Countries That Don’t Use the Metric System

Why isn’t Canada on the list? We still use the metric system — Didn’t you hear the magic distance of “1.6 km” in the news over and over for the last several days?

hi wanna go live in china russia……thought not

How about “countries with red, white and blue on the flags, with stars”?

Ya… Since the U.S. dosn’t lead in anything that matters. That is still why our military is still fear throughout the world, even though our economy has been on a down hill for past few years, we still hold power over the world, people still look towards U.S. for assistance. Just because Americans refuesed to learn the metric system, dosn’t reflect america as a whole. It just shows our ignorence and pride, if we can still maintaine dominence in the world useing a system of 12’s then why change, everyone their knows it no point in trying to change things up now.

Dexter, the US military is full of college drop outs and the poor who can’t afford to get educated any other way. All the US military has on its side is shear numbers – nothing else. They are just cannon fodder.

What? You can’t afford to educate your population? They have to join the military to get education?!

I wouldn’t move to the US if you paid me! Many places in the world are far better places to live compared to the USA, but Americans have this strange belief that they are the leaders of the world, and are therefore better than everyone else!

The rest of the world knows the truth. 🙂

hey, i am a U.S citizen, and if u don’t know, there was a movement several decades ago to change to the metric system. i don’t know what happened to that. Well, most Americans have the attention span of a- oh look a crow.

What are you people talking about? I was taught the metric system in a U.S. elementary school and use both everyday. I also received most of my college education before I enlisted in the military. I have lived in a lot of other countries and there are some good and bad points about the other countries and same with the US. If you don’t like the US don’t live here. Also, we got some of our bad habits from the rest of the world because most people in the US or their ancestors moved to the US from other countries.

I agree with Esther, and it isn’t just that the Metric System is smarter, but it’s easier too.

Did the UK stop using MPH when I wasn’t looking? Let’s include the inventors of the Imperial system!

We started learning the metric system in my school in New York.

I don’t really think the U.S needs to convert, but it should be taught.

As for anyone who bashes the U.S and is an American, claiming it’s full of idiots, you’re no Bette than the people you’re saying you hate. You’re ignorant. There are idiots everywhere. You can’t avoid them. There aren’t just a few smart people in America, there are a lot. There are a lot in other countries too. We may not be number one anymore, but we’re pretty close. Our military is full of drop outs and junkies and whatever, but it’s still pretty good. It’s full of people willing to fight and die for their country, and that’s really what matters.

RantrantrantrantAmericanpriderant.

Just reread that. Wow.

I love how there is a lot of America bashing going on here, yet, whenever something tragic happens, or war breaks out, they ALWAYS turn to us for help, and we never refuse. If we decided that we weren’t going to support other countries in that matter, you’d all be effed. So what if our ways of calculating weigh and distance are different, in the end, it all amounts to the same weight and the same distance. Big freaking deal. And don’t even get me started on the military.

the real reason why we won’t change it is the money To change it we would have to change every factory everyone food pretty much everything and that would cost a lot. Stop hating anyways America is awesome and all the other countries are just jelouse

I love blogs like this. It/they allow so many people to trumpet their ignorance as if it were something to be proud of. The USA has totally changed to the metric system scientifically, over 80 per cent industrially, and over 90 per cent academically. You are confusing practical standards with historic casual usage. The question is, why should I be forced to measure things around my home in metric units because some superior techno-snob of a college student in some backwater country is totally offended.

Gosh, the degree of US bashing here is appalling. Shameful.

I’ve noticed on trips to the USA (I am from Sweden) that the metric system is often used there. The next time you are on a visit, look out for that quintessential American thirst quencher, Coca Cola. You’ll likely find plenty of two-litre bottles (although spelt ‘liter’ by our cousins on the other side of the pond). Mixes well with a bottle of Swedish Absolut vodka, I can tell ya, which are usually sold in one-litre volumes.
That Liberia uses the same system as the USA is hardly remarkable given its history. I cannot speak for Burma (and I refuse to refer to it by its ‘new’ name), but considering that the current madmen at the helm of government decided to move the capital from Rangoon based on astrological predictions… well…. it’s hardly fair to compare Washington D.C. to such (even if nutcases Nancy and Ronald Reagan were also firm believers of what was written in the stars).

Moroever, the USA actually did decide to switch to metric in the 1970s. Budgetary constraints in the early 1980s lead to this being called-off (another Regan move), although many government departments still require that tenders and such be submitted in metric measurements. That asides, the USA’s currency was also one of the first ever to be decimilised right from the onset, with 100 cents equating to a dollar.

I’ve mentally retitled the map as: Most envied, plus Liberia and Myanmar.

I know I feel better now.

Frankly, I like the English measurement system. It is much more poetic. What is so great about a system being simpler? The English language isn’t simple, but it is the universal language, because one can express oneself most fully, because it has by far the largest vocabulary and is the language that can most readily adapt to change. It is the most flexible language.
As for the US, it leads the world in ethnic diversity, it leads the world in GNP, it leads the world in public education, it leads the world in philanthropy (being more generous by a factor of five compared the second most generous nation of givers), among “first world” nations, it leads in belief in God, the list of positive things the US leads the world in is really quite long.

I live in the US, and I know for a fact that 90% of the people who claim to dislike/hate it are a bunch of knuckle-dragging hipsters.

Also, it wouldn’t be an eay task to switch to the metric system at this point because not many people understand it. Also, a lot of people in the good ol’ US have a similar philosophy. Who the hell are you to tell me how to live?! I’ll use whatever system I want!

I live in the US, and I know the metric and imperial systems. We had to learn them in high school, plus I studied biology and foreign language in college, so I know how to use them both. But metric is so easy. Way easier than the imperial. I feel like we need to switch to metric, but not all at once. Like, start making thermostats showing both F and C. Where there is something in Imperial format, it should show C also, so that people get used to it. Then slowly, we can move on. It’s such a pain when I’m trying to use a recipe from another country and I have to convert everything….

Well with out one of those countries we wouldnt have computers. or the internet. or be free from fascists….

Gary is right! The US system is great and we will NEVER change to the metric system! USA!

The main reason the USA didn’t change to metric is because we would have to change EVERY sign/paper/car meter/whatever out there. Plus, in science and military we do use the Metric system, you know, when it’s needed. But still, I mean, at least we can convert Metric to Imperial and vice-versa pretty easily…It’s not like a crisis/Apocalypse people. It’s just how America has run things, and it’s a bit difficult to change it all. Sorry if someone already said this/this is really old, but I’d just thought I’d say this due to my brainsplosion.

