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why is the US not Metric

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CatalinaWOW:
i have seen egg cartons in multiple sizes.  Nine, eighteen and twenty four in addition to the sizes mentioned previously.  As far as I know it is tradition rather than arrogance which explains why the dozen size is probably the most common in the US.  I can think of logical reasons why they might be marketed in some other sizes, though the use cases are probably rare enough that they just haven't ever made economic sense anywhere. 

Serving size for eggs is usually one or two.  So those numbers, and then multiples of them for the number dining would make some sort of sense.  So you can actually justify all sizes based on servings.  But five and seven make an awkward package shape so can be ignored immediately.  Larger sizes like 18 and 24 (and larger) probably make more sense at restaurants or other institutional settings.   Smaller refrigerators in many parts of the world would make smaller packages attractive, but since eggs store really well larger and less costly packages are also attractive in homes with the space for storage.

When you look at why egg packages should be any size, you see that the advantages are small and use case particular.  A perfect setting for long emotional arguments, just like measurement systems.

KL27x:
LOL if any of these countries changed from 12 eggs/carton to 10 after metricating, simply to change the quantity to be base ten.

Imagine believing you were buying the wrong number of eggs your whole life after catching this terrible metric disease.

Not that is matters, but I wonder what you call it? In case there are also 5 (j/k) and 20 packs.

"Honey, pick up a dek of eggs?"
A dekaegg?
A 10 piece egg mcbucket?
Do you really just call it a "10 pack of eggs?"

The obvious thing is "pick up 10 eggs, would you, hon?" But that seems oddly specific or arbitrary when you say it. Like asking for 125 grams of pastrami. For that reason, I wonder what they say in these countries. Maybe just "a pack/box/tray/carton of eggs?" Curious minds. It sounds funny to me to say "12 eggs" in this context, even though it's efficient.

We actually say "12-packs" for beers and sodas, here, but with eggs it's mostly always by the dozen. Well, by native speakers in my own circles, anyways. Maybe English is just a stupid language?

Hmm. Twelve is faster to say than a dozen, when you're only talking a single dozen. But we like that word "dozen," anyway. Maybe if we had even more redundancy by having an extra word for 10, the way we have for 12, Americans would start to like 10-packs.  So we can buy 60 eggs, or we can buy 5 dozen eggs. Or we can buy 6 deks?

xrunner:
What about dice?   :-//

bsfeechannel:

--- Quote from: Cubdriver on January 10, 2020, 07:22:08 pm --- :-DD :-DD :-DD :-DD  Now buying EGGS by the dozen shows our "arrogance".   ::) ::) ::) :palm:

--- End quote ---

What boffin means is that you poke fun at the metric system, which is one of the "nothings" the world has accomplished, and then you want respect from this same world.

No one uses eggs or cartons to measure length, area, volume, time, weight, etc., so they are not units of measure.

Moreover, there's this misconception that the metric system is obsessed with the number 10 and an enemy of the number 12. We are in an engineering forum, so all of you are very well acquainted with the metric system because the units we use in our trade, ohms, volts, amps, watts, hertz, seconds, farads, henries, etc. are all metric. So you know very well that the metric system is not the offspring of a sick mind.

KL27x:
So...the way that Australians use metric in construction? They use just mm's. That's pretty easy, right? It works great, because it's all in one unit. There are no decimal places. And if you want to take a step back and visualize the scale/scope in meters, that's where the comma is. Easy.

This is why I like working in thous for PCB work. Sometimes I use inches, sometimes thous. Sometimes I change back and forth. This just changes decimal point vs comma. Thous is sometimes easier, cuz the numbers always go down to thous (instead of zeros on the end disappearing/truncating when using inches). E.g., if  adjusting a slot/hole by a few thous at a time, sometimes I don't want to go from position x.895 to x.9, where the "units" change from thous to tenths of inches just cuz it hit an arbitrary position. It is easier on your brain if the position goes from 895 to 900 (cuz you probably are going to adjust it, again, maybe to 902 or 899, as you home in on things). Sometimes inches is easier/cleaner because those zeros disappear. Depends what you are doing. But the comma and decimal point stay in the same place. Working in mm/microns is the same thing... just too much unnecessary resolution for this kind of thing. (IMO, for most things I personally do; but thous? Use them all the time). 
 
So I can see why metric is easier than using feet AND inches. But when building a house, how often are you going to use 1, 2, 3, 7, 9 mm? I think relatively rarely. The layout is going to mostly use some relatively standard chunks or grid-snap which is useful for the scale. So for the most part the engineers and 200 lb gorillas on site will be working in unit blocks or chunks of 50/100/300/450/600 mm's. A mm or 5 will have to be added/subtracted here or there to fit/adjust for cumulative errors and real life warpage/bending, on site. But mm or smidges or 1/16ths inches would be not much different for this, in practice.

This why I rather have what the metric construction guys have for my precision work, whether PCB or woodwork or machining, using CAD and/or calipers. The thous is where Sketchup and the real world meet up and make babies. In the places where these numbers are actually all over the place, and what I spend the most time manipulating and chasing after. When things get bigger, into the funny USC drunk mathematician stuff, well, now more often than not, I'm targeting and rounding off to certain numbers just because they sound better. And imperial gives you lots of drunk mathematician options for getting nice numbers, at least. 48" might be weird. But 4' is easy to remember and think about. In metric, you have all these choices of 48, or 48,000, or 0.048. It's not that it's a major advantage, of course. It's more that the inch/thous just happens to be perfect for real world practical precision, IMO, as to why I will probably never completely abandon imperial just for sake of "using only one system." I can't imagine even bothering to try to use just one system for everything. Seems needlessly complicating and limiting things (ironically).

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