[CheesusCrust]

Metric system all the way.

Spoiler: Relevant

 

[ApeShapeDeity]

Oh look, this thread again.

also, you hate something because another country you dont live in does something differently than you.

Just think about that for a second, and reflect on how stupid you sound.

For crying out loud. You make it sound like I'm attacking your religious or political beliefs.

Actually read what's in the posts. Such as this.

As I've stated earlier, I don't care if you want to use imperial conversationally or in unison with metric. It's NOT a matter of free speech. It's a system of logic and measurement. Standardisation reduces mistakes, miscommunicatons and keeps proccesses straemlined.

What I'm trying to say is that I believe the metric system is the more widely used of the two for a good reason. It's better.

So, in technical fields I believe those still on imperial should conceed for the common good.

 

[Darth_Dude]

Because we are America, and we use whatever the fuck we want because we can.
If you disagree you clearly hate freedom and are a communist, socialist, or some evil combination of the two.

ok listen although I sort of agree with you, this is no way to voice your opinion. I am an American and damn proud of it. But when you say something like this it makes all of us Americans look bad and gives the rest of the world a stick to hit us with. All I am asking is if you have a valid point don't be a jerk about it. We have freedom of speech but we should also have enough common sense to use it properly.

I think he was being sarcastic.

 

[righthead]

I think metric is simpler. But as an American, I dare you to come over here and make me use it.

 

[Eat Uranium]

I don't think that it matters too much which system you use in your personal life. I mean, for industry, they need to be consistent over the world - which pretty much means using SI). The UK is perhaps a good example of this: pretty much all the industry is metric, and the population is in the middle of a (probably very long) switch. Stuff like milk is sold in 568mL (and multiples thereof) bottle, but everyone knows those as pints.

I'd say that at this point, you could describe something in either system to someone, and there would be a good chance that they would know what you meant. Which means that typically we describe things by convention (height in feet and inches rather than cm) or by ease of scale (its better to say that a USB socket is 1cm across than 0.5" (neither of which is exact)).

For those of you who try to bring up time as an argument against metric systems, that's a pretty low blow to take. No system of measurements can hope to be dead on when measuring natural phenomena. Still, only the second is SI, while the minute and hour are accepted for use.

 

[Eat Uranium]

Oka... well, lets see. Of those, I've never seen
- grain (used as a measurement at least. I've seen it used as the plant and as way of measuring quality)
- Drachm
- Quarters (unless you mean fourths)
- hundredweights
or
- Short ton
used before in measurement. I've seen stone used, but that was in the UK, and that was in metric. SO no, I dont imagine I could if I dont know what five of those are, and what a stone is percisely, since it seemed to change when I asked someone. And since you're not telling me which one you want it in. Since those would all be radically different numbers based on which is going to be my final and base goal.

Weights are doubly confusing, since the Imperial system settled on the long measurements, and US on the short measurements. A long (short) ton is 20 (20) hundredweights, which are 112 (100) pounds. A stone is 14lb, and is only really used by Brits to measure body weight these days.

I too have no idea what those other measurements are, but I think that a quarter is a quarter of a hundredweight, and a grain is a thousandth of an ounce and a drachm is either 10 or 100 grains.

 

[SodaDew]

I hate metric!!! The US has tried to use metric in the past and it FAILED... and horribly!