And let’s not forget whiskey, sold by the “fifth” — nominally a fifth of a gallon but actually 750 mL.

Many uninformed Americans feel the rest of the world is imposing the metric system on them. The truth is we are ignorant and arrogant believing the rest of the world will continue to buy our products when 98.45% of the world is using the metric system; as Americans say they need to us our system which is not really an American system in the first place.

Other countries are just going to refuse import of goods that are not to metric specification. This is every country’s free choice, and in fact the U.S. ‘imposes’ all kind of specifications on its imports, too. The U.S. even imposes sanctions on other countries which export to other countries, like Cuba or Iraq! Might you find this rightful or not, it’s compulsory and by no means democratic.

The rest of the world made the free decision to adopt the metric system while the U.S. decided to stay with the English Imperial system. Had the U.S. started to convert early, would there be neither significant costs nor difficulties? Now though, that the world is moving on but we chose stagnation and America will suffer as we are facing the consequences of our arrogance to join the world.

It makes me sad that America learned nothing from the 1980s as Japanese cars became increasingly popular, simply because they were the better product, and sale of U.S. cars declined because people just won’t buy crap only because it’s American. Fortunately the U.S. automotive industry understood, and the result is even better cars. Applying dogmatic traditions and blind vanity to a progressive economy just doesn’t work.

The topic is Countries that use the metric system, not attacking the rest of the world because I feel inadequate because I am part of the only industrialised country in the world that doesn’t use the elegant and intelligent metric system. Or maybe you just feel inadequate because you have a 25.4 mm dick, thats an inch BTW.

The US does not use the metric system. But the US miilitary does actually. Look it up.

As a US citizen, let me apologize for morgan. There is just so much ignorance in this country. He probably voted for Bush both times, too.
…sigh….

The whole world would be under a communist regime without America’s help. We also made huge contribution to the United Nations and actually had the idea for a peace keeping organization when Woodrow Wilson went to Paris to create a treaty after WWI. His idea (which was called Wilson’s 14 points) would have prevented WWII if his points had been accepted. The other allies; however, wanted Germany to pay for their actions during WWI. So the others didn’t accept all of his points and they forced the war-torn Germany to pay reparations which would starve the German economy and allow a dynamic leader to step in. This allowed Hitler to step in with hardly any opposition from the rest of the world. If the allies had accepted Wilson points, WWII wouldn’t have occurred and six million Jewish people wouldn’t have been killed and Russia wouldn’t have had a revolution and the Soviet Union wouldn’t have formed. Without the Soviet Union, China would have stayed Nationalist, Korea would have stayed whole, we would have avoided the Cuban missile crisis, and the entire world would be years ahead technologically. Without the United States, the world would have been conquered by Germany by the twenties and the entire world would be a place without creativity, free speech, expression, or anything the U.S. stands for.

So, if all of your scientists and military are using the metric system, what does that tell you?! I have to buy 2 sets of tools to accomodate Metric(the world) and Imperial(USA). this seems backwards and a little inefficient. Not to mention, it is NOT hard to learn metric… your dollar is already based on this system…if you can count by 10’s, you’re good. I think the rest of the world just feels like its annoying for everyone to convert to your arcaic system because of your pride and “stickin to your guns”. I dont see any advantage to NOT using Metric. It seems to me that America likes their status quo, and in this day and age, where the country is having such problems economically and with maintaining good relations with other countries, that status quo isnt valid anymore, and you guys are starting to fall behind.

Don’t know about Morgan but I am embarrased for our current president obama. Bush was way better. Who cares if we don’t use the metric system.

@alex
Wonderful American patriotism, anyone who doesn’t praise U.S.A is a hater.

As for the rest of you:

I don’t really see how this is something to fight about. Really! Let them keep their own system if they like it so much.

Truth be told is that the one thing that pisses me off is (as you can see in many of the comments here) that many (not all) Americans are convinced that they are the best of the best.

U.S.A keeps naming itself the greatest country on earth and I’m getting so sick of it. And just stop bitching about the military, a big military is like a big car, overcompensation.

You heard me U.S.A! I think you have a small dick!

Now I’m just going to lean back and watch the “U.S Hater” comments rain. 😉

This seems like the same kind of dispute than “why British people still drive on the wrong side of the road?”

@RT
But you can keep dividing by 2 metric system. Because 10 can be dividing by 2.
1 meter divided by 2=1/2 meter=5 dm=50=cm=500mm
1/2 meter divided by 4=125mm
By 1 kg of meat for 4. Each can get a quarter of kg=250 g
And I can cut a pizza of cake into 2 or 4 or 5. I don’t know why you use rule for cut pizza or cake.

@RT
You are a nut bar.

1. AU and light-year are base units, much like the metre (note the correct spelling) or your mile. See also gigaparsec, femtosecond, and kilofortnight.
2 The metric system is to be avoided because it is simple? Really? You’d rather do things the difficult way, only because it’s difficult? Here’s a spoon – build me a tunnel.
3. Without getting into how greedy and possession-obsessed the Americans are (see recent videos of Black Friday at Walmart for examples) and measuring how important a country is by your god the dollar, why not just count heads? The US has 309 million people, which is less than 5% of the world population of 6.93 billion. I’ll turn your question around: So why don’t you use our system?
4. Digital = binary? US customary system is binary? You really lose it here, don’t you?It looks like you are one of those people who think that you cannot divide 7 by 2.
>e.g. 1 yard divided by 2 = 1/2 yd = 1-1/2′ = 18″
>1/2 yard divided by 2 = 1/4 yd = 3/4′ = 9″
Take it a step further, RT.
9″ divided by 2 is? Or does your analogy break down here?
>Buy 1 lb of meat for 4. Each can get a quarter pounder = 4oz each.
Buy 1kg of meat for 4. Each can get 250g (no McDonalds reference for us)
Buy 1kg of meat for 5. Each can get 200g (still a lot of meat – even for an American)
Buy 1kg of meat for 10. Each can get 100g
Buy 1kg of meat for 7. Each can get 143g (done in my head – no fractions)

>You don’t cut a pizza or cake into 5 – do you???
Sure I do – can’t you? Each slice is 360/5=72 degrees. Are you telling me you cannot estimate 72 degrees? That you cannot visualize a pentagram on your pizza? And who cares if you’re off a bit? It’s easier to do if it’s a square pizza or a rectangular cake, though.

