# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/141 "2015-02-22T17:26:43Z")
I’m another machinist, at 45 years old I think in fractions of an inch and in thous. My shop has 7 manual lathes, I’ve heard of those CNC thingies kids use today… I do have one metric dial caliper. i’d survive a switch but one bitch and moan the whole time. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/142 "2015-02-22T20:25:44Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Fahrenheit temperature ranges are straightforward enough. Above 100 tends to be hazardous; above 85 is just plain hot; 65-75 is livingroom temperature; 45-55 is a bit chilly; below 45 is cold; 20 is unpleasantly cold; and around 5~0°F is where your snot starts to crystallize. I think that is a very practical value. At -5°C, exposed mucus membranes tend to be a non-issue, I find the F reference point far more useful. > > (Adjustments for humidity and wind throw any scale off.) This is really baffling. How can you say that 70F room temperature is more “useful” than 20C as room temperature? It’s just what you’re used to! Aargh! I would like to hear more how apparently it’s obvious to DrDeth that metric was constructed in a way to mess with the British. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/143 "2015-02-22T22:42:18Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > This is really baffling. How can you say that 70F room temperature is more “useful” than 20C as room temperature? It’s just what you’re used to! Aargh! > > I would like to hear more how apparently it’s obvious to DrDeth that metric was constructed in a way to mess with the British. Why is a meter 39inches rather than 36 inches long? It was during the fucking French revolution, and many crazy things were done. The meter could have been a yard- why not? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/144 "2015-02-22T22:48:17Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > This is really baffling. How can you say that 70F room temperature is more “useful” than 20C as room temperature? It’s just what you’re used to! Aargh! How can you say that -7°C is more useful than 20°F? I fail to understand. Twenty is cold, put on a good coat. Zero is brutal, layer up and use a balaclava. When you get into winter territory, centigrade definitely loses its advantage. arg. ---
**Author:** ![funky\_little\_lee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@funky\_little\_lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/funky_little_lee)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/145 "2015-02-22T23:05:10Z")
I don’t think anyone has mentioned something I once heard a carpenter say, which is that a plus of the English system is that things can be divided in many ways, rather than just by 10, 5, and 2. For instance, a yard can be divided by 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, and it just makes things handier. Now again this is something I heard someone else say, and math isn’t my strong point, so it’s totally possible I’m wrong, but is there any truth to this? ---
**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 22, 2015, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/146 "2015-02-22T23:07:14Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Why is a meter 39inches rather than 36 inches long? It was during the fucking French revolution, and many crazy things were done. The meter could have been a yard- why not? Because 1 yard is not 1 ten-millionth of the distance between the Equator and the North Pole, duh. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2015, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/147 "2015-02-22T23:56:07Z")
> [@Didactylos](#): > > I wonder if imperial units could have been the worldwide standard (shudder) if they had been quicker on the uptake in that regard. I’m pretty sure the Royal Navy had standardized internally long before 1824. The English agreed to use the French measurement system, and the French agreed to use the English Meridians It was a commercial agreement, just like the decision to use “British Standard Pipe” as the “metric” measurement for pipe threads. Like many commercial agreements, fullfillment was slow because it was not guaranteed by enforceable penalties. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/148 "2015-02-23T00:43:52Z")
> [@Mogle](#): > > Because 1 yard is not 1 ten-millionth of the distance between the Equator and the North Pole, duh. Neither is a meter. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/149 "2015-02-23T00:55:30Z")
> [@AnaMen](#): > > … as an American, I have a native proficiency with our system of weights and measures that I could never develop with the metric system. Do we owe it to America’s future children to change over so they do not have this handicap while us old folks must stumble along as best we can for the remainder of our days? If only there were other civilisations, in parallel dimensions perhaps, that had foolishly changed from customary units to metric at some point. The chaos and devastation it caused to their elders would surely prove a terrible and irrefutable warning against ever trying it on this Earth. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/150 "2015-02-23T01:02:02Z")
> [@Weeping\_Wyvern](#): > > 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. Height is measured in centimetres, not metres. An average human is somewhere around 170cm tall. Nobody measures height in yards either. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/151 "2015-02-23T01:02:35Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > How can you say that -7°C is more useful than 20°F? I fail to understand. You fail to understand because I DIDN’T say it was more useful. Arg. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/152 "2015-02-23T01:54:58Z")
