# The USA and the Metric System. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 17, 2018, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usa-and-the-metric-system/824672 "2018-11-17T09:15:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usa-and-the-metric-system/824672/1 "2018-11-17T09:15:26Z")
I don’t need a cite for this one. The USA is one of only two countries in the world that hasn’t yet switched over to the metric system. The other one is some obscure country in Africa, I forget the name just now. My questions: [ol] [li]Why hasn’t the USA switched to the metric system?[/li][li]Will we _ **ever** _?[/li][li]And what are the consequences, if any, of being one of the only countries to do this and be this way?[/li][/ol] Thank you in advance for all for your responses:) :):)🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Batano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@Batano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batano)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usa-and-the-metric-system/824672/2 "2018-11-17T09:42:47Z")
1. Because the American market is big enough that American manufacturers don’t have to worry about other markets. 2. Because industry can use the metric system to manufacture products without the consumer needing to go along; e.g., I imagine that Apple’s products are designed using the metric system, even though they they are marketed in the US using inches and pounds. 3. Because Americans like the system and don’t want to change. 4. Because early attempts to change were stupid. For example, they’d say things like right field is 117.4 meters when the 385’ measurement was just rounded off. This made the metric system look complicated. 5. Becuase 'murica ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usa-and-the-metric-system/824672/3 "2018-11-17T09:42:50Z")
I think that county is supposed to be Myanmar (Asia). We already use it, both everyday (beverages) as well as in official capacity alongside US customary (scientific and government adoption, customary units expressed as conversions from metric). And many of the “metric countries” really aren’t, especially the English speaking ones. Feet and inches are common, especially describing human height. And for human weight, pounds or even the more archaic “stones.” And UK and other countries still prefer miles and pints. The standard reasons why not is it will be very expensive. And the will is not there; it doesn’t hurt that much, as long as we learn from previous mistakes > **[Mars Climate Orbiter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter)** > > The Mars Climate Orbiter (formerly the Mars Surveyor '98 Orbiter) was a robotic space probe launched by NASA on December 11, 1998, to study the Martian climate, Martian atmosphere, and surface changes and to act as the communications relay in the Mars Surveyor '98 program for Mars Polar Lander. However, on September 23, 1999, communication with the spacecraft was permanently lost as it went into orbital insertion. The spacecraft encountered Mars on a trajectory that brought it too close to the pl... ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usa-and-the-metric-system/824672/4 "2018-11-17T10:35:24Z")
[Here is a fun video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwIkExIIxiQ) on YouTube about why the US does not go metric. Near the beginning, the narrator mentions three countries which are not metric: the United States, Myanmar, and Liberia. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usa-and-the-metric-system/824672/5 "2018-11-17T13:39:57Z")
I read somewhere that the official definition of US units…is given in metric. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usa-and-the-metric-system/824672/6 "2018-11-17T14:05:07Z")
Just for - sorta - fun [Metric is Coming](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5gu_HR3yVQ) by The Four Bitchin’ Babes Because we won’t use a system designed by the French! ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usa-and-the-metric-system/824672/7 "2018-11-17T14:41:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Why hasn’t the USA switched to the metric system? Because there’s no compelling reason to do so. > [@](#): > > Will we _ **ever** _? Probably. Perhaps decades from now. It will happen slowly and organically. > [@](#): > > And what are the consequences, if any, of being one of the only countries to do this and be this way? Few, if any. It’s just not that important of an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usa-and-the-metric-system/824672/8 "2018-11-17T14:54:24Z")
> [@Batano](#): > > Because industry can use the metric system to manufacture products without the consumer needing to go along; e.g., I imagine that Apple’s products are designed using the metric system … Also Ford, GM, Chrysler. Essentially every auto mechanic in the USA has a full set of metric tools, in daily use. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usa-and-the-metric-system/824672/9 "2018-11-17T18:21:24Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > Also Ford, GM, Chrysler. Essentially every auto mechanic in the USA has a full set of metric tools, in daily use. There’s some natural law that the first socket to go missing in a socket set is the very useful 10 mm. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usa-and-the-metric-system/824672/10 "2018-11-17T18:35:11Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > There’s some natural law that the first socket to go missing in a socket set is the very useful 10 mm. For sure! I’d vote the 13mm as a close second though. ---
