I think we should. It will only benefit us in the long run.

The rest of the world should convert to US! :p

It would be nice, but it will never happen.

Also, it is important to learn both Metric and Imperial Units in school- especially the conversions. Math and Science Teachers that force their students to use Metric and Metric only are only dooming their students to make mistakes in the real world when they have to do conversions.

I'd love for the U.S. to go metric - universal prefixes that denote the exponent. Unfortunately, it's not likely to happen.

Metric all the way! I use metric so much in chem and physics that i have trouble dealing in US units anymore.

also, i believe US is, technically, under the metric system. i think they passed a law awhile back,a nd no one payed attention. but this is going on my memory, which is eitehr awesome or horrendous.

Well, come on... I mean just the saved costs of crashed space probes alone should make it worth it.

I would love to switch to metric, as long as gas companies don't try to pull a fast one by charging the same for a liter as they would a gallon.

Yup. I'm 10 meters right behind him when he says this.

Seriously. The system would totally screw over poor, helpless, mathematically inept people ... such as myself.

This poll is biased - we have too many Canucks and Britassians here...

I was going to say that!

The thing is, while easy to work with in math, metric has less real world application than the stupid system (or whatever it's officially called).

A gallon is a much more useful vaolume than a liter. 2 liter's is almost good, but then you're getting 2... not just the base unit.

A foot is a decent length. A meter is too long, and a centimeter is too short. No one uses decimeters, though they'd be decent.

A gram is way too light, and a kilogram is too heavy. A pound is useful.

That's my opinion on it anyway.

QM

But I don't wanna have to leearrrnnn! :p

I don't care.

America's main measurement system makes us feel unique.

English, or Imperial.

And yet all the Imperials were played by brits.

Hell no. However, metric is commonly used in the fields where it makes sense. It's a dead issue.

I was looking for why we use the metric system on Google and found this:

(WARNING: LANGUAGE, SICK HUMOR)

http://www.enduringvision.com/archives/frank_patriot2.htm

I think the hardest thing for us Americans to get used to if/when we do convert will be temperature, length, and speed units.

Avg room temperature (68 F) is 20 C. Well our mindset thinks whenever we see 20 degrees, we think "that's freezing!"

I'm 5' 10". That's about 1.77m. That whole idea of the "point" in our measurements will take some time. Nobody says when asked "I'm 5.83 feet."

I normally drive 80 MPH which equates to about 128.75. Again it's the mindset. "Oh I'm just doing 128." Sounds like I'm really hauling ***.

Moral of the story: We Americans will ***** and moan about a new measurement system and we're probably the most stubborn people. But we can eventually adapt.

Kinda on topic but i recently found out that a US pint is less than a standard imperial measure pint! I'm glad beer comes in imperial pints :p

Hellz yes.

10 ^ x units are so convenient. And you get to remember cool prefixes.

What, you mean 16 oz. (American) vs. 20 oz. (Britland)?

Ahh, yes, well that's why British Pubs > * :p

I think we should use a base 13 system

Random FYI: Technically speaking, feet are base 12 since there are 12 inches in a foot. Hexadecimal (ex. your post counts) is a base 16.

Practically for day to day living i prefer American, for engineering metric all the way :p

Except it's not.

American scientists and engineers persist in using the fairly obviously inferior Imperial system.

Why the hell should there be different units for 'scientists' and 'normal' people?

The whole 'impractical' argument is just because you're not used to it. A metre is a thoroughly workable unit, the length of a fairly decent stride.

Also 'foot' creates totally unnecessary confusion.

Lift the box one foot off the ground!
*Mort lifts up box, while standing on one foot*


To summarise the complete nonsense that is Imperial:

* 1 poppy seed = 1/4 barley corn
* 1 barleycorn = 1/3 inch
* 1 foot = 12 inches
* 1 yard = 3 feet
* 1 rod, pole or perch = 5 1/2 yards
* 1 chain = 4 poles
* 1 furlong = 10 chains
* 1 mile = 8 furlongs
* 1 league = 3 miles

And then there's the exact same word being used for different Imperial measurements in the US and Britain. It doesn't even deserve to be called a 'system'.

So 6x9=42?

Last time I checked, American scientists use metric.

I don't think scientists or engineers use Imperial...

Oh yeah, to the thread I say....

HEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLL YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

Maybe we should all just sit down and talk this over a nice cup of tea .... which happens to contain 240 mL of Earl Grey!

Having worked with both, in the thousandths plus decimal places, I can say I broadly prefer American.

PS,

Metric freaking blows.

Exactly. Metric is used where it makes sense. Other than that, who cares? We will never switch fully to metric because we don't want to and there is no practical reason to switch.