# How do you feel about converting to the Metric system? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 23, 2023, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666 "2023-01-23T15:52:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666/161 "2023-01-24T14:15:08Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Horsepower helps us decide what size engine we need to replace our horses It really doesn’t. James Watt based his figures around heavy draft horses working heavy loads. So 1 horsepower is actually more than the average power you could expect from something like a Thoroughbred (though less than the peak power you could expect from the same). This particular unit is actually a particularly bad example of a ‘practical unit that real humans actually use’ since ‘replacing a horse’ depends on the use to which you put the horse. For pulling a carriage or horse racing, it’s not a great measure. For pulling a load of coal out of a mine, it’s not too bad. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666/162 "2023-01-24T14:17:32Z")
> [@Mallard](#): > > like “twenty-five cents” Definitely old-fashioned, imperial units thinking! Next you’ll be talking in shillings and 6 pence. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666/163 "2023-01-24T14:33:24Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > For pulling a carriage or horse racing, it’s not a great measure. For pulling a load of coal out of a mine, it’s not too bad. I don’t see this one as an either/ore. [ETA: at least, not furlong] Yeah. I’m done ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666/164 "2023-01-24T14:58:55Z")
> [@Mallard](#): > > If a place is 125 klms away, that means an hour and a quarter, Both speed units work well I must admit, With hiking the metric system does work a bit better as 1 km is about 15 minutes, and 15 minutes is a handy time ‘unit’ to use while walking, and it is motivational as the km’s go down quicker than miles do. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666/165 "2023-01-24T15:43:32Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > But soon enough, the other two countries using English traditional measures, Liberia and Myanmar, will have officially switched over and Ameican can be more proud of our exceptionalism. I’m wondering if this is case already. I know Myanmar is a very isolated country and has been for the past 30 or so years, but surely Liberia would’ve picked up metric as it is a small country **surrounded** by others who use that system. The central authorizing force of the federal government couldn’t be so powerful as to halt the Liberian population from functionally NEEDING to switch to metric out of sheer osmosis. A quick youtube search and I find out that, yes. [In one lovely video of a Liberian supermarket](https://youtu.be/MLjwlbd1TNM?t=1610), all goods (from fresh produce, to locally grown rice, to small consumer goods) are labeled in grams, kilograms, and litres. I’d be interested if gas/petrol is metric too. I’ll add that in Canada (who officially switched to metric over 50 years ago) you’d most likely need to measure/buy your fresh produce by the lbs (with grams being reserved for manufactured consumables). ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666/166 "2023-01-24T16:10:12Z")
I moved to Canada from the US almost four years ago, so I’ve been forced to adapt. I’ve been in the game industry for a long time now, and we pretty exclusively use meters in the various editors we use, so that hasn’t been a big change for me. I still have to mentally calculate what Centigrade temperatures should feel like, but I’m getting there- 0c is where water freezes, 22c is comfortable, -40c is the same as -40f. Everything else requires a bit of thought. Vehicle speeds are a bit of a challenge, but not too bad. My car is still American and analog, so while it’s got KPH on the dial, it’s a lot harder to read than MPH. No tickets yet, though. Liters vs Gallons- I only deal with these at the gas pump, and I honestly don’t want to know what 1.29CA/Liter works out to USD/Gallon. I did the math once, and it just depressed me. Luckily, I rarely drive anymore. Weight and height? I still struggle with both of these. Ask me how much I weigh and how tall I am, and I have to look it up every time. I can understand meters, but remembering how tall I am in centimeters, or how much I weigh in kilograms is difficult. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666/167 "2023-01-24T16:32:09Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > I’m wondering if this is case already. I know Myanmar is a very isolated country and has been for the past 30 or so years, but surely Liberia would’ve picked up metric as it is a small country **surrounded** by others who use that system. Both Liberia and Myanmar use both metric and the old (US and UK, respectively) systems to some degree. The people are generally familiar with both and use of metric isn’t really an issue for them. It’s just that they haven’t made metric the ‘official’ standard. They’re both basically at the point where an official switch to metric, at least to the level adopted by Canada or the UK, would not cause too many issues. It’s really the US as the only major outlier. Those other two have already effectively adopted metric in practice, if not legally. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666/168 "2023-01-24T16:33:21Z")
I like the idea for weight and volume. Not so much for length and temperature. Part of that is that the imperial units for volume and weight are so convoluted. Liquid ounces, fluid ounces, troy and avoirdupois, teaspoons and tablespoons, cups and pints, cubic feet / yards / miles, tons of various sorts, etc. The conversions are also relatively easy to do in my head. Dividing pounds by 2.2 is easy enough and the conversion factor is easy to remember. Same with the rough conversion of one cup to 250 ml, one pint to 500 ml and so on. Distance and temperature are trickier, and IMHO less urgent to change over. Yes, one meter is a little longer than one yard, but unless I’m watching football, I’m probably using inches, feet, or miles and miles per hour, not yards, and those get tricker to convert, especially miles to km and MPH to KPH. With temperature there’s only one degree Fahrenheit, no huge mishmash of various units, so there’s less incentive to change to Celsius. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666/169 "2023-01-24T16:55:17Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > It’s just that they haven’t made metric the ‘official’ standard. Whereas (and I just learned this), SI (the metric system) has been “the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce” since the passage of the [Metric Conversion Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_Conversion_Act) in 1975. But, note, obviously, that it’s stated as “preferred,” not “official,” and even when that bill was signed into law, President Ford noted that conversion would be voluntary. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666/170 "2023-01-24T17:54:07Z")
