Dammit - I wish you Americans would use the bloody metric system

[Guy_Montag]

No-one else uses imperial measurements these days - not even the people that gave the to you.

& none of my tools fit my American bike.

[skygazer]

1. Well, you're right

But on the other hand, your money makes no sense whatsoever.

[Pert_UK]

5. It's the same as yours...100 pence to the pound / 100 cents to the $...

You're not thinking of shillings and farthings and guineas are you?

[skygazer]

8. I guess I am

That's what I get for reading history books..... Okay, then, carry on.

[CanuckAmok]

9. that was nuts.

I was born in the UK and started school when the Old Money system was just on the way out.

My theory is that the Empire grew so rapidly because none of the invaded nations could figure out the monetary system.

It's also the real reason the Americans declared independence, I think.

[JHB]

2. Thank the fundies, just like the election

One of their first tastes of power was stopping a changover to the "socialist" metric system back in the 70s

[Pert_UK]

3. Heh heh heh.....tool.......

(Insert bad joke about cocks and Yankee sluts here).

But anyway - we still use miles, and my company does shedloads of work in inches and feet....just to confuse me.

Get a socket set that fits imperial and metric.

P.

[Guy_Montag]

7. heh heh heh

:spank: bad man.

I use imperial for non-engineering work. (i'm 5'9 12 1/2 stone etc) But all my engineering work is done in metric.

[BurtWorm]

4. We're calling it the Freedom system from now on.

Like it or lump it. The Freedom system is on the march!

[CanuckAmok]

6. "The Metric System is the tool of the devil!"

"My car gets twenty rods to the hogshead, and that's jest the way I likes it!"

[Demeter]

10. Seeing As Most Americans Can't Even Use Their Self-Interest

nor the brains God gave them, how can you ask that they use the metric system? After all, one has to have some intelligence and some education....

[FuzzySlippers]

11. You're complaining about us

not using metric, but you still use that bloody "stone" business. WTF is that all about?

[kayell]

12. I remember an attempt to switch in the 70s. It was considered

Un-American.

....and then they voted.

[Spider Jerusalem]

13. Yes, it's stupid.

A standardised system of measurement makes sense, in today's world, but America is, as usual, behind the curve.

I can convert between US, Imperial and metric in my head, though...which makes talking to people from other countries much easier. I actually know my height in centimetres and my weight in stone.

And...recall the failure of the Mars lander a few years ago? Crashed because the technicians programmed the data in feet, but it was calibrated in metres...