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why is the US not Metric
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Altair8800:
To our non-American friends...   :)

This is an example of what a typical American would and not know about our American Customary/Imperial measurement system.

Most Americans would know the following:

* there are 12 inches [in] in 1 foot [ft]
* there are 3 feet [ft] in 1 yard [yd
* there are 36 inches [in] 1 yard [yd
* there are 2 half gallons in 1 gallon [gal
* there are 4 quarts [qt] in 1 gallon [gal
* there are 16 ounces [oz] in 1 pound [lbs]

Some Americans might or might not know:

* there are 3 teaspoons [tsp] in 1 tablespoon [tbsp]
* there are 8 pints [pt] in 1 gallon [gal]
* there is a Fluid Ounce [fl oz] and a Pound Force Ounce [oz]
* there is 8 fluid ounces [fl oz] in 1 cup [cup]

Most Americans would not know (without looking up):

* there are 16 cups [cup] in 1 gallon [gal]
* there are 128 fluid ounce [fl oz] in 1 gallon [gal]
* there are 8.345 pounds [lb] in 1 gallon [gal] of water {or ~milk]
* there are 1.04 ounce [oz] in 1 fluid ounce [fl oz] of water
* there are 256 tablespoons [tbs] in 1 gallon [gal]
* there are 16 tablespoons [tbs] in 1 cup
* there are 231 cubic inches [in^3] in 1 gallon [gal]
* there are 7.481 gallons in 1 cubic foot [ft^3]
* there are 27880000 square feet [ft^2] in 1 square mile [mi^2]
* there are 43560 square feet [ft^2] in 1 acre
* there are 1760 yards [yd] in 1 mile [mi]
* there are two types of pounds, a pound mass (lbm) and a pound force(lbf)
* there are 32.1740 pounds [lb] in 1 slug {used to define Pound Force}
* there are 14 pounds [lb] in 1 stone [st] {used a lot in UK but almost all Americans do not know}
* there are 42 gallons [gal] in 1 barrel {think oil or whiskey ;) }
* 1 horsepower is amount of work to lift 550 pounds 1 foot up in 1 second {commonly used to describe power}
* that a USA cup can be either 8 fluid ounces OR 8.115 fluid ounces {think USA Legal cup is 240ml = 8.115 fl oz}
Edits:  Mostly just corrected incorrect units that I found myself and two that vk6zgo found.  Also corrected typos and spelling mistakes.  Also note, the above are in US Customary Units which are Imperial-ish units that have been slightly changed to closer match metric equivalent units over the years.  In the USA, we significantly (and lazily) call our units Imperial when they really are not.
soldar:

--- Quote from: MagicSmoker on November 06, 2019, 11:49:17 pm ---
--- 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.

--- End quote ---

American and Imperial are different systems of units and saying Imperial when you mean American is wrong and can lead to confusion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_the_imperial_and_US_customary_measurement_systems

An Imperial gallon is different from an American gallon.
Altair8800:

--- Quote from: MagicSmoker on November 06, 2019, 11:49:17 pm ---
--- 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.

--- End quote ---

@bsfeechannel
I understand and know they are not the same...  But in USofA we rarely say US Customary Units.  We actually would more often say Imperial units (even though we mean US Customary Units).  I was trying to bridge the gap by saying both... 
MagicSmoker:

--- Quote from: soldar on November 07, 2019, 08:16:31 am ---
--- Quote from: MagicSmoker on November 06, 2019, 11:49:17 pm ---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.

--- End quote ---

American and Imperial are different systems of units and saying Imperial when you mean American is wrong and can lead to confusion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_the_imperial_and_US_customary_measurement_systems

An Imperial gallon is different from an American gallon.

--- End quote ---

I didn't say Imperial was correct, I said it was what most Americans are likely to answer if you asked them what kind of measuring system they use. If they even know of a name in the first place, that is. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good and all that.

tooki:

--- Quote from: bsfeechannel on November 07, 2019, 04:27:23 am ---
--- 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.

--- End quote ---
Fair enough. :)

For what it’s worth, I’m American, and like many Americans (especially younger and/or nerdier ones), I’m quite conversant in both systems, and basically cherry-pick them situationally. I find metric easier to work with for many (probably most) things, but others I prefer customary. (For example, I use Celsius for cooking, but Fahrenheit for ambient temperature. If I’m laying out a document for US Letter paper, I’ll set the program to use inches, if I’m laying out for A4, I set it to metric. And many more things I really don’t have any meaningful personal preference, so absent some other reason to choose one or the other, I’ll use the system of whatever location I’m in, since it’s more likely to be what products are marked with and other people are familiar with.)

Another weird little thing I just thought about: US customary mostly uses inches divided fractionally in powers of 2. In a way, works really well because it’s easy to shift how much granularity you need without necessarily adding tons of digits. But then in electronics, the normal spacing has been 0.1”, which doesn’t align with the powers-of-2 fractions. That’s just as annoying as making 0.1” spacing play nice with metric! :p
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