The point above about diversity vs conformity is important, I think. I really appreciate diversity for its own sake. I don’t want universal bland globalism. So I have trouble articulating why I’m in favour of one universal metric system when I don’t want universal sameness anywhere else. I also really like the fun and archaic measurements of rods and furlongs and yards. I guess because it’s so closely tied to math, which is inherently universal. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666/171 "2023-01-24T18:35:51Z")
I am 100%, absolutely, unambiguously for it. It will not happen in my lifetime. When conservatives believe that it’s inherently evil because it has origins in the French Revolution (which I guess was anti-Christian in some way?), then I believe the barrier towards acceptance is too high. Really, the government just needs to get off of its ass and do it, the public sector will have no choice to follow. Convert existing laws and regulations according to metric, write new laws and regulations in metric, replace highway signs with metric, and so on, and eventually we’ll get there. May take a generation but we’ll get there. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666/172 "2023-01-24T18:51:17Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Really, the government just needs to get off of its ass and do it, the public sector will have no choice to follow. The reason why this hasn’t happened (and is very unlikely to happen) is that there’s very little upside, from a political standpoint, to doing so. [This CNN article](https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/12/politics/america-metric-system/index.html) quotes a 2016 survey that says only 32% of Americans want to switch to metric, which is by no means a popular mandate. And, as has already been discussed, there’s a not-insignificant number of Americans who are _strongly_ opposed to it. If Congress were to take up the matter, Congresspersons who support the measure will be lobbied hard, by metric opponents, to not do so – and if they continue their support, it’d become an issue in their next election. I suspect that relatively few Americans are as rabidly in favor of the metric system, compared to those who are rabidly opposed to it. [https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/12/politics/america-metric-system/index.html](https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/12/politics/america-metric-system/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666/173 "2023-01-24T19:09:36Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Not just filing cabinets, but everything else that’s currently sized specifically for American letter-size (8 1/2" x 11") or legal-size (8 1/2" x 14") paper: folders, envelopes, printers and copiers, etc. Why would it need to be? The Philippines does fine with mostly metric and 8.5x11". Big parts of Latin America too apparently. Paper makers can deal, the rest of us it doesn’t matter so much. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666/174 "2023-01-24T19:12:17Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > origins in the French Revolution (which I guess was anti-Christian in some way?) Well: contemporary politics aside, yes the French Revolution was staunchly anti-Christian in a way that might make your average communist think they were going too far. First state atheism, then a state deist cult. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666/175 "2023-01-24T19:13:35Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > The Philippines does fine with mostly metric and 8.5x11". Big parts of Latin America too apparently. The poster I was replying to had wondered why the U.S. didn’t just switch to A4 paper, saying that they thought that changing filing cabinets would be the biggest issue; I was pointing out that a change in the standard size for printer paper would also require changes in other things that “interact” with that paper size. But, you’re right, switching to metric would not necessarily mean switching to A4 paper, too. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666/176 "2023-01-24T19:13:49Z")
That’s why I’m ambivalent about a mass changeover. Where it matters, things are already metric, and where it doesn’t, well it doesn’t matter. 200 miles or I mean what does it matter if I drive to visit my in laws at 75 mph or 121 kph? Or if I drive 321 km? Or if I buy deli meat in fractions of a pound, grams, fractions of a kilo, or in something else like the Italian ‘etto’ (100 g)? Most things are already dual labeled, with some even having the metric measurement as the primary one (i.e. It’s the round-numbered one, say 530 ml, and the US measurement is something odd like ‘17. 9 oz’). I can’t get wound up about it. Most people 50 or younger have basic familiarity, so even if something foreign is labeled in metric, it’s not particularly confusing. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666/177 "2023-01-24T19:17:15Z")
I remember spending a lot of time in elementary school learning this stuff. Deka-, Hecto-, Deci- everything, along with the more commonly used prefixes. My teachers told us that everything would be Metric by the time we were in college, if not sooner. How do I feel about converting? I’d feel like I hadn’t wasted a lot of time back in fourth-sixth grades, that’s how. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666/178 "2023-01-24T19:44:25Z")
Um, yeah, that’s why I said it could be taken as a joke. No one at the time seriously thought American football would’ve been converted to meters. At the same time, it was an argument (at the time) against converting. American tradition, and all that. Call it pre-emptive seriousness, or maybe a meta-joke. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666/179 "2023-01-24T20:42:45Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > I am an American who transplanted to Europe several years ago. > > Metric was an adjustment, but not too bad. It’s clearly a superior system. > > Temperature was the hardest mental switch, as noted several times in the thread. I eventually had to brute-force memorize some key ranges, and I still consciously think about it. 5-10 is coat weather. 20-25 is nice. 30-35 is hot. 40 is fuck you I’m going inside. 😃 > > Distance and weight, though, easy peasy. Also an American who transplanted to Europe many years ago. However, I have no problem with temperature. I no longer have any idea which coat matches 53 F, for example. Weights and distances are also no problem. Just don’t ask how tall I am. I can never remember. (167 cm - I just looked it up) ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666/180 "2023-01-24T20:48:10Z")
Which metric ya gonna go with, though? SI? cgi? MKS? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-converting-to-the-metric-system/978666.md?page=10)