America Will NEVER Switch to the Metric System

Are We Doomed?Despite dire predictions that the U. S. is economically and scientifically doomed because we cannot get metric ideas like Celsius and milligram into our heads, in everyday life we are doing okay with canada goose outlet black cheap Canada Goose friday our standard customary weights and measures.

Americans have given up on metrication because we are unwilling to learn a new mathematical system and because cheap canada goose uk if we did convert, only Canada Goose online pharmacists and some auto mechanics would be able to understand weights, measurements and other metrical quantifications.

While freeing us from British political tyranny, they also avoided the maddening canada goose outlet sale tyranny of reckoning with shillings, pounds, farthings, guineas, sovereigns, tuppences and an occasional bob, which confused even the British themselves for centuries.

Money WiseDecimalization makes sense or cents for currency. Most Brits, who revere tradition and who have some resentment towards metrication of traditional measurements, even admit that finally making the pound equal to canada goose outlet parka 100 pence was a positive, or more specifically, a «jolly good» idea.

They did keep their customary pound instead of adopting the Euro. This was partly a deliberate effort to confuse Americans who still think «pound» is a unit of weight rather than of currency. Obviously, they are still ticked off about that revolution thing.

While our forefathers did the right thing for currency, they retained the old system of weights and measurements based on the kings girdle, his shoe size and the amount of ale he could drink before falling off the throne. I was never sure if these official measurements changed with the coronation of a new ruler or if the new ruler just adopted the measurements and inherited the tankards, girdles and shoes of the old ruler. If true, this would explain some of the funny shoes worn official canada goose outlet by kings who succeeded queens.

» I am not a size 38″ Speaking of shoes: One of the real reasons that we resist metric measurement is that women refuse to suddenly go from a size 7 shoe to a metric size 38. There is also no canada goose clearance way to get American women to increase vital bodily measurements to metric. None are willing to instantly increase waist measurements to a number which seems to represent dimensions of extinct sea mammal species.

Metric weights, on the other hand, might have some appeal. Replacing a standard bathroom scale with a metric version can change a weight of about 159 lbs to a svelte sounding 72 kilograms.

If we were to adopt the systems used by 98 percent of the civilized world we would be on the slippery slope leading to the institution of metric time telling. Each day would be divided into 100 equal hours instead of 24, each hour would be worth 14.4 non metric minutes You could work 40 metric hours per week which would equal about 9.6 old hours and still have six days a week left to get canada goose outlet toronto factory into mischief. Lunch hours would be so short that indigestion would be rampant.

Eight canada goose outlet shop hours of sleep would take a little less than less than two old style hours resulting in severe sleep deprivation. People would watch four times as many hour canada goose black friday sale long television programs per day these would all have to be shown in fast forward speed. but at least people would stop saying «There just aren’t enough hours in the day».

Confusing Days Indeed!The calendar would have to be adjusted into to a ten month system by eliminating a couple of months canada goose factory sale like March and September when nothing much happens anyway, and adding about 6 days days to remaining months. Think of how nice it would be to have those extra days just before the holidays. Monthly bills would be larger but you would only pay them 10 times a year instead of buy canada goose jacket canada goose outlet 12.

Some of the beloved holidays like Ground Hog’s Day, National Pickle Week, Shamu’s cheap canada goose Birthday and Hug Your Cat Day would be eliminated. Your cat doesn’t want to be hugged anyway, but some of the more important holidays like National Professional Pet Sitter’s day might be moved into one of the extra days of the next month.

People would also goose outlet canada have to stop saying «a pint’s Canada Goose sale a pound the world around». Come to think of it, I think they have already stopped saying that.

The metric system is OK when you are measuring infinitesimal or astronomical things, but for everyday use the familiar friendly and customary measurements like cups and teaspoons and yards and inches are easier to visualize and comprehend for Americans.

It was probably a mistake to mix standard and metric units when doing calculations for NASA’s Mars Observer some years back. It crashed into the planet due to a measurement miscalculation. They weren’t baking a cake, after all. Scientists are supposed to know better or at least have the good sense to be European.

Now that many European countries (not the UK) have converted their varied currencies to the euro. You can canada goose outlet store uk no longer have the heart stopping thrill of being presented with a bill for 947,000 lira for a crusty cheese roll and a glass of vino in Italy. Thankfully, in previous years you were usually able to resume normal cardiac function when you realized that the https://www.fcvfrankfurt.de bill was only the equivalent of a couple of bucks.

Measurements of food quantities in markets and recipes would take a lot of getting used to. When I was a child my mom used to send me to the corner butcher shop for a «pound of ground round». I always thought that had a nice lilting ring to it which could be skipped to, unlike a whole bunch of kg of ground round.

Metric measurement is an affront and an inconvenience to Americans who cook,. It’s a thinly disguised attempt to get us to buy European kitchen implements. It doesn’t help canada goose outlet much to tell us that a gram is about equal to the weight of a raisin. When there is a recipe calling for 350 grams of raisins. how much time do you think it takes to count that many?

Hogsheads were probably always inconvenient and messy to measure with, whether attached to the hog or not.

This Changes EverythingOne of the more difficult parts of metrication would be changing some of our familiar expressions. A pounding headache would become a kilogramming headache.

Footprints would become centimeter prints. Inchworms will have to be called 25.4 millimeter worms. I hadn’t heard about the pennies and the polymer. You should write a hub about the effects of the changes. The US has talked about taking away pennies for years, since they cost more than their face value to produce, canada goose uk outlet but Americans LOVE their pennies. Thanks for commenting, Carol Houle.

Carol Houle

4 years ago from Montreal

I still have a problem with the mix decades later. Up here canada goose outlet reviews in Montreal everything is metric, imperial, French, English and 4 other «main» languages. I’m never sure of what I’m getting for my money, as are most people. So they recently took away the Canadian penny and now together with the metric mix we don’t know what’s going on, except that our money is polymer and won’t stay in our wallets. It literally pops back out.