Are you metric or not? Why?

[Johanna]

When I was a kid in the '70s the teachers said, "Learn this metric well, you will need it because everything will convert." The teachers couldn't imagine thinking in metric any more than our parents, who still buy gas and milk by the gallon, and butter by the pound. There are two pints to a quart and four quarts in a gallon. Any questions? You, in the back with the 16 oz. soda standing by the 8-9 oz. leather hide? Do you honestly think of miles per gallon on kilometers by liter? In the US, we buy pop (soda. cola, soft drinks, sugar with fizz) by the 2 liter bottle, but milk and gas are sold by the gallon. Chips are sold by volume, not weight, and how they calculate air pockets in orange Cheetos I'll never know. I have no real idea of what a cubic foot of natural gas (how we heat the house) but I assume I could put it in a gas can? I have no idea beyond 10C is about 50F and 100C is boiling either, as I suspect is true of many Americans. I had a niece here the other day that asked what time it was, and I pointed to the clock that had just finished chiming. "Oh," she confided, "I only know digital time." This kid could not read a standard wall clock, and I'm glad I didn't point her to any roman numerals to confuse things even more? As you may have guessed, I'm coaching a fifth grader through math this year, and it's got me thinking. When she asks why gold is measured differently than lead, and why a quarter pound of butter is a half a cup and, my favorite, "Mom, why don't we use metric stuff all the time like the other countries?" Because, after all, based on 10, the math is easier. Any computer geek will tell you that a gig of ram = 1024 MB, which somehow makes sense in a world that still types on "qwerty" keyboards. the keys were designed to slow an English typist down so the keys wouldn't jam. Meanwhile, the third grader is learning that "through" "tough" and ""thorough" are all pronounced differently, and I don't know why that is, either, except he needs to learn it, just like we faithfully teach our kids metrics. People who deal drugs are very quick with gram conversions, so I suspect we, as a society, need to have a sense of urgency if anything will ever change. Bananas are sold by the pound. I'm going bananas repeating, "I don't know why, but you'd better learn it or you won't be able to do modern algebra!" Does anyone know what time it is? Depends where you are. Seems like time is the only standard the world adheres and agrees on, but that wasn't always the case (Julian or Gregorian?)

So, what's it like where you live? Are you metric or not? I live in Ohio, USA, and I'm not very metric. My husband has two sets of tools to work on the cars. He works in a mixture of metric and English at the factory, too. .0000 tolerances What is it like where you live? Do you have any absurd legacies like we do here in the US?

Johanna

[Art]

Back in the '60s (you know, when kids actually worked on cars) I had a set of SAE for the American Iron, a set of Metric for the VWs, and a set of Whitworth for the Healy. At least EVERYTHING on one type of car was the same. Well at least now you won't find any Whitworth in anything current. I know they have British Standard too, but it was usually the same as SAE.

It will be hard to convert the US to metric until someone gets dictatorial about the whole thing. So, not in our lifetime.

Remember in the '70s when gas just went over $1.00? They didn't have a lot of totally "electronic" gas pumps in those days, so they went to cents/liter. They quickly found out that the guys who could charge over $1/gallon were getting all the business. Didn't take long for a fix to the old pumps to charge $1 and up per gallon. They read .059 but they were metering $1.059.

Art

When I was a kid in the '70s the teachers said, "Learn this metric well, you will need it because everything will convert." The teachers couldn't imagine thinking in metric any more than our parents, who still buy gas and milk by the gallon, and butter by the pound. There are two pints to a quart and four quarts in a gallon. Any questions? You, in the back with the 16 oz. soda standing by the 8-9 oz. leather hide? Do you honestly think of miles per gallon on kilometers by liter? In the US, we buy pop (soda. cola, soft drinks, sugar with fizz) by the 2 liter bottle, but milk and gas are sold by the gallon. Chips are sold by volume, not weight, and how they calculate air pockets in orange Cheetos I'll never know. I have no real idea of what a cubic foot of natural gas (how we heat the house) but I assume I could put it in a gas can? I have no idea beyond 10C is about 50F and 100C is boiling either, as I suspect is true of many Americans. I had a niece here the other day that asked what time it was, and I pointed to the clock that had just finished chiming. "Oh," she confided, "I only know digital time." This kid could not read a standard wall clock, and I'm glad I didn't point her to any roman numerals to confuse things even more? As you may have guessed, I'm coaching a fifth grader through math this year, and it's got me thinking. When she asks why gold is measured differently than lead, and why a quarter pound of butter is a half a cup and, my favorite, "Mom, why don't we use metric stuff all the time like the other countries?" Because, after all, based on 10, the math is easier. Any computer geek will tell you that a gig of ram = 1024 MB, which somehow makes sense in a world that still types on "qwerty" keyboards. the keys were designed to slow an English typist down so the keys wouldn't jam. Meanwhile, the third grader is learning that "through" "tough" and ""thorough" are all pronounced differently, and I don't know why that is, either, except he needs to learn it, just like we faithfully teach our kids metrics. People who deal drugs are very quick with gram conversions, so I suspect we, as a society, need to have a sense of urgency if anything will ever change. Bananas are sold by the pound. I'm going bananas repeating, "I don't know why, but you'd better learn it or you won't be able to do modern algebra!" Does anyone know what time it is? Depends where you are. Seems like time is the only standard the world adheres and agrees on, but that wasn't always the case (Julian or Gregorian?)

