I know there must be a reason, but it’s very curious to me how you being such a developed, rich and powerfull country, you still manage a system that is very dated instead of an easier, logical and worldwide used.

Does it not bother you to not understand or struggle with any other country’s system? Do you think it’s easier? Not willing to change? I listen.

Not to be confronting, it’s an honest question.

9 comments
  1. We don’t use imperial, we use US Customary (they are different) and get this, we know and use metric too.

  2. it’s just what i grew up learning. there’s no grand reason for it. same reason i speak english and not mandarin. if i lived in another country i would just adapt to the metric system. it takes a few weeks at most.

  3. > Does it not bother you to not understand or struggle with any other country’s system?

    Every school child is taught metric, many industries use metric.

    > Not to be confronting, it’s an honest question.

    You’ll excuse me if I don’t believe you.

  4. It seems to bother you that you can’t understand our system.

    Fortunately that isn’t reciprocated. The metric system is taught in schools and is used across the country, especially in scientific industries. I use the metric system every single day as a chemist.

  5. >how you being such a developed, rich and powerfull country, you still manage a system that is very dated instead of an easier, logical and worldwide used.

    How come you people say this, and then follow it up with

    >Not to be confronting, it’s an honest question.

    If it’s an honest question, what’s up with the blatant “You’re so x yet you use such shit y, how come?” It’s not a great way to ask questions lol.

    What’s the incentive to change? The industries that need to use metric, already do (We do not use imperial, we use US customary). Medicine and scientific industries all use metric.

    When I make an espresso, I use metric. When I am cooking, I use US Customary because Base 16 is lovely for large quantities of stuff. People are otherwise comfortable with the units we use. We like what already exists, what’s the point in changing?

  6. Because when we ordered our initial set of metric weights and measures in 1793, pirates attacked the ship carrying them and stole them. The official sets never arrived, and Thomas Jefferson, then Secretary of State couldn’t present the system to Pres. George Washington and Congress. It wasn’t until sometime around the 1860’s that Congress approved the metric system and supplied every state with an official set of metric standards.

    Porch Pirates: we’ve been dealing with them forever.

    https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/12/28/574044232/how-pirates-of-the-caribbean-hijacked-americas-metric-system

  7. The answer is that we use both. Metric for things that require precision, customary for quick-and-dirty things on a human scale. The genius of American Customary units is how they’re based around the human experience. A cup, a tablespoon, a teaspoon, a barrel, a foot, horsepower. We’ll also use easily visualized things like ‘a football field’.

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