I was around in the '70s when there was a big push to go metric. Some mileage signs also had (and some still have, I think) km next to miles. I seem to recall during the 1979 oil embargo that some gas stations were selling gas by the litre, since the pumps could not display three digits.
I remember a huge amount of opposition to converting at the time. As I was schoolboy, I thought it was great. But most adults seemed to resent it, make jokes abot it, etc. I really don’t see the U.S. converting to the metric system any time soon.
cubicle, that’s how it happened in the UK. It was pretty successful, barring a few silly rules that forbade a butcher from selling meat “by the pound”, and some bizarre sizing, such as beer cans that are 454ml. Ireland has, in the last 2 years, gone over to exclusively kilometre distance signs and speed limits - that was a bigger upheaval, but people have settled into it pretty quickly.
Just a thought, but if the board software allows, it might be a good thing to c&p the OP, sans name, into the first remaining post so we can see what people are talking about. Having been an admin on several other boards, though, I suspect it might not allow it.
I’m sorry, I don’t get what the big deal is about going metric.
Human beings don’t think in abstract terms such as kilometer or miles, they think in terms relative to other known distances.
For almost any example I can think of, simply comparing that measurment to similar items or situations is what’s important, not in making the size of my toaster easly comparable to the distance from Boulder to Denver.
I agree, totally. And also, where possible, we think in terms of time rather than distance. I can list every one of my many weekly drives, almost to the minute, but I couldn’t tell you the distance of any of them, in miles or kilometres. And I defy anyone to look at a chicken, or a joint of beef, and not think at least partly “that’ll be the right size to feed x people”