My point is this: you are a nut bar.

Hey Anon x, Rob, Rikard, Zachary and the rest: If America falls, where will have to fall back to? What country do you know that allows such freedoms to exist? Do you think gay people will be able to live peaceably in Iran? Or the Progressive anarchists (AKA: Obama, Ayes, etc.) to work in freedom to destroy America? Do you really think the despots in Liberia, N. Korea, China will let you just fire comments opposing their beliefs and let you get away with it? Wow! Talk about ignorant! I kiss the fucking ground EVERY time I return to the US! EVERY FUCKING TIME!

Yo out there, coming to you from this archaic corner of the world, Canada was forced to go metric when part of my country, (the part that wasn’t to bright) elected a nut case called trudeau who made Canada go metric, if Canada had of had some backbone we still would be imperial, no one needs to go metric, it just messes up our country. It is also designed to divide a country and that is not democracy @ work.
Thank you
J C and Heather Cruickshank

Just got home from a 3 month vacation in the US. Although I have been there numerous times and have been to 48 states as well as coast to coast in Canada and 10 European countries. I had no idea Americans are as brainwashed as they are. You have no idea about the rest of the world because the. American education system only teaches about how wonderful the US is. Nowhere have I seen the poverty that is in the US. Yes you have some rich, but most live in squalor below the poverty line. As far as freedoms, you don’t have the freedoms that are common in the rest of the world, except for a few Communist and dictator countries.
Please buy a passport and travel outside your little world. You will find it cleaner, safer, more affluent and much more modern. Sorry for being so blunt as I have met many good people in the US, but they have been blinded by their education brain washing.

*despise Americans

From what I understand a lot of countries use both the metric and imperial system for different applications. I’m surprised to see a heated debate on the matter.

As an American (by birth, NOT choice), I apologise on behalf of my fellow Americans. The sad truth is, the United States of American is a shithole of reaction. For real, everything about our culture, society, and system (political-economical) is thoroughly reactionary. Case in point, all the idiot right-wing tea-tards going on about how Obama (who is apparently some Kenyan-born Islamist/Communist, never mind the obvious contradiction between an Arabist theocratic ideology with feudal characteristics on one hand and an internationalist, atheistic, technocratic, egalitarian one on the other, and also he’s the Antichrist and WORST PRESIDENT EVER). But don’t get me started about the left-liberal wimps who said equivalent things about Bush (being “Hitler” and all). Bush and Obama were/are BOTH lousy presidents, but both were/are FAR from the worst. There were way worse presidents. Which of the two being the worst is debatable, but I know it’s a distinction without a difference. I would say Obama could just be the most mediocre president in American history. But that’s just it. Americans are mostly lemmings fenced in by the faulty 2-party system and deluded by our infotainment media. Rather than propose solutions or attempt to do a better job, the populace would rather fling mud at whomever is in opposition. Reactionary!

Furthermore, America is a hopelessly stubborn society. We are proud of having archaic, obsolete, or backwards practices and institutions.

The death penalty? CHECK!
(Though to be fair, that’s a tough one. A majority of the sovereign states in the world have yet to abolish the death penalty, so we’re not that far behind. Also, even I understand it’s a controversial matter and could see the merits to both sides, though I lean slightly against. That said, in the vast majority of nation-states, the death penalty is seldom or never used. The USA is one of the few nation-states where the death penalty is commonly invoked, putting us in the company of China and a bunch of Islamist shitholes. The more advanced nations of the EU and Commonwealth (and even some former Soviet republics!) have all abolished it altogether.)

A majority of the population who denies evolution? CHECK!

Widespread practice of Judaic infant genital mutilation? CHECK! (And only 3% of Americans are even Jewish!)

Continued usage of the “U.S. Customary System” (read: British Imperial System) over the System Internationale (Metric System)? CHECK!

Which reminds me, why are Americans so damned Anglophilic? When did this Hail-to-the-Queen shit start? “Imperial” in the Imperial System is a reference to the British Empire. I was under the impression that England/Great Britain was our oldest enemy. (I have NOTHING against the British today.) I am thus baffled at why for the past 150 or so years Americans have been collectively dropping to their knees to suck British trouser schnauzer. The British invented that system of measurement, it is THEIR system and they even dropped it. So many redneck Americans hate on the French, when it was the French who helped us fight for independence from Perfidious Albion in the 18th Century, the British who fought two wars with us (Revolutionary War, War of 1812) and dragged/tricked us into fighting another war for them (World War One). Americans want to be the new British Empire. Well, sour news for you, the American Empire will crash and burn harder than the original British Empire did.

USA, USA, we’re number one, we’re number one!
…in obesity…

@ RT: Holy shit, you are stupid! Are you just trolling? Because, god damn, I don’t see how any individual could possibly be so dumb! I mean there were great Americans of great intelligence, and still are, but you ain’t one of them. Morons like you make the rest of us look like idiots.

(1) Astronomical Unit is simply a term for the distance from Sun to Earth (makes sense that we would use the distance from our planet to our local star as a common reference). Light-years are the distance traveled in one Earth year at speed c. Both of the above can be expressed (quite easily) in SI units. But Festeron already answered that…
(2) That statement is so stupid I don’t even know how to respond. All I know is Kennedy, being a political leader, and even the greatest politicians are prone to sentimental or passionate oratory, wanted to give a rousing speech, kind of how a coach or general would, poetic, inspirational, but not necessarily pragmatic. Yes, it’s good to challenge oneself, I get that, COMPETITION, HOORAH! But that does not mean never simplify. Doing everything the hard way just because you think you can is insanely idiotic.
(3) So we consume a disproportionate share of the global GDP, “YAY! Greedy fat fuck Americans!” How does that give us the right to declare ourselves superior over the rest of the world?
(4) Obviously you have no idea what “digital” or “binary” means. The metric system is indeed decimal, but the US customary system is NOT binary. Binary is a numerical notation, base-2. (We ordinarily count in base-10, where our place value is in powers of 10, at least that’s how most human languages are structured and how Indo-Arabic numerals are usually presented.) For example:

5 + 2 = 7 (decimal)
In binary would be:
101 + 10 = 111

Binary does simplify things greatly. Computers use binary because 0 or 1 corresponds to on-or-off in an electronic switch. However, it would be impractical in daily use.

