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

[loc978]

I'd be on board with switching if we had a balanced national budget... but we've been undertaxing and overspending for over a decade now. We've got some proverbial arrows to remove from our proverbial guts before we take care of this proverbial sliver in our proverbial toe.

Even my 60-year-old father can do distance/speed conversions in his head now. We're ready, as a nation, to continue the conversion... if we had the money to do so.

 

[senordesol]

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.

Hey, that's your problem, buddy and the only Newtons I care about are those of the 'fig' variety.

In all seriousness, I'd consider changing a measurement system on a national scale almost akin to trying to change a language. I just as I think in English, I think in Imperial. At this point, if we converted to metric, I'd be constantly having to convert measurements into the units I had been raised to understand. When one says "Oh it's about four kilometers that way" I'd instantly think: "Shit. Okay well a kilometer is a little less than a mile, so...what about three and a half miles? Three and a quarter?"

 

[Xpwn3ntial]

Do you want to shut down the highways and distribution centers of America, crippling in-state, interstate, and international trade for between a week and a few months?
No?
Didn't think so.

Also, is this starting yet another trend of thinly veiled "AMERICA SUCKS" threads? Because if there's one more before December I'm reporting it.

 

[Vegosiux]

So answer me this: Using the metric system, how many minutes are in an hour?

Since no one seems to know the answer, I'll provide it:

There are 60 minutes in an hour, regardless of your other units of measurement.

So until the metric system adopts decimal time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_time), it's not all as simple as "dividing by 10".

The real question is: Why hasn't the metric majority converted to decimal time yet?

Funny thing is, when calculating for time in metric, you're not going to use minutes or hours. You're going to use seconds, and orders of magnitudes. That's when you're doing calculations in some scientific field, I mean.

 

[LetalisK]

What's great about it? Not a damn thing. It's an incredibly awkward system of measurement that I sadly don't see us shaking off because we're so used to it.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

Convenience. That's why. Also saying "I ran a mile." rolls off the tongue a lot easier than "I ran a kilometer." It would also cost a great deal of money to convert, you'd also have to educate the entire nation on using it. And the U.S. has the third highest population in the world. That's a whole lot of hours and dollars spent on it.

 

[loc978]

Do you want to shut down the highways and distribution centers of America, crippling in-state, interstate, and international trade for between a week and a few months?
No?
Didn't think so.

Also, is this starting yet another trend of thinly veiled "AMERICA SUCKS" threads? Because if there's one more before December I'm reporting it.

Conversion is a lot more gradual than that. We can change policy and officially adopt km/h speed limits overnight, but we can't replace all of the signs in a few months. No, I'm pretty sure we'd just add km/h limits to the signs over the course of a few years, then switch.

...and you've got to admit, we do a lot of things pretty ass-backwards here. I wouldn't go so far as to say the US might as well be a third-world nation... but we've got some stupid, stubborn policies. Like our 72,000+page tax code.

 

[Callate]

Fahrenheit gives a greater range of temperatures within areas which are common human experience: climate and cooking. One can reasonably say that the temperature on a given day will be in "the sixties" or "the eighties" in Fahrenheit and be both reasonably accurate and give someone a fair idea of what to expect, whereas if one could expect the temperature to vary between thirty and forty degrees Celsius during a long afternoon (86 - 104F), climatologists would have reason for alarm. Celsius (or Kelvin, for that matter) is fine for when you're measuring the temperature of a blast furnace or the tolerance of atmospheric re-entry tile; for day to day usage, I don't really feel the benefit of a 0-100 scale based on the boiling point of water is all that useful.

As for the rest of it, sure; the ten-based system does make more sense. I could get used to a pound is almost half a kilogram, a liter is almost the same thing as a quart, and a kilometer is about .6 miles. I know the local petroleum companies would have a field day hiking up prices during the confusion if we switched to liters, though.

 

[Skeleon]

As a non USAsian: Probably just what people are used to.
The Imperial System is quite nonsensical in terms of actual unit conversions, but if you grew up with it, switching later on is difficult. And it works well enough for the medium scale that we live our day-to-day lives in.
It only starts sucking utterly when you reach very small or very large numbers, which is why scientists in the USA also use SI-units, of course.

