# How can the U.S. be metricized? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 20, 2003, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062 "2003-06-20T01:57:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Matchka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Matchka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Matchka)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062/21 "2003-06-20T14:32:09Z")
Wolf, Well. True. Personally I can see a very good reason to go metric: it would perhaps illustrate our deisre to cooperate with the rest of the civilized world. Not that France, for instance, would finally say, “Oh good, the USA got on board, we’ll stop being so contrary now.” But, yes, we have a monster military and a monster economy even when it’s crumbling. (Lately I’ve come to think of the USA’s power to be very much like the Cave Troll in the Fellowship of the Ring film–not the BEST, necessarily, but certainly the BADDEST muthah in the caves (well, not counting the Balrog…but lets not get technical, the Balrag isn’t a native to the caves). We’re strong enough, and hard to hurt and it’s safer to be an ally than an enemy, but even the allies better keep an eye out cuz we’re all unpredictable & stuff…and a bit klutzy. Metric would probably make our exports more compatible with the rest of the world, and by the same token we could more readily accept foreign manufactured stuff… I have some problem with, “When no one can argue with what you do economically/militarily then you have license to do what you want.” This alienates us further from our internationational buddies in a way that the oceans have ceased to do. And right now we need to hang out with our buddies because we are forgetting them in our Conquest to eradicate fear from the planet. It wasn’t just US Citizens that were greased in the towers, but our government, on our behalf, failed to recognize that on any significant level–what kind of message did THAT send? And we STILL despise metric (I’d rather drink a pint than a liter/litre any day, it doesn’t go flat as fast). Then again, if we go metric, Boeing, Chrysler, Ford GMC, Mopar, etc would have to retool. You can’t work on a 'Vette with a metric wrench, it’d be…unAmerican. ---
**Author:** ![flonks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3ab097/32.png) [@flonks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flonks)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062/22 "2003-06-20T15:24:03Z")
Hey folks from Overseas 🙂 Do not think that anybody _wants_ you to accept the metric system. We don’t care!! 🙂 Seriously, even when I worked as visiting researcher in the US I never touched the Imperial system since science uses the metric system anyway. Did you ever ask yourselves why neither science nor the military use the Imperial system, even in the US? Honestly, and a little sarcastically: I understand that you cling to your system, but from a european perspective it’s funny to watch people calculating in order to know how many feet are in 12 miles and 15 yards 🙂 And there is even an advantage for the rest of the world, if the US sticks with its system: If the engineers at Boeing need more time for the same calculations than the engineers at Airbus, then we don’t object for the time being 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062/23 "2003-06-20T15:36:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dogface \* > \*\*Yeah, and then we can also learn to salute the Great Leader every morning, too. \*\* :rolleyes: I suppose the idea of actually supplying rulers to students offends you? Or if you do supply them, the fact that they are imperial should offend you, yet strangely doesn’t; or is it that the rulers handed out have no measures what so ever that pisses you off? ---
**Author:** ![Bongmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Bongmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bongmaster)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062/24 "2003-06-20T16:04:45Z")
Does anyone remember the push in the US back in the 70’s to convert? I was a little kid at the time, but I can remember it was pretty much a miserable failure. Personally I wish it had succeeded, by now I’d be able to think in meters instead of feet. At least we’d be compatible with everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062/25 "2003-06-20T17:07:33Z")
I just checked my tape measure. It has both US traditional and metric measures on it. Funny thing, though, is that it was made in China. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062/26 "2003-06-20T17:22:47Z")
When I went to my local Ace Hardware store last year to buy a tape measure, I was surprised to find that only **one** of the many, many many tape measures they carried was calibrated in both inches and centimeters. **All** of their other tape measures was calibrated in inches only. I asked the sales guy if they had any other centimeter tape measures, and he said nope, those things are becoming less and less common because _everybody is abandoning the metric system_. (Of course, by “everybody,” he probably only meant people doing construction work, who are the most common kinds of people that have use for tape measures.) Sounds like our last attempt to “go metric” left such a bad taste in everybody’s mouths that we’re backsliding. _sigh_. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062/27 "2003-06-20T19:14:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Boo Boo Foo \* > **Well, being a 41 year old Aussie, I’m old enough to remember the transition in 1973. Certainly, for a few years, there were certain aspects to the economy which proved hard to move across - like fuel still being sold in cents per gallon etc.** For one brief, shining moment several years ago, U.S. gas stations switched over to selling gasoline in cents per liter. But it wasn’t out of a desire to go metric. It was because, for the first time in U.S. history, gasoline prices crossed the $1.00 per gallon mark. Suddenly, gas stations outfitted with pumps that only has 2 digits for gasoline price (and were thus limited by the mechanical restrictions of their equipment to charging 99 and 9/10 cents per “unit” of gasoline) found themselves in a dificult situation. The way out? Most of those gas pumps were manufactured for international sale. They had a switch that the gas station manager could set internally, which caused them to be calibrated in LITERS instead of U.S. liquid gallons. So instead of charging $1.05 and 9/10 cents per gallon, they charged 27 and 9/10 cents per liter. Sadly, this wonderful liter-happy economy didn’t last. By the end of the year, all major gas stations had been outfitted with 3-digit gasoline pumps, and resumed selling gasoline in cents (or, now, dollar-and-cents) per gallon. _sigh_ … so close, and yet so far. ---
