# How do you feel about the metric system? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 19, 2015, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115 "2015-02-19T19:08:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Wednesday\_Evening](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Wednesday\_Evening](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wednesday_Evening)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/101 "2015-02-20T20:05:44Z")
Structural engineer in the US here. I hate US units. Try adding 2’-9 7/16" to 4’-10 3/8". Gah. Not to mention that a lot of structural properties are in in^3 or in^4, so you have to multiply by 1728 or 20736 to get the units to come out right. Annoying and more chance for error. There are just so many stupid conversion factors in US units. **RTFirefly** covered many of them. Then there is the pound-mass vs. the pound-force. Could that be any more confusing? I didn’t do earthquake calcs very often, so every time I did I had a moment of panic thinking I had used force instead of mass and had missed a conversion factor. For a while back in the 90s at least, building projects for the US government had to be done in hard metric. We even did the calcs in metric. It was great. I once overheard someone saying, “If 1 inch equaled 25mm instead of 25.4 mm, the US would have converted to metric long ago.” ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/102 "2015-02-20T20:10:09Z")
Everyone keeps mentioning how 100°C is outside everyday experience. That’s not what drove the conversion to metric. What drove the conversion was precision and ease of use for _technical_ applications. 0°C and 100°C are relevant to me every day at work (chemical plant). You’re unlikely to walk outside and find it’s a 100°C day, but I’ve got reactions at work where bad things happen if they’re boiling, so having a quickly-recognizable number as the boiling point is a significant advantage. > [@iljitsch](#): > > Since you ask… It’s an insane system. If you’re flying somewhere, do you even know if the airplane progress thingy is in nautical miles or “land” miles? (Or US survey miles.) Or tons. For various products we buy or produce, I have to deal with long tons, short tons, or metric tons. All different, yet no one refers to any as other than “ton”. And then there’s an occasional need to deal with ship tonnage, just to add to the fun. ---
**Author:** ![Weeping\_Wyvern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@Weeping\_Wyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weeping_Wyvern)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/103 "2015-02-20T20:44:53Z")
I think the metric system is wonderful for scientific and technical purposes, but horrible for everyday life. Feet are very useful for visualizing height. Short people are 5, tall people are 6, and most people are somewhere in the middle. But not many people are shorter than 1 meter or taller than 2 meters. Likewise, Fahrenheit degrees are very useful for the temperatures we might actually encounter. 100 is a hot day, 75 is a warm day, 50 is a cool day, 25 is a cold day, and 0 is a very cold day. It stretches out very nicely along the 0 to 100 range. When we have to add a third digit, or subtract the second digit, we have a powerful reminder that we are experiencing extreme weather. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/104 "2015-02-20T21:16:39Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > I don’t understand the notion that using a minus sign is an imposition. To my mind, having a minus sign in play works just fine - when “it’s freezing out” it is, indeed, worthy of a minus sign in front of the temp number. I won’t argue that; the problem is the scale itself. -15 to +38 or thereabouts is a pretty silly range of temperatures to encounter, compared to 0 to 100. Now if you had degrees that were approximately 2/3 of the size of Fahrenheit degrees, and 0 was freezing in a scale where the normal temp range went from -50 to 100, then sure, have freezing=0 - but we’re never going to get a combo like that. So the actual choice is between a natural range, but freezing=32, or freezing=0 in a silly scale. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/105 "2015-02-20T21:20:36Z")
> [@Lightray](#): > > Everyone keeps mentioning how 100°C is outside everyday experience. That’s not what drove the conversion to metric. What drove the conversion was precision and ease of use for _technical_ applications. > > 0°C and 100°C are relevant to me every day at work (chemical plant). You’re unlikely to walk outside and find it’s a 100°C day, but I’ve got reactions at work where bad things happen if they’re boiling, so having a quickly-recognizable number as the boiling point is a significant advantage. Sure, Celsius is excellent for technical applications. I’m with you there. But if us non-technical types used metric measurements - liters, kilograms, centimeters, etc. - in our everyday lives, but kept using the Fahrenheit temperature scale, would that clash in any meaningful way? If so, how? ---