And I don’t get how/why the “metric system needs rounding and so is NOT precise & imperfect.” Uh, high! The Metric System is decimal (base-10). I know that you REALLY suck at math, but 10 is divisible by 2, what we call an even number. You don’t have to divide into fifths (per your pizza example). Also, numbers being infinitely divisible you can divide ANY measuring unit in half indefinitely. So, your point is? The U.S./Imperial System, however is NOT binary, or decimal, or any number. It is completely fucking random.
12 inches to 1 foot, 3 feet to 1 yard, I have no idea how many feet or yards to a mile… Also, 3 is an odd number, not divisible by 2, so kind of shoots down your whole binary argument…

“Yo out there, coming to you from this archaic corner of the world, Canada was forced to go metric when part of my country, (the part that wasn’t to bright) elected a nut case called trudeau who made Canada go metric, if Canada had of had some backbone we still would be imperial, no one needs to go metric, it just messes up our country. It is also designed to divide a country and that is not democracy @ work. Thank you J C and Heather Cruickshank”

This raving idiot “J C Cruickshank” who apparently suffers from multiple personality disorder (is it J C or Heather?) proves that Americans do not have a monopoly of morons. Imbeciles live in other countries too! Maybe we can take a break from America-bashing for some Canada bashing? The gratuitous spelling errors and horrid grammar aside, said individual (is it even politically correct to refer to somebody suffering from a split personality as an “individual”?) she has failed to explain why Trudeau was a nut case, or how the Metric System messed up her country, nor did she elaborate upon her conspiracy theory that the Metric System was designed to factionalize a country. However she did indicate that she considers “having backbone” to mean fighting for a shitty archaic measuring system.

@ Bob:
(1) The Fahrenheit system is NOT much more accurate than Celcius. At best you can say it is more precise (learn the difference between accurate and precise) because Farenheit involves smaller intervals. But you’re obviously too stupid to deal with fractions.
(2) One gallon is approximately 3.78541 litres. However, there are a couple ways around that problem. One option is to introduce a lower denomination than the cent (re-introduce the half cent perhaps), but that is a very poor solution (see below). The other option is to simply adjust prices at the level of decaliters (groupings of 10 liters). That is the nice thing about the metric system and it being decimal. Per your example, where the price of a gallon goes up by 9 cents in the US and the price of a liter goes up by 3 cents in Canada that would work out to about 11.356 cents per gallon (closer to 2 cents than 3 cents extra…). However, if instead of +9 cents per gallon or +3 cents per liter, a price adjustment of +20 cents per decaliter is made, that works out to less than 8 cents per gallon. [Regarding the notion of a smaller cent, actually in addition to the archaic measurement system, the penny is another useless artifact to which Americans stubbornly cling. Some economists have shown that phasing out the penny can help the economy, probably much more than anything Obummer would do.]

“The answer is that the schools have pushed and pushed for the transfer to metric for decades now, and the people chose not to accept it. That’s just it. In this wonderful country they can’t just say “we are now on the metric system”.

Leave it to an idiot American to confuse corporate overlordship with “free choice.” Americans wouldn’t know free choice if it bit them on the ass! When Mitt Romney proclaimed that “corporations are people” he was not shitting us. But I have a proposal. The easiest way to phase out “our” archaic system of measurement (which was not originally ours to begin with), rather than mandating one or the other, or mandating both, is to give students an option of which one to learn. Start the kids at a young age, like third or fourth grade. Let them decide if they want to learn the customary or Metric system. On the first day, briefly explain the two measuring systems and let them pick one, but only one. Then they can take a test on one system or the other. “Okay class, there are two measuring systems…” “…there are 12 inches to a foot, 3 feet to a yard…” (versus) “everything is times 10!” Kids would ask questions like, “why aren’t there 12 feet to a yard?” and thinking, “this is really fucking stupid, can we just learn Metric?” The problem is, we are not given a choice. In American schools, one system is taught over the other (usually US Customary), or else they will give both equal time, but even if Metric and Imperial do get equal classroom time (this is rarely guaranteed), the students will be more familiar with the latter in their daily life (due to its habitual use in the States). That’s why teach one or the other in a class, but offer both classes and let the pupils select the class. And 1000 meters per kilometer is a hell of a lot easier than 5280 feet per mile.

I moved to the U.S.A. about 4 months ago, from Canada. I will always be a patriotic Canadian, but I am loving it here in Louisville!

Metric is far better, arguing this baffles my mind! We divide by 10. Our freezing point is “0 degrees celcius,” what a concept! Minus 1 is 1-below freezing.

Let’s see if we can beat Liberia and Burma to the Metric System, they are the only other two countries that remain Imperlialized.
I love America. Please adopt the Metric System, start recycling please!

The war of 1812 was between the British (Canada) and the USA. They were not on the same side. Get your facts right.

The U.S. has been using both the Metric and Imperial sytems since 1875 with equal ability. That is why The United States is The ONLY super power in the world….and of course our Belief in a higher power….and I’m not talking about that unqualified decietful/ hater shoe salesman Obama.

I think the people who dislike the imperial system are to arrogant to learn the system correctly. Lets face it we will never get rid of the Imperial system just look at sockets they come in 1/4” – 3/8” – 1/2” – 3/4” you will never find a Metric drive its all imperial. Dealing with metric being divisible by 10 the classic Imperial ‘foot’ is divisible by 12 and living close to the Canadian border for most my life its necessary to know both and fluently. In the end I stand by the Imperial system because I prefer to use fractions over decimals. Lets be honest the Imperial names sound way better than Metric an Inch to a centimeter its too much of a mouth full. Yard to a Meter and a Mile to a Kilometer. Metric just sounds Gay really.

As an American, I just wanted to bring up the fact that America is the 3rd largest country in the world in terms of area and population. We have a lot of tools, and produce a lot of goods. The monetary cost for us to change our entire country from Imperial to Metric so that the rest of the world doesn’t have to buy an extra set of wrenches seems a bit trivial. I guess the only thing I can suggest, if the Imperial system is a problem, is to buy local.

On the bright side it makes for easy trading with Liberia and Burma:)

First off, I say you worry about your own country rather than worrying about others’.

Secondly, it’s funny how everyone loves to criticize others governments, rules and regulations and ways of living, but never their own.

Step aside, son.

Yes, the United States uses the Imperial system. It is also the most technologically advanced nation on the planet. Second, if their government was as bad as you say, how could they achieve the great successes that they have? Remember who saved who during WWII

For all of you apologists for American superiority – each and every one of you suck sweaty donkey balls!!! The United States is the greatest country in the world because we grow more food, have more innovation, and enjoy the greatest system of government. If you don’t like the country, get the f*k out and go live in Iran, North Korea, or Myanmar. We don’t need as s clowns like you using up valuable space that somebody who really wants to be here could use!!!

