The Metric System in the USA

[sparrowgrass]

Need to convert ounces to grams or fluid ounces to liters? Just type it into your google toolbar.

Type "26 milliliters = ? ounces" into google, and you will get

"26 milliliters = 0.879164587 US fluid ounces"

Works for any conversion--pounds to grams, feet to miles, kilometers to inches, whatever. Don't forget the question mark.

 

[bowlingshirt]

Nah, it would mess up the football fields.

 

[JamminJonah]

We're nuts for not having already adopted the metric system. I think it would be a good global political statement (look! The US isn't as ethnocentric as we thought!) plus it would make international travel much simpler. As the global economy grows more and more of us will be traveling overseas with greater regularity. Plus it would help in coordinating with foreign troops. Has anyone heard the fabled story of the satelite launch where the conversion was botched and the satellite missed it's target and flew into space? Not sure if it's true but it's certainly plausable.

I personally feel that the gradual changeover would be ineffective. Nobody would do it until the last minute anyway and according the the 1980's mandate aren't we supposed to be metric already? I propose a cutoff date. For example on July 4th of 2010 all products must be changed over to metric. You will buy litres of gasoline (providing a better apples to apples view of the world oil market), you will buy litres of milk, signs will be in kilometers etc.

As the economy shifts to a more global scale and technology brings us ever closer together demand for a unified measurement system will grow. The english system is outdated and inefficient. Plus metric makes science class much easier )

 

[bowlingshirt]

Has anyone heard the fabled story of the satelite launch where the conversion was botched and the satellite missed it's target and flew into space?

Good point. If a rocket scientist can't figure it out, then who can

 

[GB]

I think it is crazy for us not to change. Metric is a much easier system. We are dealing with a global economy now and it only makes sense that we all "speak the same language". So many other countries have made the switch and have done it relatively easily. It is insane to think the same could not happen in the USA.

 

[Foodfiend]

It would be extremely hard for me, my mind is not mathematically geared to conversions. I would definitely have to have a book of conversions around so I wouldn't screw up a recipe.

 

[skilletlicker]

I think it would be a good global political statement (look! The US isn't as ethnocentric as we thought!)

I just don't believe people would think that.

You will buy litres of gasoline

Will they still cost whatever plus 9/10ths cent?

you will buy litres of milk

I already do. 3.78 liters to be precise. It says so right on the label next to 1 gallon pursuant to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act.

We are dealing with a global economy now and it only makes sense that we all "speak the same language".

I'm all for improved communication but the thrust of the metricationists is not bilingualism but a ban on English measurements.
By 12/31/09 all products sold in Europe (with limited exceptions) will be required to have only SI-metric units on their labels. Dual labeling will not be permitted. At that point US companies would either have different labels for EU exports or show only the metric unit in the US, a practice currently forbidden under FPLA.

 

[Alix]

You know, the conversion thing isn't as hard as everyone seems to think. You just need to memorize a few things and then you can calculate easily. For example a teaspoon is 5 ml...making a US tablespoon 15 ml. (In the UK and Oz however, a tablespoon is 20 ml.) Once you memorize a few of the measurements you use regularly the conversion is easy.

 

[CharlieD]

I voted Yes. I probably would have not use terms as strong as you put it there, but indeed, market analists have been talking about it for a while, saying that metric system would open doors for more business around the world and would make up for the conversion expensess in no time.


As far as using meric system it doesn't get any easier. if you know how to count till 10 you pretty much know how to use metric system. Simply because everything is in 10s. And what is the difference if you have to measure a cup, for example, you have to have a mesuaring cup. If you have to mesure 200 grams you use scale instead. I don't understand the problem. On the other hand advantage of using metric is obvious. Say you need to multiple or scale down the recipe. So instead of 3 cups 2 table spoons and 1 and a half tea spoon in the result you get 735 gramms (for example). So, what's the big deal. You are putting product on the scale anyway, what is the difference how much you put there, thescale will tale you exactly what you have there. How much easier can it be?

 

[CharlieD]

Good point. If a rocket scientist can't figure it out, then who can

They did not have to figure anything out. Just one group was working in Standard system and the other in metric. There was lack of comunication. That is simply stupid. But again, if there was only one system the mistale like that would not have happened.

 

[skilletlicker]

You know, the conversion thing isn't as hard as everyone seems to think. You just need to memorize a few things and then you can calculate easily. For example a teaspoon is 5 ml...making a US tablespoon 15 ml. (In the UK and Oz however, a tablespoon is 20 ml.) Once you memorize a few of the measurements you use regularly the conversion is easy.

