# Metric system in the US.... what happened? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 1, 2003, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system-in-the-us-what-happened/185595 "2003-07-01T15:47:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system-in-the-us-what-happened/185595/41 "2003-07-02T12:53:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Gaspode \* > **Oh, and in Europe, gas milage is expressed as liter/100km.** Except for that part of Europe called the UK, where car speedometers and road signs are still in miles, even though petrol is purchased in liters. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system-in-the-us-what-happened/185595/42 "2003-07-02T13:28:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by clairobscur \* > \*\*Another french saying is “c’est l’hopital qui se moque de la charite” which has the same meaning that “it’s the pot calling the kettle black”. I’m sure plenty of french people wouldn’t know what the word “charite” refers to. And similarily, I’ve seen on this board people wondering about the kettle/pot/black thing, though this would have been obvious for everybody in past times when people were cooking on a fireplace, with kitchenware made of a metal which would blaken over time. It’s no longer true. Some people don’t get the reference. The sentence is still understood, though. \*\* That is a great example, and I’m sure there are many others that I can’t think of right now. But there are also many sayings which get distorted beyond recognition when the meanings of the words have been forgotten. Take these for example: “Wherefore art thou, Romeo?” – The meaning of “wherefore” as “why” has been forgotten. Juliet was asking “Romeo, why are you a Montague, from the family that my family hates?” (or something like that, English Lit was a very long time ago). But people **think** she meant “Romeo, where are you? I can’t find you!” “The exception that proves the rule” – Anyone wanna guess how often this has been discussed right on these boards, by people who don’t realize that it means “the exception that **tests** the rule”? ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system-in-the-us-what-happened/185595/43 "2003-07-02T14:59:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by asterion \* > **and seconds are defined as a number of oscillations or decays or something of some atom (Co-60?)** Eh, no. Cobalt-60 is what you get when you bombard Cobalt-59 with neutrons, and it is a radioactive isotope with a half-life of five years. (How do I know that? It’s the basis for the cobalt bomb’s fallout potential.) You’re thinking of Cesium-133. 9,192,631,770 transitions between two ultrafine states of Cs-133 is equal to one second. [Cite](http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci524077,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2003, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system-in-the-us-what-happened/185595/44 "2003-07-02T15:09:37Z")
To nitpick my own post: > [@](#): > > The second is the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium 133 atom. [Better cite from the NIST itself.](http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Units/second.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/metric-system-in-the-us-what-happened/185595.md?page=2)