# why woun't USA go metric **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 30, 2002, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wount-usa-go-metric/106544 "2002-04-30T20:23:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wount-usa-go-metric/106544/61 "2002-05-03T03:07:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Inches is a measure that still are used in Europe What kind of inch is used where? Each country using the inch as a unit of lenght had a different inch. So, how “inches” can be used as a unit “in Europe”? By the way, I read recently somewhere that the fact Napoleon is traditionnally depicted as a very small guy in english speaking countries originated in the belief that his size in (longer) french feet and inches was actually expressed in british feet and inches (until then I assumed it was related to early caricatures). ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wount-usa-go-metric/106544/62 "2002-05-03T21:02:31Z")
clairobscur wrote: > [@](#): > > What kind of inch is used where? Each country using the inch as a unit of lenght had a different inch. So, how “inches” can be used as a unit “in Europe”? In 1959, the “international inch” was standardized at exactly 2.54 centimeters. This replaced both the old U.S. Inch (2.540005 cm, still used by surveyors but by no one else), and the old Imperial Inch (2.5399956 cm). ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2002, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wount-usa-go-metric/106544/63 "2002-05-03T23:10:06Z")
> [@](#): > > In 1959, the “international inch” was standardized at exactly 2.54 centimeters. This replaced both the old U.S. Inch (2.540005 cm, still used by surveyors but by no one else), and the old Imperial Inch (2.5399956 cm). I would assume it applies to the Commonwealth and the US. Assuming that some european country (norway in this case, I believe) would still use the “inch” for some kind of tool, why would they use a british/american inch which would most probably very different from their own former inch (2,540005 and 2,5399956 are quite similar, but the french inch, for instance, was 2,7 cm long, which is significantly different). Either they would traditionnally use their former inch (hence, it would apply only in one country, not “in Europe”), either they would switch to metric units. What would be the point in replacing a former local unit no longer in general use by a different foreign unit which was never used? ---
**Author:** ![emarkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@emarkp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emarkp)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2002, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wount-usa-go-metric/106544/64 "2002-05-04T05:15:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Whack-a-Mole \* > Here’s what can happen during these conversions. > > > [@](#): > > > > To be safe they re-ran the numbers three times to be absolutely, positively sure the refuelers hadn’t made any mistakes;each time using 1.77 pounds/liter as the specific gravity factor. This was the factor written on the refueler’s slip and used on all of the other planes in Air Canada’s fleet. The factor the refuelers and the crew should have used on the brand new, all-metric 767 was .8 kg/liter of kerosene. I don’t see the problem here. .8 kg is about 1.77 pounds. (Indeed, if the source data is 1.77 pounds, as listed on the refueler’s slip, it even has more significant figures.) Oh, wait, you mean they converted without using units? Sigh. That can happen just as easily in metric. Someone uses cm instead of mm, etc. Don’t blame non-metric for a failure to match up units. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2002, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wount-usa-go-metric/106544/65 "2002-05-04T05:33:31Z")
clairobscur wrote: > [@](#): > > (2,540005 and 2,5399956 are quite similar, but the french inch, for instance, was 2,7 cm long, which is significantly different). Oh no. Does this mean that if we switch over to the metric system, we have to start using a comma for a decimal point? ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2002, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wount-usa-go-metric/106544/66 "2002-05-05T03:39:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BraheSilver \* > \*\*A not-so-distant relative (originally from Europe) came to visit us for the first time. He mentioned that one of his pleasures is to drive a nice car, and drive it fast. “How fast?” I ask. “Ninety? A hundred?” > > “Nah,” he says. “About two hundred on an open road.” I choked briefly, then remembered to do a conversion. \*\* A hundred KPH is still about sixty MPH, so we’re still talking doing 120. Heck, my Beetle barely does 117… and I swear, it’s hard to control it on the back roads when I get up that fast. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wount-usa-go-metric/106544.md?page=3)