> [@funky\_little\_lee](#): > > I don’t think anyone has mentioned something I once heard a carpenter say, which is that a plus of the English system is that things can be divided in many ways, rather than just by 10, 5, and 2. For instance, a yard can be divided by 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, and it just makes things handier. > > Now again this is something I heard someone else say, and math isn’t my strong point, so it’s totally possible I’m wrong, but is there any truth to this? 1000mm /2= 500mm /4= 250mm /5= 200mm /8= 125mm /10= 100mm /20= 50mm Subtract 1mm 999/3= 333mm /9= 111mm What’s your point? Trust me when I tell you that once you start laying projects out in metric you will wonder why the fuck you ever thought feet/inches/fractions was a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/153 "2015-02-23T02:08:58Z")
I’m just grateful every day of my life that I get to calculate medications in grams, milligrams and micrograms. Not grains. And no fluid ounces either, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![BaldDudePeekskill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5e925/32.png) [@BaldDudePeekskill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaldDudePeekskill)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/154 "2015-02-23T02:30:25Z")
I’ve been searching for an affordable metric tape measure for household projects. I like the precision of millimeters. My house so so old and un-plumb that every wall, floor, etc, is off 1/8’ to 7/8 of inch…measuring in mm allows for more precision and less base 64 calculations ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/155 "2015-02-23T02:40:41Z")
I’m exposed to it more than most Americans since Thailand is metric. But despite my decades here, I still find myself having to do a quick mental conversion into miles, pounds or Fahrenheit for a number to mean as much to me as it should. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/156 "2015-02-23T02:46:59Z")
> [@BaldDude](#): > > I’ve been searching for an affordable metric tape measure for household projects. I like the precision of millimeters. My house so so old and un-plumb that every wall, floor, etc, is off 1/8’ to 7/8 of inch…measuring in mm allows for more precision and less base 64 calculations Try searching metric tape measure at Amazon. They have them from about $5.50 up ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/157 "2015-02-23T03:12:07Z")
OK, suppose that the French did decide to make a meter equal to a yard. Which yard? There were multiple units by that name. There were multiple units by _every_ name. Metric wasn’t replacing one standard set of units with another. Before metric, there was no standard. For an example closer to home, back in 2003 I went on a trip to Ireland. All of the B&Bs we stayed in had wonderful brown bread at breakfasttime. One of them had flyers available with the recipe on them-- Great, now I’ll be able to make that wonderful bread myself, at home! Except I can’t, because (presumably in deference to all the American tourists), the recipe was in “customary” units, which makes it completely unusable to me. When the recipe says a pint of buttermilk, is that an Imperial pint? Or did the recipe-writer know that Americans use a different pint, and convert it? Maybe they knew to convert that, but left the tablespoons English instead of American, and so on. My best guesses at what the recipe meant left me with inedible bricks, and it’d take longer than I feel like investing to try every combination of interpretations. By contrast, if the recipe had been written in metric, I might need to break out the calculator to convert to the measuring tools I have in my kitchen, but I’d know exactly what was meant: There is only one unit called a gram, only one unit called a liter, and so on. ---
**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 23, 2015, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/158 "2015-02-23T03:36:17Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Out of curiosity, what properties are measured in in^4? I hadn’t realized that there were any quantities of interest with units of [length]^4, outside of relativity and theoretical math. The [Moment of Inertia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_moment_of_area) of a shape, I, (also known as the second moment of area), is in in^4. It is widely used in structural calcs. The polar moment of interia, J, is also in in^4, but is mostly only needed for torsional calcs and we try to avoid torsional calcs as much as possible because they are a pain in the ass. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/159 "2015-02-23T04:24:41Z")
> [@BaldDude](#): > > I’ve been searching for an affordable metric tape measure for household projects. I like the precision of millimeters. My house so so old and un-plumb that every wall, floor, etc, is off 1/8’ to 7/8 of inch…measuring in mm allows for more precision and less base 64 calculations you can find dual scale tapes; for example 30-456 - 8m/26’ x 1" Stanley Tape Rule (Metric/English Scale) 34-132 - 30m/100’ x 3/8" FATMAX Steel Long Tape (Metric/English Scale) 30-496 - 5m/16’ x 3/4" Stanley Tape Rule (Metric/English Scale) ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2015, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115/160 "2015-02-23T06:58:44Z")
New Zealand converted in 1969 (I think) - just a bit before my time, When my father did a big renovation job, it was 2" by 4" joists and 4’ by 8’ sheets of ply. Now you go to the hardware store it’s not labelled like that, but 25mm x 50mm and 1200mm x 2400mm is just as intuitive and easier to work with. I recently did a website offering a website offering a “convert size to weight” option (for glass) We did by sq foot, sq metre, and by custom measurement (width x height in mm) - the mm is by far the easiest calculation. My house is measure is sqm (110) so is easy to visualise - but I can also imagine sq ft relatively easily. The only thing I will say - teaching the kids the metric system is really easy, to get them to understand the difference between different sizes, how to estimate, and which is the best estimate to use is straightforward - as is moving from one to the other. To me, metric is inherently superior to imperial, not to mention - paper sizing in metric is good as well… A6, A5, A4, A3, A2 A1 A0…simple and easy… But the one thing that drives me crazy - why do they have to give fuel consumption is litres per 100km? It should be km per litre… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-feel-about-the-metric-system/713115.md?page=9)