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why is the US not Metric
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Cerebus:

--- Quote from: Mr. Scram on November 26, 2019, 06:27:08 am ---
--- Quote from: Cerebus on November 25, 2019, 05:45:25 pm ---Not quite. If you use proper cook's measuring spoons, vis:

where you can level off the measured item with the back of a knife, so you're not into 'level teaspoon, rounded teaspoon, heaped teaspoon' territory, then a tablespoon is 15ml, a dessert spoon 10m and a teaspoon 5ml.

--- End quote ---
There isn't really a standard or there are many standards derived from the real thing. It boils down to the same.

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There is here (UK), I've never seen a set of measuring spoons that weren't 5ml, 10ml, 15ml. With the proviso that they were recent enough to have markings/specifications in mls as well as nominal 'spoon' sizes; I'll bet my old mum's measuring spoons just said "tsp" etc.

Just did a quick search on ebay for measuring spoons from the UK, Europe, China and the USA, and they all seem to conform to those sizes. So it looks as if there is an ad-hoc world standard.
Cerebus:
I got a package from the US of A today.

On the CN22 customs declaration form, surely the most international of documents almost by definition, the weight was printed only in lbs, with no metric equivalent. Now that strikes me as dumb, and it's the sort thing that might, not unreasonably, lead some people to perceive that the US is a teeny weeny bit arrogant about insisting on using weights and measures (in the explicit context of international trade let us remember) that are out of step with the rest of the world.

It's one thing to use whatever units you like in your own backyard, heck it's your backyard, but when talking to the other 96% of the world's population it would at least be only polite to try and speak the same language, units wise.

I suspect that this is what is at the heart of the rabid taking of positions pro and anti the US adopting metric units.
Tepe:

--- Quote from: Cerebus on November 26, 2019, 11:17:19 am ---There is here (UK), I've never seen a set of measuring spoons that weren't 5ml, 10ml, 15ml. With the proviso that they were recent enough to have markings/specifications in mls as well as nominal 'spoon' sizes; I'll bet my old mum's measuring spoons just said "tsp" etc.

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Just had a look in the kitchen drawer: 1.25 ml - 1/4 tsp, 2.5 ml - 1/2 tsp, 5 ml - 1 tsp, 15 ml - 1 T. No markings revealing their country of origin.
SilverSolder:

--- Quote from: KL27x on November 25, 2019, 08:53:02 pm ---[...] Ideas don't equal technology. This is where engineering comes in. Even without calculus and physics and metric, Romans performed incredible feats of engineering. Other societies surely thought about running water. They imagined these things called pipes and then shrugged it off, because they did not figure out how to make the idea into reality in any practical way.  [...]

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The real strength is "standardisation" - it doesn't actually matter what the unit of measurement is, as long as it is standardised.

Arguably, the Industrial Revolution was all about producing standardised products in large quantities.  --  beginning with standardised parts (nuts, bolts, and other fasteners for example) to make the standardised products out of.  This led to the Model T Ford, and the explosion of low cost consumer goods in general.  In the building industry, American houses are generally made of modest cost standard parts combined in different ways - they really cost very little to build (you wouldn't know if you try and buy one, though).

In some ways, we have started to go backwards.

For more than 40 years, all cars sold in the United States were required to use the same standard sealed beam headlights. In 1984, the Federal government changed the law, allowing the development of today's headlights that cost $200 to replace instead of the $2 of the old standard part -  but hey, that's progress...

Attempting to stay on topic:  the Metric system is the planet's best bet for an international standard for international trade.  Most American industry already use Metric - workers in Hamtramck, Michigan, are cranking out Buicks all day with metric fasteners.  I say Buick, because this brand is one of the most popular in China...  which would have been much more difficult if it was made of Imperial components.

So it is important that American kids learn to use the metric system as part of their education, even if they don't use it when buying a standard  2 3/4 inch by 4 1/2 inch wall outlet cover plate at the Home Depot.

I generally agree that there is no real reason to change existing road signs etc. - it is hard work, for little gain.  How long will road signs even be around - if you think about it, the day may come where cars will be required to display the speed limit on the dash constantly...  making all the signs obsolete, and freeing local authorities to change the limits depending on traffic, time of day, or whatever.
GeorgeOfTheJungle:

--- Quote from: SilverSolder on November 26, 2019, 01:42:58 pm ---Attempting to stay on topic:  the Metric system is the planet's best bet for an international standard for international trade.  Most American industry already use Metric - workers in Hamtramck, Michigan, are cranking out Buicks all day with metric fasteners.  I say Buick, because this brand is one of the most popular in China...  which would have been much more difficult if it was made of Imperial components.

--- End quote ---
Those Buicks are... Opels designed in Europe!!

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