**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:** [November 17, 2018, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usa-and-the-metric-system/824672/11 "2018-11-17T19:20:23Z")
I use metric whenever possible. My speedometer in my car is set to kilometers. My thermostat at home is in Celsius. I have to remember to use feet instead of meters when talking elevation with people. It’s just a much simpler system than Imperial. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usa-and-the-metric-system/824672/12 "2018-11-17T19:37:07Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > I use metric whenever possible. My speedometer in my car is set to kilometers. My thermostat at home is in Celsius. I have to remember to use feet instead of meters when talking elevation with people. It’s just a much simpler system than Imperial. Nitpick of nitpicks, but it’s US customary, the US doesn’t use Imperial. They’re mostly the same but the main difference encountered is in liquid measures - US fluid ounces are 4% bigger, but more of them go into the UK larger measures (e.g. 128 US ounces of 29.57 mL per US gallon vs. 160 UK ounces of 28.41 mL per UK gallon). I am pretty used to metric, but the one I hate with a passion is Celsius. It might be better for chemistry, but for the human experience it’s not. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usa-and-the-metric-system/824672/13 "2018-11-17T19:42:59Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I am pretty used to metric, but the one I hate with a passion is Celsius. It might be better for chemistry, but for the human experience it’s not. To be fair, I’ve seen plenty of folks who only ever use Fahrenheit talk about cold temperatures in the most intuitive human-experience way possible. _“Freezing? Yeah, it’s below zero out there.”_ ---
**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:** [November 17, 2018, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usa-and-the-metric-system/824672/14 "2018-11-17T19:46:13Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > …I am pretty used to metric, but the one I hate with a passion is Celsius. It might be better for chemistry, but for the human experience it’s not. I agree. One makes up for this by using a decimal point. My aquarium temperature is 27.1C. Xema, the last toolkit I purchased for the car has sockets and wrenches in metric and English. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usa-and-the-metric-system/824672/15 "2018-11-17T21:39:36Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > … the last toolkit I purchased for the car has sockets and wrenches in metric and English. You have a model that uses both? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usa-and-the-metric-system/824672/16 "2018-11-17T21:45:50Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > You have a model that uses both? Surprisingly, even modern vehicles have the odd SAE bolt, amongst all the metric fasteners. ---
**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:** [November 17, 2018, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usa-and-the-metric-system/824672/17 "2018-11-17T22:13:48Z")
Please define “switching to the metric system”? Are you limiting us to highway signs? Or are you forcing publishers to no longer print cookbooks with US customary units? Do you mean re-education camps for people that refuse to use centigrade? It’s irritating, though, that doctors tell me my daughter’s weight in pounds and decimal ounces. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usa-and-the-metric-system/824672/18 "2018-11-17T22:21:06Z")
What do you consider as “switched over to the metric system” The US defined the pound and the foot off the metric system in 1893. This is exactly the same as Celsius is a quantity equation to the official unit of Kelvin. The US actually made this move earlier than almost all of the rest of Europe While we should move to the SI units to make things easier but laziness and convention block this. The official units of the US have been based off the metric system for far longer than most of the world. I doubt that laziness and convention will change without being forced as the conversion factors are exact and taxation and trade is almost exclusively metric today anyway. ---
**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:** [November 17, 2018, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usa-and-the-metric-system/824672/19 "2018-11-17T22:23:57Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > … My speedometer in my car is set to kilometers. … I adjusted my speedometer to read in m/s, because that is what we used in HS physics. Km/h just seems so kludgy. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2018, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usa-and-the-metric-system/824672/20 "2018-11-17T22:26:28Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > The USA is one of only two countries in the world that hasn’t yet switched over to the metric system. Cite please? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-usa-and-the-metric-system/824672.md?page=2)