**Author:** ![oft\_wears\_hats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7993a0/32.png) [@oft\_wears\_hats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oft_wears_hats)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/106 "2015-02-20T21:22:12Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t most serious manufacturing and science already done in SI units? > > I mean, I seriously doubt that Boeing or Lockheed is still using 5/32 wrenches to put together the 787 or F/A-18E, just like most US auto manufacturers are pretty much metricated as well. And I know that various science departments have long used SI units- well before I went to college in 1991. > > A lot of manufactured products are already in metric increments, or could very easily be converted by adding a tad more or less to the bottle and changing the label. For example, my contact rewetting drops are 0.27 oz / 9ml, and my hand sanitizer is 10 oz /295 ml. They could easily add 5 ml to the bottle and just call it 10.1 oz without any major changes. We have 2 liter bottles, 355ml cans (which could easily be 350 ml cans if we chose), 16.9/500ml bottles, and so on, and so forth. Not speaking for any particular company, but you’re wrong. IME, both imperial and metric are used. In fact, 5/16 is extremely common because it’s the size of an [SMA connector](http://www.pasternack.com/images/ProductPDF/PE4005.pdf), a very common type of RF connector. Take a look at the third page of the linked document. There’s no standard for which system to use for length, though Celsius and other SI units tend to dominate other measurements. Also, mils (thousands of an inch) are a very common unit of measure with PCB fabrication. Thank goodness they went with that instead of continuing the idiotic imperial trend and going for a blar that was equal to 3 thousands of an inch or something. Anyway, I agree that Fahrenheit is better for everyday temperature usage, and feet are perhaps a bit more intuitive than meters for measuring people, but I still prefer the metric system because of its easy conversions. I try to use it when I can but since I learned imperial first, it’s harder to visualize. ---
**Author:** ![Mogle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mogle/32/12021_2.png) [@Mogle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mogle)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/107 "2015-02-20T21:37:41Z")
> [@Weeping\_Wyvern](#): > > I think the metric system is wonderful for scientific and technical purposes, but horrible for everyday life. Only because you’re used it, speaking as someone living a country that’s been metric since the 19th century I can assure you that metric perfectly fine for everyday life. So far in this thread I have not seen a single argument in favour of Imperial units that doesn’t essentially amount to ‘Because I’m used to it’. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/108 "2015-02-20T22:24:17Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > America doesn’t have an ounce of sense. > > > [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > > > Is that liquid or weight? 🙂 (another advantage of the metric system) U.S. liquid, Imperial liquid, troy or avoirdupois? > [@Declan](#): > > At the auto show in Toronto last weekend, the presenter for one of the new ford models was extolling the features and came to the milage that the car was supposed to get. Liters-per-100-kilometers, which tells me nothing personally, she then gave the MPG equivalent. Why her script did not just drop metric alltogether, is mystifying. > > Delcan Even then the mpg figure probably was in U.S. gallons. My car’s dashboard readings are metric by default (Canada), but when I punch a button the speedometer switches to miles per hour. Fuel consumption, instant and average, also switches from litres per 100 kilometres to miles per U.S. gallon, which mean less to me than the metric. This is significant. It’s the difference, for example, between 35 mpg U.S. and 42 mpg Imperial. So if I want to know the _real_ mpg figure from the metric, not the ersatz U.S. mpg, I have to use an old-school piece of paper with the equivalents that I printed from the net. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2015, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/109 "2015-02-20T22:38:56Z")
Speaking as someone who grew up with the metric system, Fahrenheit seems unimaginably stupid. In my world, 0 is freezing, 100 is boiling. If a temperature is minus-something, then it’s really, really cold. If it’s in the 20s, it’s a nice day. If it’s in the 30s, it’s a hot day. If it’s in the 40s, it’s an excessively hot day. I live my life in the temperature range 0-45 degrees. My kid is fine at 37 degrees, running a slight fever at 38 degrees, running a high fever at 39 degrees, and we’re off to the doctor at 40. My electronic thermometer gives the temperature to one decimal place, which helps pinpoint it more accurately but isn’t like it’s an onerous burden to deal with a decimal point and a digit. I think the Celsius scale is far more sensible than the insane Fahrenheit scale, but I’m not an idiot; I know that’s just because it’s what I’m used to. But where other imperial measurements have been retained through habit (I’m 5’4, the baby was 7lb 4oz, I asked the hairdresser to cut an inch off), the people around me have entirely dropped Fahrenheit and talk Celsius (unless invoking old phrases like " It was a hundred in the shade", but if you asked them “How hot did it get?”, they’d probably answer with the exact degrees C, not F). If you’re thinking that Fahrenheit is superior because you can’t imagine using Celsius in real life applications, just keep in mind that there are plenty of people who feel the same way about Celsius vs Fahrenheit. It’s what you’re used to. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/110 "2015-02-21T00:35:56Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > Speaking as someone who grew up with the metric system, Fahrenheit seems unimaginably stupid. In my world, 0 is freezing, 100 is boiling. So you never leave sea level? ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/111 "2015-02-21T01:11:38Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > So you never leave sea level? What temperature scale, err, scales with altitude? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/112 "2015-02-21T01:25:36Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > What temperature scale, err, scales with altitude? None do. But the boiling point of water is only (approximately) 100 C at sea level. If I lived on a hill near Denver, I’d claim that the boiling point of water is a nice even 200 F, while in Celsius it’s a weird 94 degrees. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/113 "2015-02-21T02:31:00Z")
