Is it time for the US to adopt the metric system?

[KarlXII]

Yes it is time for the United States to adopt the metric system.

It will occur the same time we start calling "soccer" whatever you Euros call it.

If you were to do that, we'd have to call Football "Rugby's bastard child"!

[Lemur]

Old ways are the best ways! Twenty cubits to a stade! Fifteen chains to a fathom!

These newfangled Normans with their fancy chained-mail and their miles and their ... oh, wait, sorry, I was off by a few years. Ahem. I meant to say, death to the metric system! Just because the military, science, aerospace and the rest of the world use the metric system is no reason we should do so!

Somebody bring me some freedom fries.

[KarlXII]

Somebody bring me some freedom fries.

First the Metric System, next Bastardized Rugby, and then you'll be asking for Chips!

[Seamus Fermanagh]

GO on then, how many fathoms in a cable? Cables to knots? Arrrrrr......

[Hooahguy]

no, b/c wed have to change ALL our textbooks and stuff. cost billions.
just teach them the conversions and be done with it.

[Mikeus Caesar]

no, b/c wed have to change ALL our textbooks and stuff. cost billions.
just teach them the conversions and be done with it.

And then we'd have to spend billions changing all the textbooks to teach them conversions.

Easier to just bite the bullet and join the rest of the world. Sure, it's going to cost, but doesn't everything?

After all, if your dear country can afford to completely level Iraq and Afghanistan and then rebuild them, i'm sure you can afford some textbooks for the education of your own children.

[Lord Winter]

no, b/c wed have to change ALL our textbooks and stuff. cost billions.
just teach them the conversions and be done with it.

Most science textbooks are already in metric though, and a lot of industries use it too. Like it or not, metric is the international standard and we're probably paying more longterm for using the english system then we would to just convert over. And metrics already all around you, 2 liters at the stores, km on most speed dails in cars ect...

[Hooahguy]

Most science textbooks are already in metric though

not in the US.
of my 12+ years in school, i have never seen any science or math textbook use primarily metric. while i agree we should use metric, its not realistic. especially for the poorer schools.

[Sarmatian]

no, b/c wed have to change ALL our textbooks and stuff. cost billions.
just teach them the conversions and be done with it.

That's why those things are done gradually. Textbooks get old, they get revised, they get some stuff added, some taken out...

Same with other stuff. Machines get old and you have to replace them eventually. Instead of buying a new machine that makes 12oz beer bottles, you buy the one that makes 0.33l bottles.

Basically, a law should be passed that everything has to switch to metric system in the next 10-15 years. That way economy can prepare adequately and it can be done painlessly and without great cost.

[BigTex]

I think the proper question is, "Is it time for the rest of the world to adopt the American system?".

[Mangudai]

I studied physics in college. It is almost impossible to do physics with English Imperial units. Pounds are a unit of force. What's mass? A slug. This is a unit that is never used in real life, but you have to mess with it to do physics, it's a nightmare.

To work on any American car built after 1980 you need two complete sets of tools, because half the bolts in an American car are metric. American mechanics probably like having two sets of tools, but why would a mechanic in any other country want to make that investment? Surely this is significant for American automobile exports.

Everybody in America under the age of 103 knows how to use the metric system. It's easy. They taught it in school back in the 1960's if not earlier. Most Americans have an intuitive feel for a meter, liter, kilogram almost as accurate as their feel for a yard, quart, pound. There are a few special units like a tablespoon that grandma will not want to switch to mL. That can stay, it doesn't matter. Goofy units will not be outlawed or anything, it's just that all official numbers will be in metric.

For a couple years I taught 8th grade science. Topics included measuring volume, computing density and so on. In the metric system 1 Liter of water has a mass 1 Kg, by definition. The kids couldn't get it, every time a brought it up they got totally confused. The kids who basically understood the concept of density went totally astray whenever I mentioned this definition. I also taught college physics as a TA for a few years, the students were mostly engineering majors at the University of Illinois at Urbana (very strong science/engineering school). A couple of times we had problems where they needed the mass of a certain volume of water. They all said "the problem doesn't give us enough information", I told them 1 Liter of water has mass 1 Kg, they were all like "Wow, Really?". Yeah that's the way the system is defined. They loved the metric system even more when they understood that. I can't help but think most of them probably were taught it in the 8th grade and absolutely could not grasp it at that time.

[rvg]

No. Why? Because screw 'em, that's why.

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

No, It easier with our own system

[PBI]

If you were to do that, we'd have to call Football "Rugby's bastard child"!

Surely "Rugby for Weak-Kneed Girly-Men"?

As for the question, the answer is YES. Try doing theoretical physics in Imperial units and you'll see why. It's hard enough anyway without having to convert from pounds per gallon per square yard to ounces per pint per square mile every five minutes.

As far as I'm concerned the Imperial system is obsolete technology. Just as we don't generally use gas lighting anymore now we have a better alternative, so we don't need to use Imperial units anymore now we have a better option.

[Alexanderofmacedon]

Yes. Simply to make the Frenchmen happy.