Convenience of the metric system

[avb3]

Originally Posted by Rustic Charm

And babies.. unfortunately they are measuring them in kg's now days too..

True, but each one of my 5 grandkids they (hospital staff) immediately converted it into pounds and ounces. In fact, there was a conversion chart right above the weigh scale.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by avb3

True, but each one of my 5 grandkids they (hospital staff) immediately converted it into pounds and ounces. In fact, there was a conversion chart right above the weigh scale.

yes, that's true. Same here. Still hard to get used to a baby in kg's.

[Sailor g]

[QUOTE=Reefmagnet;1940467]

Being fluent in both systems, metric wins by a country mile. /QUOTE]


I have lived in the Unites States all my life and work in science so use both all the time too. SI/Metric are just so much easier to use.

I do not understand how gallons, quarts, pints make any sense. I have never been able to remember how many of each are in what. I buy milk by sight of how much I need- I had to get up & look-it is 14 oz?? What is an oz? I can measure in inches (by using a bent finger or a foot (with my foot as a guide though it is far less than 12 inches).

I like metric units (though cm are so much better than mm for longer size. Mm for tiny is good and I can move between them easily. I can also move between inches, feet and miles and miles-but only with help of an app on my phone.

I agree it is whatever you are used to using. I wish the US would convert. Both are on cans, etc. and soda/water is in liters so we can change. Maybe sneak another that we buy all the time like meat in kg. Step by step.. Whether mm, cm or feet. 👞👞

[Rustic Charm]

[QUOTE=Sailor g;1940652]

Originally Posted by Reefmagnet

Being fluent in both systems, metric wins by a country mile. /QUOTE]


I have lived in the Unites States all my life and work in science so use both all the time too. SI/Metric are just so much easier to use.

I do not understand how gallons, quarts, pints make any sense. I have never been able to remember how many of each are in what. I buy milk by sight of how much I need- I had to get up & look-it is 14 oz?? What is an oz? I can measure in inches (by using a bent finger or a foot (with my foot as a guide though it is far less than 12 inches).

I like metric units (though cm are so much better than mm for longer size. Mm for tiny is good and I can move between them easily. I can also move between inches, feet and miles and miles-but only with help of an app on my phone.

I agree it is whatever you are used to using. I wish the US would convert. Both are on cans, etc. and soda/water is in liters so we can change. Maybe sneak another that we buy all the time like meat in kg. Step by step.. Whether mm, cm or feet. 👞👞

A well put summary. I feel the same.

[K_V_B]

Originally Posted by Benz

Whenever I make drawings I use feet, inches, and fractions of inches.

Make sure you don't accidentally forget a ' or " somewhere... Would be a disaster.
When I make a drawing I only have to write in the corner "all dimensions in mm", and don't need to label any measurement.
Still don't get why your way is more conveient...

Would that the whole rest of the world would join me in doing that! There would be no confusion about what system was being used if everyone was like me.

Any solution that starts "if everyone was like me" is bound to fail...

By the way, I never have to argue about how much a gallon is--it's as much as will fit in a gallon milk jug!

Try pouring the contents of a UK gallon jug in to a US gallon jug...

[K_V_B]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Do Germans, with their obsession for precision and for making long concatenations of words rather then new short ones, really order five hundred grams of sausage when "a half kilo" would do?

They will actually order a pound. Going metric doesn't mean you need to give up your habits...

[K_V_B]

Originally Posted by Reefmagnet

Never been quite sure if a nautical mile is an imperial unit or not but if it is that should be included, too.

Not an offical SI unit, but its usage is accepted by the BIPM for nautical applications...

[AiniA]

Not sure if this came up in this thread a long time ago (admit I did not read the older stuff), but what do the United States, Burma, and Liberia have in common?

[Lars_L]

There wrights
0,123, 45,6, 7,89, 1011,12, or
0.123, 45.6, 7.89, 1011.12.
In Sweden we wrights according the first example. The other example is how they write in US. Is that an imperial way? If so, I have to admit that’s there is something god whit the imperial system. But that would be a small thing to change.

[carstenb]

Originally Posted by AiniA

Not sure if this came up in this thread a long time ago (admit I did not read the older stuff), but what do the United States, Burma, and Liberia have in common?

The all use the US dollar as their currency?

[Benz]

Originally Posted by K_V_B

Make sure you don't accidentally forget a ' or " somewhere... Would be a disaster.
When I make a drawing I only have to write in the corner "all dimensions in mm", and don't need to label any measurement.

So you don't even use meters, only thousandths of meters. Thousands of thousandths of meters, if your're designing anything over a few feet long. My boss tried that, and it was incredibly lame
Still don't get why your way is more conveient...


Any solution that starts "if everyone was like me" is bound to fail...

And I carry my point. The metriphiles say that if everyone was like them, that would be the solution. But I wanted you to say it.


Try pouring the contents of a UK gallon jug in to a US gallon jug...

It would be easy. You must simply stop pouring when the smaller jug is full. These things that are insurmountable problems for you theorizing metriphiles are child's play for the rest of us.

[K_V_B]

Originally Posted by Benz

It would be easy. You must simply stop pouring when the smaller jug is full. These things that are insurmountable problems for you theorizing metriphiles are child's play for the rest of us.

Next time you come to fil up your tank at my gas station I'll charge you for UK gallons, but give you US gallons. That should be fine for you, shouldn't it?

After all, that's perfectly sensible, according to you.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by AiniA

Not sure if this came up in this thread a long time ago (admit I did not read the older stuff), but what do the United States, Burma, and Liberia have in common?

USA, Liberia and Burma (Myanmar) were, as of 2012, the only three countries in the world that do not use the metric system; however (I believe) Mayanmar is converting to the metric (S.I.) System.
➥ Myanmar is converting to the metric system

And, the United States signed the Convention of the Meter in Paris back in 1875, and to this day is a member of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by K_V_B

Next time you come to fil up your tank at my gas station I'll charge you for UK gallons, but give you US gallons. That should be fine for you, shouldn't it?

After all, that's perfectly sensible, according to you.

I have to admit the resistance to using metric and insistence that it is no better or easier to use baffles me.

From my own personal experience metric wins hands down in almost every way.

Engineering and science. Metric blows away the imperial system. Calculations and conversions are way simpler in all engineering disciplines: mechanical, thermodynamics, electrical.

Day to day use. I import and export chemicals all over the world. Every single day I convert lbs, gallons, short tons, feet, inches to Kgs, cubic meters, metric tons, meters and again metric wins for me as the better, easier system.

Business. If US products were made to metric standards it would be a big boost to our exports. It's certainly annoying for me to maintain two complete sets of wrenches and sockets and I see this as a significant barrier to companies in the entire rest of world to buy US made products with nuts and bolts that require a second set of tools.

[hellosailor]

"Try pouring the contents of a UK gallon jug in to a US gallon jug..."
Not to worry. Most of what was sold in half gallon jugs in US supermarkets, crept down to 56 oz. a couple of years ago. And the half gallon containers of ice cream, mysteriously shrank down to 48 ounces after that. So even our own "gallon" products and packages, won't fit in our own "gallon" containers any more.


My metric car demanded more windshield washer fluid, not just once but three times before I brought out the standard (still, somehow) half gallon container. And what convenient metric quantity did it accept for the refill? Oh, uh, 63 ounces, instead of the 64 that come in the standard bottles. I would have expected it to take two full liters, unless they've now started measuring liters like we measure ice cream and juices.
Metric is just another relativistic point of view, it doesn't change anything.