# The Metric system is the tool of the devil! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 9, 2019, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256 "2019-06-09T17:26:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256/21 "2019-06-10T10:45:51Z")
> [@Encinitas](#): > > I worked on an archaeological dig once. The director wanted to use feet and inches for measurement. I urged that he switch to metric. His compromise was to excavate levels in tenths of feet! Am I correct to say Ford once used tenths of inches in its cars? I seem to recall you need special tools to work on some classic Ford cars. A Google brings up nothing much. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256/22 "2019-06-10T11:50:56Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > [This Reddit post](https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/39f8im/did_nasa_use_the_metric_system_when_we_landed_on/) suggests that NASA used both metric and Imperial units in the Apollo program; scientific data, in particular, apparently was more likely to use metric. > > The Reddit post contains a link to [another article](https://www.doneyles.com/LM/Tales.html), written by an engineer who worked on the Lunar Module Guidance Computer; he states: Thanks for that, **Kenobi** , those links were fascinating. I now have a mental picture of [that old Nazi Werner von Braun](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=876567), having been hustled back to the USA after the war, being brought before military officials to be “deprogrammed” - not of Nazism, but of SI units. Jesus. j ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256/23 "2019-06-10T13:14:41Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Sadly, I’ve encountered it before, in the form of an American lab manager who claimed that “everybody measures density in kilograms per quart!” The out-of-the-US factories had previously used either kg/l or specific gravity (identical numbers, different units); we’d all moved to specific gravity as part of a company-wide project (a tiny, tiny, tiny part of it). > > There was a moment of silence while we processed the horror of that American unit. Then the one Englishman present said “excuse me, I would like to take this response” and the rest of us agreed. It’s a pity it was before telephone cameras, because damn that was one of the most beautiful rants I’ve ever witnessed. I have to ask: did your English colleague address the additional layer of complication caused by the fact that [a US quart is not the same as an Imperial quart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quart)? (In the days before you could instantly resolve such questions by googling them on your phone, I once had an absurd cyclical argument with a US friend about gallons which were not the same as gallons because the pints they were made up of were not the same as pints because…) j ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256/24 "2019-06-10T14:04:47Z")
Surely that is satire. No one is that dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256/25 "2019-06-10T14:09:17Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > The [global tyranny of the metric system](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cPeZLCVWTw) rears its head on Tucker Carlson tonight. 🙂 Thanks for that; it really got my day started well. I’ll be sharing that with friends & family all day. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256/26 "2019-06-10T14:15:17Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Generally, I find that YouTube comments are some of the most moronic on the web, but the comments on that video are spot-on. The video is from Buffy Browncoat, not from FoxNews. Their big argument for “customary” units is that a third of a foot is 4 inches — nice and simple. I think a reason that anti-Metricism hasn’t caught on among FoxPotatoes is that many of them couldn’t correctly answer “How many inches in a third of a foot?” anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256/27 "2019-06-10T14:20:56Z")
Go ask one of those guys if a century is metric. 😉 How about Top Ten lists? :dubious:😃 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256/28 "2019-06-10T14:25:26Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > A mile is a thousand paces @ 5’ each. I wonder if anyone has the legs for a 5’ stride. Easy, if you’re wearing your 7-league boots. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256/29 "2019-06-10T14:31:46Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Easy, if you’re wearing your 7-league boots. 😉 Unfathomable. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256/30 "2019-06-10T14:38:29Z")
Just FYI, the metric system has been “the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce” pursuant to federal law since 1975. It’s just not mandatory. As for the OP, it would be nice to get a summary or description of the linked video. I’m not watching a second of Tucker Carlson on the off chance that I might find something amusing. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256/31 "2019-06-10T14:43:45Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > Some gems:[ul] > [li]Tucker correctly pronouncing Buenos Aires, Lusaka, Esperanto, and Criterion but faking ignorance of Kilometer.[/li][/ul] He even threw in a gratuitous reference to Robespierre (which he also pronounced correctly). ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256/32 "2019-06-10T14:47:32Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Just FYI, the metric system has been “the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce” pursuant to federal law since 1975. It’s just not mandatory. > > As for the OP, it would be nice to get a summary or description of the linked video. I’m not watching a second of Tucker Carlson on the off chance that I might find something amusing. The OP is a summary of the linked video: it’s Tucker Carlson & a guest talking about how the metric system is a tyranny imposed by liberals even tho feet and inches are way better because people have limbs. The guest seems to be making it his personal crusade and Carlson is sympathetic. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256/33 "2019-06-10T14:56:50Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > The OP is a summary of the linked video: it’s Tucker Carlson & a guest talking about how the metric system is a tyranny imposed by liberals even tho feet and inches are way better because people have limbs. The guest seems to be making it his personal crusade and Carlson is sympathetic. That’s far more information than the OP offers. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256/34 "2019-06-10T15:47:22Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > I have to ask: did your English colleague address the additional layer of complication caused by the fact that [a US quart is not the same as an Imperial quart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quart)? He did. He also addressed volume ounces vs. weight ounces and referred to the Americans as “you Colonials”, with a tone where the font used in a comic book would have had a name along the lines of Drippy Corrosive Poison. We were surprised he didn’t leave smoking holes in the floor. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256/35 "2019-06-10T16:13:06Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > Here’s a little something that may amuse you, if you haven’t seen it before - the US’s resistance to the metric system has some odd effects. Some animal health products are sold as high concentration premixes for addition to animal feed (hey - ever tried to get a pig to take a tablet?). OK, so how do you get around dosing in grams when you’re talking to a farmer? > > Simple. [Like this.](https://vetlabel.com/lib/vet/meds/tylan-100/) > > Makes designing a rocket in foot-poundals seem logical. > > j I don’t know about animal health products, but you get a somewhat similar thing with children’s medicines, too. Dosing is given in metric (mL), based on weight in US customary units. It actually never occurred to me that it’s odd to mix units like that, because I’m used to medicines being dispensed in metric weight and volume units, but most people only know their weights in US customary units. I’m all for standardizing in metric, but it really isn’t that hard to reconcile the two in situations like these. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256/36 "2019-06-10T16:19:45Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Go ask one of those guys if a century is metric. Well, as a cyclist, we have both centuries (the default is metric) and Imperial centuries (so named). ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256/37 "2019-06-10T16:42:50Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > A mile is a thousand paces @ 5’ each. I wonder if anyone has the legs for a 5’ stride. My pace per chain is 14 which works out 4.7 feet but I measure mine on uneven terrain which is more realistic but probably shortens it a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256/38 "2019-06-10T16:53:40Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I don’t know about animal health products, but you get a somewhat similar thing with children’s medicines, too. Dosing is given in metric (mL), based on weight in US customary units. It actually never occurred to me that it’s odd to mix units like that, because I’m used to medicines being dispensed in metric weight and volume units, but most people only know their weights in US customary units. I’m all for standardizing in metric, but it really isn’t that hard to reconcile the two in situations like these. I take your point, but the two situations are not quite the same. Measuring a child in pounds and then dosing is mL based on the weight is one thing\*; actually making a medicine and expressing the strength in grams per pound - to make to a final concentration of grams per gallon or ton - is that not weird? A medicine - one of those high tech, highly regulated things? Anyways, if that doesn’t do it for you, **Nava’s** stories should. j - - and you created a moment of self doubt for me as to whether in Britain, with one foot still entrenched in Imperial, we do the same; but seemingly not, eg: [https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/4005/smpc#POSOLOGY](https://www.medicines.org.uk/emc/product/4005/smpc#POSOLOGY) ---
**Author:** ![gregorio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@gregorio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gregorio)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256/39 "2019-06-10T17:27:00Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > Well, as a cyclist, we have both centuries (the default is metric) and Imperial centuries (so named). Really? In everything I’ve read or heard it is the other way around. There is a century (160.93 km) and a metric century (100 km). Here’s a link to a very common topic amongst popular cycling rags: > **[Your 8-Week Century Ride Training Plan](https://www.bicycling.com/training/a20026691/eight-week-training-plan-to-ride-a-century/)** > > This three-day-a-week program will help you conquer 100 miles without dedicating all your time to it. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2019, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256/40 "2019-06-10T17:47:36Z")
> [@gregorio](#): > > Really? In everything I’ve read or heard it is the other way around. There is a century (160.93 km) and a metric century (100 km). > > Here’s a link to a very common topic amongst popular cycling rags: > > [Century Ride Training Plan: 8 Weeks to Ride a Century](https://www.bicycling.com/training/a20026691/eight-week-training-plan-to-ride-a-century/) This matches my experience. I did a “Summer Century” ride here in the PNW earlier this month and it was 100 miles. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-metric-system-is-the-tool-of-the-devil/835256.md?page=3)