Americans, what's so great about the Imperial System?

[MeChaNiZ3D]

It's all they know. Literally the only reason. The metric system is on a basic, pedestrian level just as good but not better in that both define specific quantities. The difference is that metric is neater and more logically derived, and the rest of the world uses it.

To those saying it's impossible or too expensive to switch, it isn't, but the longer you leave it, the harder it'll be. Do it now. For your own sakes.

 

[briankoontz]

American Exceptionalism - we're super special, whatever we do is right, and the rest of the world should become us, not the other way around. USA! USA! USA! We're number 1!

 

[AliasBot]

Absolutely none whatsoever.

The is no reason to use Imperial over Metric.

However, at this point it's completely and utterly impossible to ever make the switch. When 300+ million people are all committed to one system and their entire society is built around it, they can't change just because the other system makes a little more sense.

Basically this. It's just far too much effort to switch everything over to metric, especially when so many people here have no understanding of metric at all. Any change would have to come first through education, teaching children metric along with imperial when they're young so they understand both, and then, once those children have grown up to the point where most of the country does fully understand metric, the overhaul of signs, 'mile' markers, and...damn near everything else would have to happen, which would both take a lot of time and a lot of work. It's a long game type of thing, and there's no incentive in the short-term for politicians (the ones that would be implementing and overseeing the change) to start the process in the first place.

 

[fix-the-spade]

I think the main reason US doesn't change to Metric system is because it would cost millions to do so.

Millions? Pff, the Imperial system has already cost the US billions, not least of which was the Mars Climate Orbiter, all one hundred and ninety three million dollars of it.

On a more serious note, I know of no industrial applications now that use Imperial, even US brands that I've dealt with manufacture to Metric then convert the measurements on account of every other country and company on the planet talking Metric. The saving of no longer doing that would outweigh the cost of finally admitting that inches are rubbish.

 

[Snotnarok]

Nothing is better about it, it's just what everyone was taught and uses.
I've been learning metric as I go (not actively just trying to pick up on it as I have to look things up) but to be honest the use here will be limited, if I say I need 3 meters of blank, everyone will go :| wat? How many feet is that?

 

[fix-the-spade]

When 300+ million people are all committed to one system and their entire society is built around it, they can't change just because the other system makes a little more sense.

Why not? The rest of the world managed it, something like 48 states use Metric as the officially accepted units of measurement, so does NASA and the US military, it's taught in American schools and even your criminal justice system defines contraband amounts by Metric units.

You're much further along that change than you think.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Its not better, its not worse its just different. Some people find it easier to grasp, others are more comfortable with the metric system. I prefer Imperial though I also can use metric without much (if any) issue since I was in the Military and they use the metric system out of tradition and easier communication with allies during joint exercises.
Still I like the Imperial more because it seems to make a bit more sense to my way of thinking. I feel its subjective more than anything but thats me.

 

[Exterminas]

It is already established in America and people are used to it to a certain degree.
That is probably the only advantage over the metric system.

 

[Rinshan Kaihou]

I can agree that the metric system is better in almost all things, except temperature. Maybe it's because we are used to it, but if I go outside and it's oven roasting hot, it seems to make more sense to me to say "man, must be at least 100 degrees outside!" than to say "man must be at least 40 degrees outside!" etc

 

[Heronblade]

I don't think there's anything inherently 'great' about the Imperial system; it's just what we were raised on and, thus, how we're used to measuring things. It's a pretty easy system to translate physically, too.

I know I can easily lift a pound, not a thousand pounds though.

But I can easily lift a gram and a kilogram; so what's the point?

I agree, it's just a system of measurements. Any organization where measurements matter probably already uses SI conventions and then who really cares if we measure a road trip in miles or km?

Everyone who has to translate between the two systems cares, which includes pretty much everyone who makes the products the rest of you use and depend on. It is a pain in the freaking ass for us, and ends up presenting a potential safety hazard if we proceed with less than our usual care.

Case in point, a recent 125 million dollar orbiter failed simply and solely because Lockheed Martin standardized components in imperial rather than SI units. NASA should have caught the issue prior to launch, but mishaps like this are a hazard every time a company is forced to work with both systems.

Also, senordesol, kilogram is the standard starting unit for most day to day use. Its about 2.2 pounds. Try using that for your standard of comparison rather than a gram.

Of course, it technically is a unit for mass, not weight, comparing it to the English equivalent of slugs would be more accurate, but almost nobody, even Americans, seem to know what the hell a slug is anyways, and going the other way, people don't seem to like using newtons for weight.