What’s the freezing point of water in Denver? 0 and 100 are close enough for everyday life, which is what most of the Fahrenheit supporter are going on about. ---
**Author:** ![Loch\_Raven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Loch\_Raven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loch_Raven)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/114 "2015-02-21T02:32:39Z")
> [@mind\_the\_gap](#): > > I’ve noticed a couple of replies by machinists. CNC machines (Computer Numerical Controlled) convert from inch to metric at the flip of a switch. Digital measuring tools do the same. As far as older Vernier dial tools, I’ve gotten used to the rough measureament of 25mm as being equal to 1 inch. That’s close enough for estimation and the rest of the time conversion is easy. As far as doing work to metric prints, no biggie. Most machinists I’ve worked with over the last 40 years are at home with either system. > As far as common usage, I’d have to agree with the sentiment that you use what you grew up with. > I do like the idea of measuring my weight in stones though…😃 I understand what you’re saying, but you’re talking about shops and guys with the latest equipment and overseas customers…which is not the reality I’ve experienced in my 14 years in the trade. Working at small shops, you’re working with older machines, and your guys will have non-digital tools, and you’ll be doing work almost exclusively for either yourself or a US customer. Then, too, normal tolerances are +/- .005 from nominal, and you’re going to need a standard-unit mic if you’re going for that or less–a vernier just isn’t going to be accurate enough. You can convert between standard and metric if need be, but on the ground you’re going to be more at ease with the units you grew up with. If the US were to go metric, there would be so much backlog of stuff that would have to be redone, we’d never live to see the end of it. Plus, in small shops, a lot of in-house prints would never get redone because who has the time–we would still be in a dual-system world, only then we’d have to shell out twice the bucks to buy new tools, one in metric, the other in standard. But then, I’m old, I hate change…hey, get off my lawn… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/115 "2015-02-21T02:45:34Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > 0 and 100 are close enough for everyday life Again, it depends on where you are. Not that many recipes state this explicitly, but “boil an egg for 3.5 minutes” really means “cook an egg in 100 C water for 3.5 minutes”. If the boiling water is really 94 C, the cook time needs to be adjusted accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/116 "2015-02-21T03:18:47Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > So you never leave sea level? Sorry, you don’t get to nitpick the change in boiling point due to lower atmospheric pressure in the same thread where people have been saying in all seriousness that “0F is about as cold as it gets in populated areas.” As soon as that ridiculous old saw is on the table any approximation is perfectly acceptable. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/117 "2015-02-21T03:39:44Z")
> [@Gorsnak](#): > > Sorry, you don’t get to nitpick the change in boiling point due to lower atmospheric pressure in the same thread where people have been saying in all seriousness that “0F is about as cold as it gets in populated areas.” As soon as that ridiculous old saw is on the table any approximation is perfectly acceptable. No place that reaches 0 C, let alone 0 F, is fit for human habitation. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/118 "2015-02-21T03:43:19Z")
I use the metric system daily in my lab and it’s very easy for me. I would struggle measuring liquids in cups or measuring distance in feet in the lab. As soon as I leave my lab my brain automatically switches to the US system and I be hard pressed to tell how you how many kilometers it is to home etc. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/119 "2015-02-21T04:46:19Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t most serious manufacturing and science already done in SI units? > > I mean, I seriously doubt that Boeing or Lockheed is still using 5/32 wrenches to put together the 787 or F/A-18E, just like most US auto manufacturers are pretty much metricated as well. Which reminds me that metrification doesn’t solve everything. In 2004, the Airbus 380 was delayed 3 months because the wiring loom didn’t fit the chasis. All metric, all CAD, different binary representations. > [@Chronos](#): > > The usual complaint against the metric system is that people who grew up with the customary system don’t understand it. This is true. But what the complaintants don’t mention is that those people don’t understand the customary system, either. rough a specification. Far, far better to just use a system that was designed to be coherent, and is consistent throughout the world, and if the conversion between different size scales is also made easier by doing so, so much the better. What those people don’t understand is that, in places where the metric system is now the customary system, people who grew up with it don’t understand it. In particular, you CANNOT depend on people being able to convert between differrent size scales, which is why engineering measurements are done in mm, regardless of size. That ship out in the slips? 1200000 mm long as shown on the engineering specifications. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2015, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/120 "2015-02-21T05:03:23Z")
> [@Eliahna](#): > > Fahrenheit seems unimaginably stupid. Fahrenheit isn’t stupid, but the idea we can’t make the same judgements as you enumerated using Celsius (and cm, kgs, km/h etc.) is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115.md?page=7)