@Bob the Janitor: don’t use words you don’t understand. Please, google what apologist means. Hint, hint: it does not mean what you thing it means…

To all those ignorant Americans:
If you add the population of those countries in the world that still use the very backwards imperial system (USA, Myanmar, Liberia) it totals around 5% of the worlds population. So your are well in the minority. Come on people… embrace the future and get with program. Even us Brits (who invented the imperial system) let it go in the 70’s. Although we still use some imperial units in day to day life like ‘home many miles to Manchester?’, ‘can I have a pint of beer’ etc. All official measurements are SI units… like the rest of the world! So my litre is the same as a litre in Japan, and not a US gallon is different to a gallon anywhere else in the world. Well done USA at being utterly insular, and not even realising it. I applaud your ignorance.

Dear Karl,

I hate to inform you, well I really don’t, the imperial system is a standard system across the world. A gallon in the US would be the same amount of liquid as a gallon in Japan if they used it. The benefit of the metric system is that it is neatly divisible; 10 units of a smaller unit make 1 of the next larger unit.

USA! USA! USA! USA!USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! We have the best system in the world all the rest can take a meter stick and stick it up there asses. Your mom was so impressed with the inches of my dick that she started to drip US gallons of cum. By the way, your mother is so fat that she weighs around 300 pounds (WHICH IS NOT CURRENCY YOU JADED CUNT) so I ran away at 20 miles per hour.

USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! USA! I walked over to the gas station at a speed of 3 miles per hour. Then I

The US does use the metric system. The inch, mile, ounce, pound, and so on have for quite some time been defined based on metric measurements! Go look it up!!!

The US just uses different metric units (inch, mile, ounce, pound, etc.) than those used by most other countries (meter, kilogram, etc.).

Zach said, “We have the best system in the world all the rest can take a meter stick and stick it”

Actually, Zach, the “system” we have is the leftovers of the pre-Imperial British system. It was so bad even the British improved it in 1824. Our gallon and bushel were defined by British Parliament around 1700. Does that make you a proud American?

We chose to sign the Treaty of the Meter in 1875, but people like you continue to want to be British and use the leftovers of our former king. Not me. We have been part of the development and improvements of the the International System since 1875. Lets use it, not our former master’s leftovers.

We’ll switch to metric when you switch to driving on the right side of the road.

Why is USA so ahead of the times with everything except for measurements? Its embarrassing 🙁

To K Bounds
Choosing the Imperial system for the sake of nonconformity would be well and good if it didn’t cost us money while making us a laughing stock of the academic world. One of the biggest recent blows to the US space program, having to repair the Hubble Space Telescope a few years back, cost millions of dollars and was entirely because a single engineer neglected to convert from imperial to metric. What use is that? What do we benefit from making everything more difficult and complicated just for the sake of being contrarian? We’re basically that goth kid at school who wears all black with tons of make-up, hoodies, and heavy chains dangling off his pants in the middle of summer. Not exactly worth the trouble.

We actually use multiple measures in the USA. People forget, we are a democracy. Good or less than good, we don’t bow to every convention just to get go along with the herd. I remember the try to convert and no one made a compelling aguement for the change, other than “everyone else is doing it”, duh!
So I have two sets of tools for whatever I am working on. No one said Freedom was free.

The post is bad propaganda: it is simply wrong. Two reasons: first, the metric system IS officially used and endorsed by the United States; second, customary units remain in common and widespread use in countries other than Myanmar and Liberia – including the United Kingdom and Ireland, at the very least.

The metric system has been the official standard in the United States since the Mendenhall Order of 1893, which established the legal dimensions of the commonly-used US Customary Units – in metric. They have been defined in metric ever since. And, no law prohibits the use of metric units in commerce in the US – it’s just that the law also provides for the use of Customary Units, properly defined in metric.

I am interested in what David J Sandmeyer says about the cost of metrication for his business. Here in the US General Motors, Ford and Chrysler started metrication back in the 1970s and are pretty close to complete today. GM found it cost more to create tracking procedures for metrication costs than it cost to metricate. Caterpillar and John Deere both changed to metric measures and both are glad they did. Mr. Sandmeyer says it would cost his company 6 figures or even 7 figures just to convert to metric measures. He mentions thousands of blueprints. Does he really need to convert all those blueprints? Are all those blueprints in active use now? I am pretty sure that GM didn’t convert all the blueprints they had on file; they probably converted some and built drew new ones for future car models in metric measures while the bulk of their stored blueprints were left in storage. I don’t know Mr. Sandmeyer’s business but I would ask if it is growing ie he is so busy with present work he doesn’t have time to think closely about any metrication scheme. Is his business making parts for others so he is constrained by their blueprints and nobody is asking for or demanding parts made to metric dimensions? Anyway I hope Mr. Sandmeyer checks in again to this blog and is willing to answer some of questions if he will.

Oh this is so funny! To read the abuse you all hand out so readily to eachother. Trouble is it’s not funny. It’s highly embarrassing! The reactions I’ve seen against the first comment have been so outlandish, frankly loutish behaviour. USA? I expected better. A little more self control. You really have shown yourselves to be as scared and paranoid as everyone already knew you to be. Your answer is to attack, attack, attack. Shame on you. Let’s face it, wasn’t this supposed to be a simple debate about metric/imperial?
Why so nasty over such a mediocre question?… Answer: Paranoia

If it took a long time to convert to Metric for England, and I think Don knows about decimalisation and how that change went with the Brits, then it goes to show that we, as humans, do not always accept change. Right now, not a lot of Americans are ready to accept using the Metric system, as we were brought up with Imperial, plus, we will probably not want to convert until the change is smooth enough so that there will not be much difficulty in transitioning. Right now, considering Americans’ point of view, I’d say we are happy with our system and the British are happy with theirs (on a majority). But, as one to embrace the future, I will be content to converting. The trouble is, some of us (like Zach), no matter how obnoxious, view the Imperial system as a symbol of national pride, sort of like (I’m an American, so correct me if I’m wrong, as this is Wikipedia) the Tudor rose or the Coat of Arms. Which is ironic considering the origin of the Imperial system. Or as I prefer to call it, Customary. So long as we still spell doughnut donut and have fights instead of rows, we probably won’t convert to Metric unless something truly drastic occurs. Besides, what’s the use arguing about something that won’t change for at least another decade? It’s like a mini war here. I know we value national pride, but if it leads to arrogance and hatred towards people speaking the same language, albeit in different accents, then clearly we should stop. Not everyone will agree that one unit is better than the other. When my British friend comes over, I can explain to him about our measures without getting into a tizzy (sorry). Until than, we’ll be perfectly happy using pounds and ounces or litres (Brit spelling) and metres. And I think I wait until I’m really drunk until I stick a yardstick/meterstick up my a**.