EDIT:

Fahrenheit gives a greater range of temperatures within areas which are common human experience: climate and cooking. One can reasonably say that the temperature on a given day will be in "the sixties" or "the eighties" in Fahrenheit and be both reasonably accurate and give someone a fair idea of what to expect, whereas if one could expect the temperature to vary between thirty and forty degrees Celsius during a long afternoon (86 - 104F), climatologists would have reason for alarm.

That seems completely arbitrary and is probably just based on what you're used to (Fahrenheit). When somebody says the temperatures are going to be in "the thirties", that makes a ton of sense to somebody who is used the Celsius. They'd know to expect a hot summer afternoon.

Celsius (or Kelvin, for that matter) is fine for when you're measuring the temperature of a blast furnace or the tolerance of atmospheric re-entry tile; for day to day usage, I don't really feel the benefit of a 0-100 scale based on the boiling point of water is all that useful.

Quite weird. Don't you boil water in day-to-day life? Don't you freeze ice cubes?

 

[Kiriona]

Well, while I can't give the end all answer, I can tell what I remember about learning the two systems in grade school. Most of us learned the imperial system first and very early on, so it stuck better. Then when we were introduced to the metric system (years later in middle school, mind you) most of us just looked at it like 'wtf is this...' After spending about a week on it, the class moved on to other things.

 

[kyuzo3567]

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.

Hey, that's your problem, buddy and the only Newtons I care about are those of the 'fig' variety.

In all seriousness, I'd consider changing a measurement system on a national scale almost akin to trying to change a language. I just as I think in English, I think in Imperial. At this point, if we converted to metric, I'd be constantly having to convert measurements into the units I had been raised to understand. When one says "Oh it's about four kilometers that way" I'd instantly think: "Shit. Okay well a kilometer is a little less than a mile, so...what about three and a half miles? Three and a quarter?"

It's 2 1/2 miles almost exactly... just felt like responding with the answer, I know it was an exaggeration.

As someone said above, Southern Ontario and the GTA sucks for sticking with one measurement type. And the thing that bugs me the most is I've always found it really hard to find good recipes online that list things in Metric for ingredient amounts, I always seem to have to convert things when cooking/baking so all my utensils and such actually make sense

 

[kyuzo3567]

Actually the reason is simple. There'd be too much resistance because the imperial system is so ingrained not just in american culture but in thought patterns. That and you'd have to get 50 states to agree on that and we know how impossible that will be.. so long as texas is texas. Remember we're talking about the country actually tried to have Pi legally redefined as 3.2 and got a surprisingly far way along with that plan.


But really, it's more a matter that it's near impossible to standardize anything among all the states these days. The only reason they agreed on Imperial is because it's what the brits left them with and they couldn't agree on a better system.

What? what is wrong with those people? Not only would that fundamentally screw up higher level math and those that use it, but even following the basic math rules of rounding, if anything it should be 3.1 not 3.2....

My brain kind of hurts now

 

[Maze1125]

So answer me this: Using the metric system, how many minutes are in an hour?

Since no one seems to know the answer, I'll provide it:

There are 60 minutes in an hour, regardless of your other units of measurement.

So until the metric system adopts decimal time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_time), it's not all as simple as "dividing by 10".

The real question is: Why hasn't the metric majority converted to decimal time yet?

Because time is used constantly throughout the world. So it's not plausible for one country to switch to metric time without every other country also doing so.

 

[Vegosiux]

Actually the reason is simple. There'd be too much resistance because the imperial system is so ingrained not just in american culture but in thought patterns. That and you'd have to get 50 states to agree on that and we know how impossible that will be.. so long as texas is texas. Remember we're talking about the country actually tried to have Pi legally redefined as 3.2 and got a surprisingly far way along with that plan.


But really, it's more a matter that it's near impossible to standardize anything among all the states these days. The only reason they agreed on Imperial is because it's what the brits left them with and they couldn't agree on a better system.