So, what's it like where you live? Are you metric or not? I live in Ohio, USA, and I'm not very metric. My husband has two sets of tools to work on the cars. He works in a mixture of metric and English at the factory, too. .0000 tolerances What is it like where you live? Do you have any absurd legacies like we do here in the US?

Johanna

[dbusarow]

Back in the '60s (you know, when kids actually worked on cars) I had a set of SAE for the American Iron, a set of Metric for the VWs, and a set of Whitworth for the Healy. At least EVERYTHING on one type of car was the same. Well at least now you won't find any Whitworth in anything current. I know they have British Standard too, but it was usually the same as SAE.

And sometime in the late 70s or early 80s GM cars started mixing metric in with the SAE so you needed both for GM cars. Not sure about Ford and Chrysler. I quit working on my own cars in the mid 80s, I'll still change oil and filters but that's it these days.

And yes, I did have a few Witworth wrenches too. Not a full set, just those I needed from time to time.

Dan

[$$hobby]

I learned/used it in college. my job out of school, i used it alot, but also along with imperial. some parts of the equipment was imperial and some metric.

my last job i used it too. the machinest didnt like it, but when designing, its easier, imo.

[Jordan]

Wish I had my dream car 1955 BN2, british racing green and buttersoft tan leather,,,OMG what a beautiful machine, oil leaks and all. I will stick to merican measurements as my brain won't learn metric. Just stubborn and poor at math anyway. If I had grown up elsewhere, I probably would be just as stubborn about using anything but metric.

[MADMAX22]

And sometime in the late 70s or early 80s GM cars started mixing metric in with the SAE so you needed both for GM cars. Not sure about Ford and Chrysler. I quit working on my own cars in the mid 80s, I'll still change oil and filters but that's it these days.

And yes, I did have a few Witworth wrenches too. Not a full set, just those I needed from time to time.

Dan

Ford did the same thing as well. I still try to work on as much as possible but the computers,airbags,sensors,........

[leatheroo]

i LOVE metric, we have been totally metric for as long as i can remember... i cant get my head around pounds and oz, feet and inches..all the measurements are different....if i cant divide something by 10, 100 or 1000 if doesnt make sense to me. However for a whole country as big as yours to change now would be such a huge undertaking, but on the other hand, have different countries on different systems seems a little crazy too.

[tonyc1]

I use Imperial all the time! All my rulers and tapes are Imperial, although I do have a 10 ' tape that has both so that I can convert measurements to Imperial. I tried to convert but made too many mistakes using metric (I hate Napoleon). I always think Imperial re. weights and measures and my wife who is only 46, thinks first in Imperial and then metric, perhaps shopping and cooking has something to do with it, with most groceries sold in metric. I can picture a 6' person but not someone 1.84 centimetres ? tall! Dollars and cents are ok, they're easier than the old Pounds, shillings and pence.

Tony.

[CitizenKate]

I still have my sets of metric wrenches from when I used to work on my 1965 VW Beetle. I still use them for things like when I buy something made overseas that requires assembly.

But all my design work is done in English units. I would really prefer metric, if more of what I bought here was measured in metric units. Metric is sooo much easier to do calculations with!

Kate

[TwinOaks]

riddle me this Batman:

Yeah, I know that the metric system's weight is based on grams.

"American" or at least non-metric is based on the ounce, pound, and ton.

So where the #$%^%$ did a metric ton come from?! And could it be divided into Metric pounds?

AAAAAAHHHHHHH!

I prefer to do my leather measurements in tool increments.