The United States should just switch to the metric system already, amirite?

I really wish I was taught more of the metric system when I was younger. It's so frustrating when I'm trying to follow a recipe and I have to convert all the measurements.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Yeah, I have a good grasp on length/distance measurements (centimeters, meters, etc.) because I'm studying archaeology and we use metric. I don't have as good of a working knowledge about volume measurements, so metric recipes can be challenging.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I know the metric system, but people never know what I'm talking about when I use it. It gets old.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

No way , that's what makes us unique !

by Anonymous 13 years ago

We can't just up and change the entire system over night, though. It'll take years of integration.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

(Your+name+(optional)): I don't know how true this is, but I heard that Canada did it pretty rapidly. EDIT: OKay, so it took about 10 to 15 years. Still, not that long.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

How will we walk without feet?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

i see wut u did thar

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I got some mileage out of that one.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

i see wut u did thar too :O

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Bossman = Master of puns.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Not yet, but I'm inching my way there. smirk

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It would also probably make a lot of guys' dick sizes seem bigger than what they really are. well, at least for a while until people catch on lol...so that's a plus I guess

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I bet we will eventually use the metric system but it'll take a long time.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

No, we won't.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

er Ok. I forgot that all Americans must agree with everything you say.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Hm? The American measuring system is too ingrained in our lives to change it now, and, frankly, there's no real need to change it.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Canada changed only a few decades ago. The UK didn't make it mandatory until 1995. It's never too late to change.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Very well, but there is really no need to change it simply to conform to the rest of the world.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Conformity is not always a bad thing. Why not go for the superior system which would actually make measurements easier once you learn how to use it? Everything is based on 10, instead of some arbitrary numbers developed in the medieval period. Are you really going to let American pride get in the way of progress? I mean, think about it. Whenever a foreign country does something better, we adopt it. If the Germans make better cars, we buy their cars. If the French make better wine, we buy their wine. If the Japanese make better robots, we use their research. And it goes the other way around, too. It's the free exchange of ideas that assures that we have the best system available. To stubbornly bind ourselves to an outdated and inefficient system in the name of national pride would be silly and backward. Don't you want the best for your country?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

You assume that I am against using the metric system, however, I simply said America will never adopt the system. Why? The same reason you pointed out -- ethnocentrism. I firmly stand behind my notion that it is unnecessary for us to change, though. It is not worth the money or effort to completely overhaul our lifestyle, when, in the only real times where it is truly necessary (in the fields of math and science) we already use it.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Ur funny

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Flabbergasted scuba divers.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

haha exactly

by Anonymous 13 years ago

No one ever got anywhere by starting with "we'll never." But okay, sorry.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

You are intelligent, good sir. We need more people like you around here (and in the world in general).

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Likewise, sir, likewise. :P

by Anonymous 13 years ago

As an American, I totally agree. The only thing I like about our current system is the foot. It's easier than 30.48 cm, or 0.3084 m.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

If we didn't use the "foot," the conversions of a foot into centimeters/meters wouldn't matter.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

How is that easier? You just move the decimal point over.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

There was actually a law passed a while ago that made textbooks use the metric system instead of the American measuring system. They were trying to faze it out, but it hasn't worked yet.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It would cost millions because of all the roads and such. Nonetheless, I agree.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Most of us know both, anyways. Other people should, too if we bother to learn theirs.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I wouldn't even say it's close to "most." Sure, many know how to calculate it, but that's not the same as knowing it. If I said that my lamp is 100 centimeters tall, the visual image wouldn't be as immediate as if I said that it was 10 inches tall to an American.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Oh America always doing it the other way.America FUCK YES. But in all seriousness I agree.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Hell no! We're in 'Merica! Here in 'Merica we use the Imperial system and if you don't like it you can geeeet ooooout! 'Meeericaaa FUCK YEAH!

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I believe it shouldn't be our country that uses the metric system but it should be all the other countries that switch to OUR system, since we are the greatest country ever.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

As a fellow American... no. Just shut the hell up. People like you are the reason other countries hate Americans. I hope you are being sarcastic.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I am being sarcastic.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

You must mean it to some extent since you voted "No Way".

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I thought it was funny

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Please, America. Switch. FOR THE LOVE OF CHEM CLASSES, SWITCH.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

As an american I totally agree. As long as we keep the inch :-)

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I wish we did. I get confused trying to convert. D : I like the sound of kilometers and such better than miles and quarts. : D

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It would cost a lot of money and some time to get use to, but I wouldn't mind it.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I live in America and I estimate distances better in meters than I do in miles, but only because I ran track for 6 years.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Saying this is like telling everybody in the world to speak English or Chinese! Just because something is popular doesn't mean everybody needs to use it. When the Original 13 colonies was created, they did everything they could to seperate themselves from England. They created new measurements, made their own form of government, etc. Conformism is not the answer. What if everybody in the world during WWII said, "Oh Germany is creating concentration camps, obviously we should too or we will be 'unadvanced'" When you have something thats working for you, keep it. No use of spending billions of dollars just to change something pointless when we are already in economic crisis. P.S. Sorry for the wall of text.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It's not just because of conformism, it's because the metric system is simply easier to use. Useless rant.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Who said it is easier to use? Distance is like time. Its human made. We can call it by whatever we want and its not going to change. Useless justification.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It's easier because; 1 Yard = 3 Feet = 36 inches = (pretty random) 1 Kilometer = 1000 meters = 100,000 centimeters. (arranged in 10's)

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I moved from the US to overseas and I'm the only one in my family that uses metric now and it's annoying to me when my family refuses to use it

by Anonymous 13 years ago

But it would also be extremely expensive. Think of all the signs we would have to change.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

As an aspiring scientist I really wish I was taught metric system at a younger age. Volume and weight I have down, and distances too. Its just weird to think of things in k/h. The speeds and velocities are what gets me. But we really need to switch to metric! I mean 16 ounces to a pound? 5280 feet to a mile? Its harder to remember some of the conversions. Metric system every type of measurement has the same basic conversion. Centi, deci, deca, kilo, milli. It soooooo much easier to use!

by Anonymous 13 years ago