Jump to content
Register Now
The Blackangel

Imperial Or Metric?

Recommended Posts

The US is one of only 3 countries in the world that still uses the imperial system. The other two being Myanmar and Liberia. In 1975 President Ford tried to switch the US to using the metric system, but it didn't take. I personally can't follow metric very well, but like many of you it's simply because I grew up under the imperial system. But my reason for this post, is I want to know what people think on whether or not the US should again try to switch to metric? I feel like it's time to join the rest of the world. 3 countries out of how many hundreds of countries? I think it would make international trade much simpler, and could help American economies in a substantial way. Sure it would be difficult at first to figure out how tall I am. I don't have a clue what 6'4" is in centimeters. And don't even get me started on that whole stones thing when talking about weight. But I truly think it's time to move on, and join the rest of the world.

Thoughts?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a child, growing up, my school and college tutors taught me Metric. Some of the older generations in England still us imperial and do not fully understand the other system. Converting between the two is made a lot easier with the help of the internet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was brought up on metric and thank fuck!  Metric is easy to understand and work with because it's decimal every time.  Imperial is so confusing and cumbersome because it's so inconsistent.  Sometimes to the base 8, sometimes 10, sometimes 12, sometimes 16... It's like it was designed to make every little thing just a little bit more difficult than it need be.  If I were to ask "how many metres are in a marathon when it's 42 kilometers” it's easy, 42,000m becuase all you're doing is moving the decimal point.   Even if you were to go further into cm (4,200,0000cm) and mm (42,000,000mm) it's still simple. You try to do the conversion for the same 26 miles into feet, then inches, then 8th's of an inch, then 16th's of and you'd have a headache for a week!

 

If that example is too unrealistic then here's a more real world example of how annoying imperial measurements can be.  You go into a butcher's shop in the UK to buy some meat and you tell the butcher "5 pounds of mince", does that mean 5lbs in weight or £5 in currency worth since they are both pronounced "pounds"?  This matters because there is a HUGE difference between the two.

 

I remember having a lot of adults telling me when i was in school that "exams must be much easier now".  I used to take offence to that but I've since realised it's true and it's because my generation didn't have to deal with this bullshit!

 

As far as I'm concerned imperial measurements should only be used for clocks, pizzas, draft beers and that is it.  Yeah as much as I hate the imperial system even I'm not gonna order a 30cm pepperoni and a 500ml lager!  Lol!

Edited by Crazycrab
Link to comment
Share on other sites

26 miles is easy. A mile is 5,280 feet. A foot is 12 inches, a yard is 36 inches and a meter is 39 inches.

26 x 5,280 = 137,280

It’s the same formula to find inches.

 I guess when it’s what you’re raised on it makes more sense to you. But I still think the US should stop living in the past, ditch the caraway seeds, and start using the metric system.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hate the imperial system, it makes zero fcking sense. 180cm is a clear number, when someone says they are 5'11" that means less than nothing to me, they might well be talking in riddles. Same goes for stones, feet and yards. The only two things I can easily understand is miles because I've driven cars where the speedometer was also displaying miles. The other being pounds which I can roughly understand because weight plates usually have their weight embossed on them in both kgs and pounds.

The celsius scale is the simplest thing ever: 0= Water freezes 100 = Water boils over. The Fahrenheit? It's a completely arbitrary scale.

On 8/9/2020 at 8:46 PM, Crazycrab said:

As far as I'm concerned imperial measurements should only be used for clocks, pizzas, draft beers and that is it.  Yeah as much as I hate the imperial system even I'm not gonna order a 30cm pepperoni and a 500ml lager!  Lol!

No, you order a 32cm Pizza, and an 5dl beer. Nobody orders in mililiters. Not even shots.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hell I don't even like the AM / PM clock. To me midnight is 0:00 hours, not 12:00, that's noon. I always have to double / triple check when converting times in my work to make sure I'm not giving the wrong numbers. How much simpler it is to just have hours and minutes, nothing else. Instead of having hours, minutes, and then a suffix to tell you how to interpret the hour.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Imperial is much simpler than metric. 180cm? A cm isn’t even a half inch. How the hell many do you need to get the fucking point across? A kilo being 2.2 pounds? Who is the jackass that decided that? Fahrenheit is a better system than celsius. You get a mire exact temp. 33C is roughly 90F. 34C is roughly 95F. Excuse me but.... What the fuck? Can you not count? There are 4 numbers you skipped. But 35C isn’t another 5 degrees. Math and logic are clearly not a priority. Water freezes at 32(a much more exact temp) and boils at 212 (another exact number). We’re not rounding it up or down just so people can keep up without bitching about it.

As for time, we do that in the states. It’s called military time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, The Blackangel said:

Imperial is much simpler than metric. 180cm? A cm isn’t even a half inch. How the hell many do you need to get the fucking point across? A kilo being 2.2 pounds? Who is the jackass that decided that? Fahrenheit is a better system than celsius. You get a mire exact temp. 33C is roughly 90F. 34C is roughly 95F. Excuse me but.... What the fuck? Can you not count? There are 4 numbers you skipped. But 35C isn’t another 5 degrees. Math and logic are clearly not a priority. Water freezes at 32(a much more exact temp) and boils at 212 (another exact number). We’re not rounding it up or down just so people can keep up without bitching about it.

As for time, we do that in the states. It’s called military time.

What are you talking about? 33C is 91.4F  and 34C is 93.2F So what 4 numbers? Fahrenheit didn't make sense even at it's inception. It's based on a false reading of human temperature, and the freezing point of an ammonium chloride solution.  Which is just completely random. It's not a frame of reference to any normal human being.

And 0 is not an exact number, but 32 is? Whaat?

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, The Blackangel said:

Imperial is much simpler than metric. 180cm? A cm isn’t even a half inch. How the hell many do you need to get the fucking point across? A kilo being 2.2 pounds? Who is the jackass that decided that? Fahrenheit is a better system than celsius. You get a mire exact temp. 33C is roughly 90F. 34C is roughly 95F. Excuse me but.... What the fuck? Can you not count? There are 4 numbers you skipped. But 35C isn’t another 5 degrees. Math and logic are clearly not a priority. Water freezes at 32(a much more exact temp) and boils at 212 (another exact number). We’re not rounding it up or down just so people can keep up without bitching about it.

As for time, we do that in the states. It’s called military time.

 

1 Kg (1000g) of water has a volume of exactly 1 Lr (1000ml) which also the same as 1 cubic decimeter:

 

main-qimg-1e49ecce6f97658c00c75edb9e53c8

 

This is why metric is scaled the way it is, It's consistent and makes things simpler.  Armed with the information above and the reltative density of any material (compared to water) and with one simple sum I can work out how space it's going to take up or how heavy it will be.

 

Don't get even get me started about Farenheight, it's a useless scale that has no sensible refernce point whatsoever that's not even correct.

Edited by Crazycrab
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, Crazycrab said:

Don't get even get me started about Farenheight, it's a useless scale that has no sensible refernce point whatsoever that's not even correct.

Yet it's much more accurate.

Look I still think we should switch to metric, but imperial is simpler to use, more accurate, and all around more basic. The only reason I say we should switch is because the entire world uses metric except the US, Myanmar, and Liberia.

Edited by The Blackangel
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I been all over the place from one country to the other and since learning disability didn't help me, I haven't had the right person or teather. I did both but in a not so good way, however more towards metric then imperial. Meaning from Australia where they do more metic's than anything and no from and to UK. 

Generations over the years has changed, 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


×
×
  • Create New...