Your Made in America friend,

RZ

Honestly does it really matter what system of measurement we use as long as they are some what close to meshing that they work, which they do. For instance noticeably how interchangeable it is to go between differ wrenches and sockets like 3/4″ to 19mm, 1/2″ to 13mm and 5/16″ to a nominal 8mm. But, I also see that not all people are equally minded in their mental ability and what might be common sense to others is just rocket science to others, but then again knowledge is knowledge so take all you can perceive and simply discard the rest.

USA

I’ve been born and raised in America. The US Congress did set a date for the US to covert to all metric. 2/8/82 – to make it easy, People just don’t relate to metric units here. When my son was ten, his mother essentially kidnapped him and took him to France. So to be able to communicate with him, I learned a bit about the metric system. The only part of the metric system that I find difficult to use or adapt to is temperature. Degrees in Centigrade are to big. With our scale, when someone asks “what’s it like out”, we respond “in the 80’s” So ironically Fahrenheit degrees can be used in groups of 10. With Centigrade, the degrees are about twice as large as ours. We can say “it’s in the 80’s” and we communicate usable information. To convey essentially the same information, in centigrade one would say “it’s mid 20’s almost 30”. As I said this is ironic as the decimal system is the driving force of metric, but temperature information doesn’t work well in centigrade (I know it’s now called Celsius, but my dad was an engineer and a proponent of the metric system, so he taught me “centigrade”. Aside from temperature, I would have zero problem using the metric system tomorrow. Over the past 25 or so years, a good friend of mine lived in Montreal Canada and I visited a few times a year, I found it quite easy to get used to, figuring out French road signs was a lot harder.
As one person pointed out, a change in the US to metric would indeed take 20 to 30 years. Basically just about everyone alive (say over age 20) would most likely never “think” in metric. We would learn a rough conversion formula and think in the current system and make conversions. Just like when someone is truly fluent in 2 languages, they can think in both. Younger people would learn to think in metric. In effect, metric used here in the US more than many people think. Everything medical is in metric units, alcohol is sold in liters, as is soda.

You “Americans” aka United States citizens. Everyone in the Americas are Americans, please don’t ever call me American though. I’m Canadian and their just greedy war mongering pieces of filth.

Now to the point at hand. The imperial system comes from the country you faught against, England. You wanted freedom. Got it. You wanted to kill the “natives”, you did it. That’s why you all carry guns now. It’s the second amendment you retards.

Do you know how to count your own money? It goes up in tens right? That’s the metric system you idiots. It’s so simple and it’s always in your hands but your still too ignorant to figure it out.

The French figured it out. Eh why not just make a value that goes up by ten every time. We can kill the American brain. Don’t worry it’s not hard to do. They hate the British but they still are British, they just want to have guns and be really dumb.

There’s a reason why God put Canada on top of the world, so we could look down on Americans! You ignorant assholes

What was this thread about again? :-p

My only problem with the imperial system is that a) my hardware store sells garden hose with 1/2″ diameter, PVC hoses aren’t but garden hose to screw-on pipe connectors are and most screens are in inches. b) A lot of things on the internet (like a lot of Instructables pages and wikipedia) are based on inches, I once saw an equation which was like (length in something imperial * something else)^0.402, so you will be doing a lot more work.

And it is far easier to calculate with the metric system, 1m * 1s = 1m/s, which is speed, then there is acceleration like this: 9.81m/s², where you can calculate how fast you will be if you accelerate for x seconds with this formula: 9.81*x = speed in m/s, and to calculate how much force in newtons you need to accelerate a rocket you simply multiply the weight (let’s say 10 tonnes) by gravity which is around 9.81 m/s², let’s take 10m/s², that means that I need a thruster with 100kN force.

And it is much easier to use base 10 exponents for calculations.

“Just remember there are two types of countries on this earth: those who use the metric system, and those who have walked on the moon.”

That would have come across a lot better if it hadn’t been in all caps, which is effectively yelling.

That aside …

Some of us are simply adept at arithmetic and can actually do conversions, so we usually find better things to whinge about. Well, until we head for the pub, because UK pints are bigger than US pints, and you’d better not be shortchanging us by serving those US things. Then it’s bloodsport.

Metric makes more sense unless you have 12 fingers. And good grief, have you seen how many standards there are for knitting needles? The only one that is unambiguous is metric. A “Size 5 Needle” could be US size 5, UK size 5, or whatever the hell China uses. “3.75 mm”–that’s the same everywhere.

Knitting matters to me. And I’m old and cranky. Get off my lawn.

One last question:

The one-pound, 24-karat gold macaroni noodle that Kraft foods is giving away: Is that an Imperial pound or a Troy pound? Gold is measured in Troy ounces, and a Troy pound is smaller than an Imperial one.

So if anyone asks you “What weighs more: A pound of feathers or a pound of gold?” … it’s the feathers. Different pounds. Now you’re a pub trivia genius.

Why are you still on my lawn? Get off my lawn.

It’s not about cultures or traditions. It’s about what makes sense. As science advances globally, a common and consolidaed system is necessary.
Here is a simple breakdown of the two systems:
In metric, one milliliter of water occupies one cubic centimeter, weighs one gram, requires one calorie of energy to raise its temrature by one degree, which is one percent of the difference between its freezing point and boiling point. An amount of hydrogen weighing the same amount has exactly one mole of atoms in it.
Whereas in the American system, the answer to “How much energy does it take to boil a room-temperature gallon of water?” is “Go fuck yourself” because you can’t relate any of those quantities.

And nobody’s complaining about the fact that the smelly English limeys are driving on the left?

I am a American and metric is used in school and in scientific thing also products are packaged in metric containers labeled in both metric and American units

Monty you dense fuck, It meant the official unit of measurement. We order a pint of beer in new zealand as well, but if you asked me what a foot was i would point down.

Well, this thread deteriorated fast. We now see the cancer of society at its finest and this is how our country is quickly deteriorating, seriously.