If you're going to start interjecting common sense into this conversation the rest of us will all look bad.

 

[Alix]

skilletlicker, LMAO here! Sorry about that. I just really don't see this as a tough thing. I admit, I do have an advantage in that I had to learn metric early and now use both all the time.

Gotta tell you though, I was watching Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader and on the question how many feet are in a mile I was totally blank. They make you guys memorize weird crap like that? Now ask me how many meters in a kilometer and I'm all over it!

 

[middie]

You know, the conversion thing isn't as hard as everyone seems to think. You just need to memorize a few things and then you can calculate easily. For example a teaspoon is 5 ml...making a US tablespoon 15 ml. (In the UK and Oz however, a tablespoon is 20 ml.) Once you memorize a few of the measurements you use regularly the conversion is easy.

You already lost me there Alix . This converting thing wouldn't be good for me.

 

[CharlieD]

You know, the conversion thing isn't as hard as everyone seems to think. You just need to memorize a few things and then you can calculate easily. For example a teaspoon is 5 ml...making a US tablespoon 15 ml. (In the UK and Oz however, a tablespoon is 20 ml.) Once you memorize a few of the measurements you use regularly the conversion is easy.

Neah, you do not have to memorise anything. That is why you have scale.

 

[expatgirl]

Walk a meter, drink a liter, weigh a gram---that was my high school chemistry/biology teacher's mantra back in the 1970 's when they were trying to pound the metric system into our heads----how difficult it seemed at the time ----but I have lived overseas on and off for so many years you HAVE to learn it and thank goodness I have a scale to measure grams/ounces. ( I now know what a kilo of cucumbers, etc, feel like--about 6 cukes-- and a kilo is 2.2 pounds) Also as far as converting miles to kilometers multiply by .6 so if it's 10 USA miles somewhere it's 6 kilometers over here. 36 US miles is 6 kilometers. Or multiply the kilometers by 6 to get it in miles. Really,that part is not too hard. My biggest problem is converting the temperatures. I have finally learned if they say 40 degrees (Celcius overseas as opposed to the US Farenheit) it's dadgum hot. It's comparable to being in the 90's but I can't do that calculation in my head so you know that anything over 30 degrees C is very warm. Anyway enough of the math-----my head is swimming!!!

 

[mitmondol]

1 mile = 1.6 km
40C = 104F
You know, funny thing is, after many years my head is still tuned into metric.
When I look at prices at the store and I think, dang, this cheese is not cheap! I think in kg. THEN I realize it's twice as expensive, since the price is for half of that!

 

[Alix]

I love this discussion. And middie, sorry girl. Didn't mean to confuse you, but really, its very simple.

I just about choked on my lemonade reading about the temps too. I am forever converting celcius to fahrenheit when I chat with folks in the US. I think that might be another whole thread though. Is the US the only country that still uses F instead of C?

 

[Elf]

I thought that the US had already " Officially" converted back in the 80's but everyone just ignored the fact.

 

[daisy]

The US should absolutely step into line with the rest of the word and go metric. I find it astonishing that a country which prides itself on being ahead of the rest should lag so far behind in this one area - like half a century or more! There's a very strong case for world-wide standardisation - there have been cases of airline crashes which have resulted from misunderstandings of one measurement convention over another. I cannot give you a specific example - but my son is an air crash investigator and has told me this (he is not allowed to speak in specifics).

Metric is incredibly easy to use, and it's logical (in mathematical terms). Once you forget about converting, that is. Converting is like trying to speak in two languages at once.

Think of it like this: you can measure a line in any measurement-convention you like. It doesn't matter whether it's inches or centimetres or Whatchamacallits. You just count the lines on the ruler. Well, it's even easier than that with metric!

I grew up with Imperial measurements, and was well into adulthood when the metric system was introduced into Australia (41 years ago). I had no difficulty whatsoever with the changeover, and I'm seriously mathematically challenged. Even the older generation had no difficulty with it. You just measure out your ingredients until the numbers on the scales are the same as the numbers on the recipe! Our government sent every household a handy converter, and it worked like a dream, and still works. It's learned very quickly indeed.

The thing that most Americans find difficult is the conversions. They seem to have a poor concept of 'rounding', and try to work with impossible numbers, like '1.2345kg' of something. Ridiculous, in anybody's terms.

 

[mudbug]

I only know one way to measure a kilo and I don't do that anymore.