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| why is the US not Metric |
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| VK3DRB:
--- Quote from: tooki on October 29, 2019, 08:29:47 am ---As an American abroad, I get shit from everyone: Americans in USA calling me “eurotrash” (I’m not), British people smugly declaring that Americans don’t speak English (we do), locals complaining about foreigners, and everyone ragging on us about metric. (And until Brexit and AfD showed Europeans that xenophobic right wing paranoia is on their doorstep, we also got Europeans attacking us for our dumb politicians that I, like nearly all Americans abroad, decidedly did not vote for.) I’m tired of it, so I call people out on it, mmkay? --- End quote --- Oddly enough, even though Americans spell words differently to to Australians and English, I have found American engineers on average are generally much better than Aussie engineers with spelling. I lived and worked in the USA over many years, and the difference was quite noticeable. I suspect it is due to a better education in that domain. The dumb US politicians as you say pale into insignificance compared to the pompous British politicians, who are providing plenty of free entertainment for the rest of the world as they turn their crumbling empire into a democratic laughing stock. In any case, the imperial system should be retired world-wide. One country, two systems does not work. There is no reason to keep two systems, other than mentally unstable conspiracy theorists living in fear that it is part of the Illuminati's New World Order :scared:. And we should all speak Esperanto :-DD. Ĝis (la) revido! |
| Simon:
I think the best way to have uniform measurement systems is each industry gradually converts which may already be happening. American spelling from what I have seen simplifies spelling like programme = program which is probably why they are better at spelling. |
| soldar:
Years ago I was visiting a family in California and they were measuring the windows for blinds. The whole family was around the kitchen table trying to solve problems such as: Window width is 4' 11" and 1/16. We want to leave 3/8" clearance on each side. What blind width do we need to order? It was fun watching the whole family giving their opinions and guesses. And this for a whole set of different windows and measurements. These are probably a good representation of Americans who do not want to change to metric because "we are already familiar with the American system". They probably think that if the system they are familiar with is so difficult, just imagine having to learn a new, foreign, system! |
| mansaxel:
--- Quote from: KL27x on November 01, 2019, 11:48:14 pm --- Which, come to think of it, how does EU express a car's power? In kW? --- End quote --- "Sufficient" :-DD More seriously, we have a lot of legacy. My house, built in 1971, has UNC fasteners. TV's are marketed in inches (But the spec sheets are all metric). Carpenters officially have converted, but there is lots of casual talk about 2" by 4" still. Pipes are the BSPT dimensions, but officially, they are labeled with something loosely representing metric. I have Whitworth, UN AF, BA and metric sockets and threading tools in my workshop. Because my lathe is old enough that even if it was built in Sweden, it's all Whitworth. And my swimming pool is UNC, as is my neighbours boat engine. The RF connectors I use are 3/8" UNF (CB whips and such) or 5/8" UNEF (N connectors and shielded banana plugs, but the flats for tightening them are metric!). Et cetera. USA would do good to migrate. But it will be a lot of pain, take some time, and the insane right will complain as we saw in the Fox "News" clip upthread (because it gives nods and votes from the ignorant). Still, I think the outcome will be better for all. Eventually. |
| Simon:
a lot of tool based items are still imperial. For example we still sell timber in inches when it comes to fence posts but we can easily approximate to units of 25mm as with a fence post no one cares about 2mm. Most timber is sold in mm and often these are just imperial conversions like 19mm which is 0.75". Lots of tubing we buy at work is marked in mm but is simply inch equivalents. So we buy 19mm tube but it is actually 19.05mm. I expect in time as old designs die out and are replaced by metric designs with new metric tooling replacing old imperial tooling things will change. |
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