With that said, I spent 7 years living overseas. At first, I had a hard time adjusting to the metric system but after acclimating to the units of measure I find it super easy to work with. Take building something for example, you can do all the calculations in your head without having to figure out fractions and translating to lowest common denominator. Working on equipment it’s easy to know what size up from a 9mm socket you need (10mm for the cancer). What the next size up from a 1/4″ socket or a 5/16″ inch socket?…yeah….unnecessary extra conversion required. Pretty easy to know freezing is 0C and boiling is 100C and calculate temperature variables .

Why do Americans think Brits all speak metric? We don’t. We speak a mixture of both. If someone tells me they were going 80kmph (which no1 ever would anyway its just for the sake of argument) then id have a rough idea of how fast they were going buy id be thinking how many mph is that as that’s what we Brits think in. We also by pints of beer and milk even though milk is labelled in ml but we don’t say “I’m off to get however ml 1 pint of milk is from the shop” we say I’m off to get a pint of milk. If measuring ourselves we say it in feet and inches although younger generations like me below 30 or so do understand meters as they have been drummed in to us. I for example know 6ft 2 is 188 cm. Oh and we also weigh ourselves in stones although I’m not very good at understanding pounds in large amounts. Don’t really here anyone say I’m 200lbs they say I’m 14 stone 7lbs or whatever it is. Anyway my point is made. Why would Brits work in any other way anyway seems they are the ones the imperial system originated with.

Belize also uses the Imperial system

While it may seem to make sense for America to change to the metric system, do you have any idea how much that would cost to do? Seriously, every single distance and speed limit sign would have to be changed out. And that’s just one example. If you think of the price to switch, versus the positives of switching, it just doesn’t make sense. Unless the countries complaining about it want to cover the cost. Then I and many others would say hell yes, go for it. LOL

First of all, it’s is up to the citizens of the United States to decide what system they want to use. We are a recalcitrant nation full of dissenters. Perhaps you all have forgotten how this nation was formed. Also, perhaps you have forgotten who pulled the rest of the world out of the largest war this earth has ever faced. While the “progressive” European nations were struggling for their survival… you didn’t mind our gallons, pints and inches then. We will switch when we want to switch and not a moment sooner. No amount of European pressure is going to change us. It didn’t work in 1776 and it won’t work now.

Wtf do these last two political rants have to do with the metric system? USA should go metric. i cant stand having to convert everything at work its unnecessary. The metric system makes more sense period. We already use it in science because…its easier. Im american btw.

America is not a back water

Please do some research.
US gallons are not larger than British gallons.
3.785 litres to the US gallon,
4.546 litres to the British.

Thanks to the Internet… We are able to have this discussion. Guess who brought you the Internet… MERICA! BAHAHAHA!

Ricky Bobby, the internet was invented in Europe -Switzerland to be exact- in CERN, by an English person. Additionally pertaining to the article, the other two mentioned countries are in the process of switching to the metric system, despite the costs, it would make life easier to just either adopt the metric system or integrate it so it could be used interchangeably.

Most of the so-called imperial system is based on obsolete Medieval French systems which the Normans brought over when they invaded Britain. That includes the pound sterling. That is why pounds weight is abbreviated to lbs and not pds and the symbol for the pound sterling is and elaborated L. Of course, we also used the German Fahrenheit system for measuring temperature and the Nordic/Germanic Schilling as part of our currency. Really logical so far.

Of course in the case of the mile that was a Roman invention and there are as many variations as there are countries almost (The English, The Irish, the Italian, the Swedish and so on and on), not forgetting that we have two variations at least in the UK i.e. the imperial mile of 1760 yards and the Nautical mile of 2000 yards.

Have you ever tried to multiply fractions? Don’t forget that the imperial system also includes Rods, Poles and Perches as well as chains to measure length (to help here 1 Chain = 1/8th Imperial mile while Rod, Pole or Perch = 1/4 Chain or 1/64th mile – does that make it easier?). Volume calculations include the Bushel (again from France). A bushel in the UK is 8 gallons (64 imperial pints) or 36.4 Litres while in the US it is 64 US pints or 35.2 litres. Let’s not forget the peck (1/4 bushel) and the kenning (2 pecks).

Of course, the differences between the UK imperial measuring system and the NEARLY similar US system makes conversion fraught with difficulties and dangers. It is much easier to use the much simpler and universal Metric system which (for you Americans) is not overseen by the French or Germans but by the International Standards Organisation (ISO) which meets in Switzerland and has representatives from all countries which use the system (including the good ‘ole US of A).

To Joe Myer above, Belize may use the Imperial system but with a population of 400.00 or so it is the size of a secondary city here in the UK so hardly merits mentioning.

In Australia 1973 -1976 they changed to metric and phased the use over about 3 years. I then worked for an American products company in Australia.

So I am reasonably fluent in both systems and so which is the best we question ?

who cares , just make sure the pilot of the plane and the tanker driver filling it does not mix them up as they fly around world ( re: air crash investigation’s)

Lets talk about just standardizing air craft fuel fill to either gallons or litres now that is worth talking about for a reason.

To be fair. In Britain we do serve beer (and milk) in pints, and spirits in 1/5 Gill. You could order 568.261 mls of beer but you would get funny looks. Our road signs still show distance in miles and our speed limit signs and speedometers are in MPH.

In the US we have the freedom of choice to measure any way we please. If you don’t like the US system, stay the fuck out of this country. The last thing we need here is more godless british and european trash. Even in Canada the metric system has been an ultimate failure. Don’t believe me?? Go to ANY store in canada, ALL of the food is advertised by the POUND with kg in very small print. Ask any canadian how tall he is or how much he weighs, and they will ALWAYS tell you in lbs and feet and inches. NEVER in metric. I’ve yet to meet any canadian who weighs themself by the kg. They would drive in miles and buy gas by the gallon, but it would be cost prohibitive to switch back, it was horrendously expensive to switch to the metric system there. Canadians still QUOTE distance in miles and feet and inches. As i said before if you don’t like the way we measure in america then stay the fuck out. WE WILL NOT BE DICTATED TO AS TO HOW TO MEASURE ANYTHING. Remember we are the superpower of the world and the world’s policeman, so your metric system doesn’t mean fuck all to us. We don’t want it or like it. A few socialist americans want to go to metric, but 99% of us will NEVER use it

I think you should set a reminder every four years to update your comment on the government…

I live in Puerto Rico which was a Spanish colony from 1493 to 1898. Now as a U.S. territory for almost 120 years, we have a mixture of both systems. Our distances and highway exit markers are in KM, and we sell gasoline and other fluids in liters, yet we buy cars based on MPG. We can buy in both kg and pounds, and also use both grams and ounces. So we have a mixture of systems and many residents are confused for the mix. As an engineer, I was trained in both systems, so I can mentally calculate between them. But I expect the U.S> to lead and convert to the worldwide Metric so we can also go back to the Metric system we used before.