**Author:** ![Jet\_Jaguar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jet_jaguar/32/3562_2.png) [@Jet\_Jaguar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jet_Jaguar)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062/28 "2003-06-20T19:19:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Comatoast \* > \*\*America should adopt it if only to prevent its expensive planetary landers making craters in the surface of Mars. \*\* I don’t want to completely highjack this thread, but there was _a lot_ more to this than just someone not converting some units correctly. There were failures on both NASA’s and the contractor’s side. For example, the controllers knew the probe was off-course a full six days ahead of time but failed to follow procedures and did nothing. It was decided for political reasons that it would be best for all involved to make the contractor the scapegoat in the whole mess (so NASA would save face, and $$$, with congress). Plus, it was part of NASA’s “faster, better, cheaper” initiative, which only served to prove the adage “faster, better, cheaper: pick any two”. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062/29 "2003-06-20T19:47:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dogface \* > \*\*Yeah, and then we can also learn to salute the Great Leader every morning, too. \*\* We’re already close to that: “I pledge allegiance to the flag…” ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062/30 "2003-06-20T19:50:30Z")
I think we should set up a metric Stasi, that will ‘disappear’ anyone who uses Standard. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_chao_goes_mu/32/3191_2.png) [@The\_Chao\_Goes\_Mu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Chao_Goes_Mu)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062/31 "2003-06-20T20:07:48Z")
I still can’t figure out the barnyard measurements we use. It’s all memorization with no logic or mathematical base. In high school chemistry we were only allowed to use metric. Christ! It was so easy and conversions can be done in one’s sleep! Where’s the petition, I’ll sign it in blood. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062/32 "2003-06-20T20:23:37Z")
Were those metric $$$ or Imperial $$$? ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062/33 "2003-06-20T20:25:17Z")
(sorry – my last post was directed at **Jet Jaguar** ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2003, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062/34 "2003-06-20T20:27:38Z")
I would just like to say that as of this morning, I have now set my home’s electronic thermostat to display temperature in degrees Celsius, and have changed my bicycle’s speed/distance computer so that it reads in kilometers. Thank you, and good night. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062/35 "2003-06-21T04:20:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tracer \* > \*\*I would just like to say that as of this morning, I have now set my home’s electronic thermostat to display temperature in degrees Celsius, and have changed my bicycle’s speed/distance computer so that it reads in kilometers. > > Thank you, and good night. \*\* I bought a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke! ---
**Author:** ![Matchka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Matchka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Matchka)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062/36 "2003-06-21T04:57:57Z")
Who of us is from overseas? ---
**Author:** ![lilbtagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@lilbtagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lilbtagna)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062/37 "2003-06-21T05:57:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Grey \* > \*\*Introduction of metric rulers in classrooms. Every student gets the 30 cm (12") wooden/plastic ruler and the math books change all word problems to metric (If a train leave NYC at 7 am going 50 kmph west…). No other way than indoctrination, that’s what we did. \*\* I’m 21, and as far as I remember, all of my math and science textbooks have been written using the metric system. We also worked with meter sticks and 30cm rulers whenever they were required in class. That didn’t change all the stuff around us though, so we also had to learn how to convert between the two different systems in class. ---
**Author:** ![big\_yellow\_kingswood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@big\_yellow\_kingswood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/big_yellow_kingswood)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062/38 "2003-06-21T11:00:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Matchka \* > \*\*Who of us is from overseas? \*\* I’m not, but I think most of the rest of you are. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Melanie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Melanie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melanie)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2003, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062/39 "2003-06-21T13:23:43Z")
Originally posted by Matchka Who of us is from overseas? Overseas from where Matchka??? Reminds me of the infamous British newspaper headline “Fog across the channel - Continent cut off” ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2003, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062/40 "2003-06-22T01:02:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Equipoise \* > **I bought a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke!** On my way home last night, I picked up a tape measure calibrated in both inches and centimeters (the hardware store didn’t have any tape measures calibrated in just centimeters), and one of those digital electronic bathroom scales that had a little switch on the bottom that I flipped so that it would display my weight in kilograms. I weighed in at 112.0 kg before I went to bed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-the-u-s-be-metricized/183062.md?page=3)