What? what is wrong with those people? Not only would that fundamentally screw up higher level math and those that use it, but even following the basic math rules of rounding, if anything it should be 3.1 not 3.2....

My brain kind of hurts now

Indeed, plus, redefining pi wouldn't actually change the radius to circumference ratio at all. We'd just need to use a different designation for that, and we'd be left with "pi" that's useless unless you need to factor in 3.200000 somewhere.

 

[Brian Tams]

America is more on a dual measurement system at this point. All the Science fields use metric, and everything else is Imperial. Maybe I'm just the youngest here and as such have the most accurate experience with the public school system, but I learned both measurement systems at an early age.

The reason why its just better to teach is both is that A). You will still be able to function accurately when discussing science since you know the Metric and B). The entire nation won't have to redo every sign, book, and system that has operated on the Imperial system for decades.

Also, its not a 'Murica thing; that would be idiotic, considering the Imperial system was pushed on us by the Brits.

 

[Maze1125]

Also, its not a 'Murica thing; that would be idiotic, considering the Imperial system was pushed on us by the Brits.

That doesn't mean it's not a "'Murica" thing.
There's loads of "'Murica" things that came from Britain first, for obvious reasons. What makes it a "'Murica" thing is when Americans refuse to let go of it. Ya know, like this.

 

[drthmik]

Really it's all arbitrary anyway!
a Meter is just a length of a rod based on some BS reason, same as a foot or a yard
Truth is we couldn't care less what stick you use to measure with
both work equally well and do a fine job of measuring things

so here's the REAL question;
Why do you Europeans get so bent out of shape that we Americans don't use your arbitrary definitions of measurement?

Edit: I'd also like to point out that by simply doing nothing we can piss off millions of people and that amuses us to no end! XD

 

[Vegosiux]

Why do you Europeans get so bent out of shape that we Americans don't use your arbitrary definitions of measurement?

Same reason us continental Europeans get bent out of shape for those silly Brits driving on the left, and you Yanks having a thing for automatic transmission. CONFORMITY MUST BE ENFORCED.

 

[the doom cannon]

speaking as an american engineering student, I tend to appreciate both. I will detail a few instances.
kilometer vs mile: tossup. I can visualize both

feet vs meters: prefer feet for general use, meters for calculations. Easier for me to visualize the subcomponents and multiples of a foot compared to a meter. Plus I've never heard a metric measurement split into quarters or eighths, only halves or tenths. That being said, 1000 meters in a km is much easier to use for calculations than 5280 ft in a mile.

pound vs kilogram: prefer pounds in every instance. This has to do with the more precise nature of pounds. 165.5 lb is a much more precise measurement than 75.1 kg, not to mention that I don't know what a tenth of a kilogram feels like. The subunits make an equal amount of sense to me: none. I don't know what 1 gram feels like and I don't know what 1 ounce feels like. As for calculations, thank god for kips. if they didn't exist I would prefer calculations with kilograms.

Fahrenheit vs Celsius/Centigrade: Prefer Fahrenheit for all cases. Knowing that 32 degrees is when water freezes and 212 degrees when water boils isn't too hard to handle. It is more precise, like with the lb vs kg argument. However, I will concede that Kelvin makes more sense than Rankine, so maybe Celsius isn't so bad.

As for liquid volumes, I prefer the imperial system's units and subunits, except for pints and calculations. I still haven't quite figured those out. I prefer gallons to liters because the gallon is a larger measure, which can be broken into 4 quarts, which are close to a liter each. Liters and mL, and their easy relevance to cubic centimeters is pretty cool tho.

 

[Someone Depressing]

Over my education, I've used both the metric and imperial systems.

I hate them both, I hate maths, I hate anything that involves my arithmatic or mathematical initiative, and I hate how 14 is a "stone". Why a stone? I'll tell you why: 150 lbs. What will you compare it to? Is it good? But 16 stone? No, it's just calling you fat now.

So basically, I hate the metric system for calling me fat. But I use it more, so I guess I preffer it.