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why is the US not Metric
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MagicSmoker:

--- Quote from: soldar on November 06, 2019, 11:23:56 pm ---I believe it is not called American Imperial but American Customary.

--- End quote ---

Technically true, but I doubt you'll find many Americans that say they use the Customary system, and I always refer to it as Imperial - especially here - because that seems to be universally recognized, especially by non-US people.

tooki:

--- Quote from: bsfeechannel on November 06, 2019, 11:17:11 pm ---Let's admit it: imperial is RE-TAR-DED (and probably contagious).

--- End quote ---
Arrogant much?
forrestc:
There is one point some are missing about why specific non-SI units stick around...

Inertia.

Let me give you an example:

In the US all of the freeway systems are labeled in miles, the exits are numbered based on miles, the highway signs are in miles.     

Well, except one.   Interstate 19 is labeled in Metric.  All the distance signs are in meters or km, the exits are numbered by km, and so on.    Why?   Because it was re-labeled during the push for metrification back in 1980, and no one has seen any reason to change it back to miles.  There apparently were some plans to switch it back to miles, but the locals revolted because of the trauma caused by changing from km back to miles due to the exit numbers changing, etc.

There are so many things that are hard to change because of the trauma which is related to the changeover.   Things as simple as switching the screws which hold on a switch cover plate means that all of a sudden, you have to stock and deal with both the new and old styles.   And for things like this, it doesn't really matter.  It could even be something totally oddball just for that application, and it still would be ok.

Take, for instance, the example of Interstate 19.   One main reason why they haven't switched back is the cost of replacing all of the signs at once.   If replacing the signs on 100k of Interstate is cost-prohibitive, imagine the cost of doing so along the 6.5 million kilometers of roads we have in the US.   And, there really isn't any downside to staying metric as most people rarely ever cross into a metric country.  The only difference in a modern automobile is the display units on the speedometer/odometer. Even that is moving toward being universal due to the trend to move away from a mechanical speedometer and odometer to a digital display.

So, if you look at the stuff that the US hasn't converted, almost all of it fits into this category:  Stuff so deeply entrenched into the daily lives that it would be painful to change over.   Or stuff that the units don't really matter for.
Altair8800:

--- Quote from: forrestc on November 07, 2019, 02:39:25 am ---There is one point some are missing about why specific non-SI units stick around...

Inertia.

Let me give you an example:

In the US all of the freeway systems are labeled in miles, the exits are numbered based on miles, the highway signs are in miles.     

Well, except one.   Interstate 19 is labeled in Metric.  All the distance signs are in meters or km, the exits are numbered by km, and so on.    Why?   Because it was re-labeled during the push for metrification back in 1980, and no one has seen any reason to change it back to miles.  There apparently were some plans to switch it back to miles, but the locals revolted because of the trauma caused by changing from km back to miles due to the exit numbers changing, etc.

There are so many things that are hard to change because of the trauma which is related to the changeover.   Things as simple as switching the screws which hold on a switch cover plate means that all of a sudden, you have to stock and deal with both the new and old styles.   And for things like this, it doesn't really matter.  It could even be something totally oddball just for that application, and it still would be ok.

Take, for instance, the example of Interstate 19.   One main reason why they haven't switched back is the cost of replacing all of the signs at once.   If replacing the signs on 100k of Interstate is cost-prohibitive, imagine the cost of doing so along the 6.5 million kilometers of roads we have in the US.   And, there really isn't any downside to staying metric as most people rarely ever cross into a metric country.  The only difference in a modern automobile is the display units on the speedometer/odometer. Even that is moving toward being universal due to the trend to move away from a mechanical speedometer and odometer to a digital display.

So, if you look at the stuff that the US hasn't converted, almost all of it fits into this category:  Stuff so deeply entrenched into the daily lives that it would be painful to change over.   Or stuff that the units don't really matter for.

--- End quote ---

Not all USA states have their highway exit signs in sync with mile markers.  So in one state I lived in, they did a switch.  So for a few years (maybe 2-3) they had signs that said in big print [ EXIT 128 (old exit 27) ].  Then after about 3 years they just got rid of the (old exit 17).  It was a pretty good phase in.

Another example of a phase in...  Is sidewalks and street curbs...  In the old days the corners street curb height was about 15 cm (6").  These are not friendly to people in wheel chairs (or handicap scooters) or kiddy bicyclists.  So they wanted to change but not have to change hundred/thouthands at a time.  So the compromise they would stretch the budget over several years.  If a road had major roadwork those roads would get new sloped handicap friendly curbs.  In addition to that, they also changed a certain amount of curbs per year (so it would not take forever to get the curbs done).  So after 15-20 years all the curbs would be changed.  So you can also phase things in slowly.
bsfeechannel:

--- Quote from: tooki on November 07, 2019, 01:06:08 am ---
--- Quote from: bsfeechannel on November 06, 2019, 11:17:11 pm ---Let's admit it: imperial is RE-TAR-DED (and probably contagious).

--- End quote ---
Arrogant much?

--- End quote ---

Maybe you're right. I don't want to be a metric rstofer. The thing is that... it is so nice to work with metric for everything that I go a little overboard.
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