I can agree that the metric system is better in almost all things, except temperature. Maybe it's because we are used to it, but if I go outside and it's oven roasting hot, it seems to make more sense to me to say "man, must be at least 100 degrees outside!" than to say "man must be at least 40 degrees outside!" etc

You could always use the other metric temperature scale when you want to be dramatic. How does "Man it must be at least 313 degrees outside!" sound to you?

 

[Robert Marrs]

I don't think anyone really likes the imperial system its just what we are used to. If you tell me something weighs 20kg my mind does not process what the object would feel like if I held it. I could do the math of course but its not natural. Metric system is simpler and makes more sense but its not used very often in normal everyday american life.

 

[MCerberus]

There's actually a fairly strong thread of Xenophobia going through this. There's this assumption that some foreign power is trying to force us to change and TAKE OUR FREEDOM. This combined with the fact it's easier to do nothing means it doesn't get changed.

Metric is still taught for science though. Chemistry and physics are hard enough without trying to force imperial though. Dear lord even something as simple as STP would become a nightmare on imperial.

Off-topic. One of the things I find odd is that people consider ounces and grams to measure the same thing. They do not, but it seems that way because we assume a gravitational multiplier of 1.00

 

[SuperSuperSuperGuy]

I find it weird that mass is a derived unit in imperial, rather than a base unit. Rather, the base unit is force, in pounds, which is used to calculate mass, rather than the other way around. Mass in imperial is measured in slugs, just FYI.

The only reason that I can see why people still use imperial over metric is because it'd be costly to change it. I, personally, think metric is just better because it's easier to use and it makes so much more sense.

 

[mitchell271]

Here in Canada, we use a mixture of both. At least, in Southern Ontario we do. Because we're basically the same country at this point, especially with Harper (fuck that guy), a lot of what the US does rubs off on us. When measuring anything but distance driving, we use Imperial, but we're taught in Metric, almost exclusively. It really annoys me that when I was renting my apartment, the floor plan said "x square feet". I don't know how big that is, tell me in m[sup]2[/sup]!

I hate this place sometimes.

 

[MCerberus]

There's actually a fairly strong thread of Xenophobia going through this. There's this assumption that some foreign power is trying to force us to change and TAKE OUR FREEDOM. This combined with the fact it's easier to do nothing means it doesn't get changed.

Really? From what I've seen pretty much everyone has been saying "Metric is obviously better, but everyone uses Imperial since that's what they're used to". Doesn't strike me as xenophobic, it strikes me honestly as pretty rational.

This is both historic context, and add on to that the US cannot sign a treaty with another nation this day and age without people going to the media claiming its some sort of Illuminati plot to take our freedom. America is not a rational place.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Because I would rather say I was 6'4" or 76 inches instead of saying I'm 193.04 centimeters tall.

That just makes me sound tall as fuck.....

Not to the rest of the world it doesn't.

I think most people can agree that the Imperial system is worse, and much less logical. However, it is so deeply rooted in every aspect of America that it'd be next to impossible to convert to metric. That, or it would cost trillions of dollars, require an immense restructuring of countless systems and take decades to fully grow into the system.

 

[ungothicdove]

I'm down for switching. Except for distances. I'm driving a hundred miles dammit, not 160 km. And maybe height too because saying I'm 5'8" sounds better than 1.7018 meters.

 

[MCerberus]

There's actually a fairly strong thread of Xenophobia going through this. There's this assumption that some foreign power is trying to force us to change and TAKE OUR FREEDOM. This combined with the fact it's easier to do nothing means it doesn't get changed.

Really? From what I've seen pretty much everyone has been saying "Metric is obviously better, but everyone uses Imperial since that's what they're used to". Doesn't strike me as xenophobic, it strikes me honestly as pretty rational.

This is both historic context, and add on to that the US cannot sign a treaty with another nation this day and age without people going to the media claiming its some sort of Illuminati plot to take our freedom. America is not a rational place.

That's...totally not what I was asking. I was asking where the xenophobia in this thread was.

I never claimed that the thread was xenophobic, but I can see where you can get that impression. I used an ambiguous "this", but it was not my intention to refer to the thread.

And I should know better, considering how much java I use.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Apart from a couple of handy conversions, there's not much that's all that great.
As a meteorologist, the only place I ever use Fahrenheit is for surface forecasting; literally everything else is in Celsius or Kelvin. (mostly Celsius, though it's not like it's hard to convert between the two since they have the same degree ratio)

 

[Tayh]

Because I would rather say I was 6'4" or 76 inches instead of saying I'm 193.04 centimeters tall.

That just makes me sound tall as fuck.....

If that's going to be your argument, please find just ONE person who would ever say that.
Everyone else would just say one-point-ninety-three.