BTW, there is a “metric ton”, which is equal to one thousand kg or one million grams, or correctly one megagram. That does sound better than tons.

I think this is a fucking waste of time to rant and rave about “backwaters” if y’all live in one :D… But seriously, so what if we use the metric system, we don’t complain that you have different spellings or words. Oh, and stop bitching about how British English should just be “English”, as far as I can tell, no one gives a rats ass or mentions that Mexican/South American Spanish should be just “Spanish”, so STFU and stop crying ya S.O.Bs.

Poppycock. Greetings from Marshall Islands. We use miles too. So do our cousins in FSM (Kosrae, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Yap).

The metric system is way too easy to teach anywhere. Lets confuse our lower IQ kids with fractions that won’t use he rest of their lifes.

Obviously a US based article which typically fails to be accurate. The UK and Northern Ireland still use Inperial measurements.

had metrics long as i can remember but got funny look when asked for a 30 cm sub at subway . Girl serving didnt know what i was talking about till i said 12 inch . She was prob about 16 or 17 well within the metric age ( NZ got metrics from 1967 till 1975 ) , realised 12 inch sub was a brand . btw petrol is in litres and weight in kg.

“Of all the countries in the world, only three backwaters still use the archaic Imperial system of weights and measures”

Inflammatory calling the United States of America backwater! Here’s the real reason why the USA never switched to the Metric System. They tried back in the early 70’s, but the U.S. business economy juggernaut just couldn’t do it. Remember, in WWII, the USA was the 7th military might in the world…7TH!!! Admiral Yamamoto of Japan said that they would have to win the war in two years or he feared the USA’s economic capability would be overwhelming. He was right. 1941-1945…four years and our military might of men and machines was utterly demolishing all enemies in its path, ON TWO FRONTS!!! Let me just give you some perspective of how big the USA is to other countries using the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the total value of goods produced and services provided in one year. #1 is the USA at 18-Trillion US Dollars, #2 is China at 11-trillion USD, #3 is Japan at 4.1-Trillion, #4 is Germany with 3.6-Trillion USD, just 1 state out of 50 states–California, is the 5th biggest Economic Power in the world at 2.7-Trillion, surpassing #6 the United Kingdom at 2.6-Trillion, then at #10 in the world is Texas at 1.6-Trillion. This is leading somewhere…just hold on…one more point… Speaking of Texas, it’s just our 2nd largest state out of 50 states. However, Texas will swallow vast amounts of Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Czech republic, Austria, some of France, some of Italy, some of Poland, and some of the North Sea in just sheer land mass. That’s nine (9) countries and a sea competing in size just for our 2nd largest state. And don’t get me started on Alaska and California’s size, 12.5 Taiwans can fit in the state of California, 2.1 Texas’ can fit into Alaska.

My point is, the United States of America is HUGE!!! Not only is its land mass huge, but its states economies are huge, let alone all 50-states contributing to the number one economy in the world. Let’s see you change every cast, die, stamp, mold, fitting, piping, nut, bolt, screw, etc., of every bit of machinery, tool, production line, etc., in every city, in every county, in every state, in the entire United States, just because you want to conform to the rest of Europe, Asia, North and South America! Yeah, let’s just stop all production of Fords, across all models, pull out all our robotics and machinery on our production lines, and then reinstall all of it, just so we can conform to the metric system. That’s logical isn’t it??? Maybe instead, we can make a second production line for all our model lines, building brand new second factories, while the old “backwater” imperial system still pumps out new cars and trucks, so we don’t have to stop production, and we can still conform to the metric system! Yeah, let’s spend just a handful of trillions of dollars to do the second option, yeah, yeah, that’s the ticket! I picked Ford as opposed to a Silicon Valley Tech Company, Amazon, Apple, Google, because I know just 1 item, of just 1 model of Ford Motor Company, cost them an 8-week shut down of the model and cost over 359-million dollars to retool–the all aluminum body of the Ford F-150 Truck. Now multiply that by 17 models of Ford, then multiply that into Chevy, Chrysler, Lincoln, Cadillac, Dodge, Jeep, GMC, Buick, Ram, and finally Tesla. Now multiply by the tech industry (no don’t…I don’t want to give you a headache, there’s so many!!!), mining industry, aerospace industry, military industry, transportation industry, building/general contractors, cable/satellite/TV production/movie production industry, communication, clothing…shall I go on? And remember 50-states, with multiple counties (California has 58 counties), with thousands of cities…in each state, let alone the entire United States of America. So, it’s just not logical for the number 1 economic power in the world to retool, just so we can say, “Yay! We’re using the metric system now!” Now do you get the real reason?

If it still doesn’t make COMMON SENSE to you, then how about this…

California’s yearly economy is bigger than Finland, Czech Republic, Romania, Ukraine, New Zealand, Luxembourg, Slovak Republic, Hungary, Morocco, Ecuador, Kenya, Oman, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Syria, Tonga, Samoa, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Maldives, Barbados, Kosovo, Rwanda, Congo, Madagascar, Malta, Macedonia, Armenia, Albania, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Laos, Jamaica, Zimbabwe, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Papua New Guinea, Iceland, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Honduras, Nepal, Estonia, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, El Salvador, Paraguay, Cameroon, Bahrain, Bolivia, Ghana, Serbia, Yemen, Jordan, Libya, Lithuania, Croatia, Bulgaria, Lebanon, Panama, Costa Rica, and Uruguay COMBINED!!! Try retooling all these countries combined, and that’s just the equivalent of California alone!!! But you’ve just got started, you have 49 other huge states and huge economies to retool too…

Hope you get it now! The U.S. won’t retool its entire economy and its entire land mass, just so we can say, “Yayhey! We conform to the rest of the world in our nuts and bolts!!!” :-p

I’m an engineer who uses both systems interchangeably. Measurements are simply mathematical representations of things in the physical world. The physical things are important; how they are described, not so important.

Last time I checked, Canada was a mix of imperial and metric. Ask a Canadian how tall they are, and you’ll most likely get an answer in feet and inches. Ask them their weight, and the answer they give will likely be in pounds. They sell steak by the pound.