Jonathan wrote:
Wasn't the metric unit invented by an Englishman? I'm sure it was mentioned on QI once.
I think it was the French actually.
Despite what you might think, the United States uses both but there are probably several reasons why the Imperial system is still used and it may not all be out of stubbornness.
But imagine if the EU said, "OK we are going to make French the official language in all EU countries and your going to learn it and like it!"
Hospitals use the metric system except when it comes to a patent's weight (lbs not Stone) and body temperature (Fahrenheit), blood pressure (?). The military uses meters instead of feet and miles. The chemical plant I work for measures flow in gallons, weight in pounds, pressure in lbs per square inch but temperature in Celsius! But in the lab we use ML to mix up chemicals but pounds for our final product.
Other reasons for not wanting to use the metric system. Having to change millions of roads signs from miles to kilometers. Jigs and such for building materials. Although I think in Canada a 2X4" and a 4X8' piece of plywood are still the same size, they just refereed to them in metric.
But some automakers have switches to metric. I think all Fords use metric fasteners. GM, a mixture depending upon who they got to make the part for them. I usually just grab a metric spanner or socket until I find something that fits! 8mm is close enough to 5/16", 13 mm to 1/2 inch, etc. to where it usually doesn't matter.
I think all distilled liquor and wine made in the US is in liters but beer is not.
My daughter's baby bottles were made by Phillips in the UK (don't know if it's the electronics giant) and it had three different scales. A UK fluid ounce, a US fluid once and milliliters.
I knew that a US "pint" was 16 ounces and a UK "pub" pint was 22 ounces and assumed that was the reason why a US gallon was 3.79 liters and a UK gallon was 4.54 liters. I don't recall ever seeing a UK "quart" or quarter of a gallon (32 ounces) while I was over there. But by that time all products were packaged in metric. Over here the standard packaging is mostly imperial but the metric is in ().
You would think the volume of 1 ounce of water in the UK would be the same as 1 ounce of water in the US but apparently not.
Personally I prefer to use the metric system myself. If I am making something for my car out of metal, I typically use mm. If I am building something using pre-cut building materials such as a 4X8 sheet of plywood I use Imperial.
If I am making a meal and it requires different amounts of ingredients, I typically convert everything to ml first, then write it down instead of going by 1 2/3 cup cream, 16 ounces of milk etc.
The only concept I have yet to grasp is Celsius. Yes the scale from 0 to 100 makes more sense than 32 to 212 when it comes to freezing/boiling water but when it comes to air temperature, Fahrenheit seems more relevant to me for some reason.
As far as the month, day, year goes. I think that is because we typically say it's July the 16th, where other people , may say it's the 16th of July.
Also we can't forget out using comma versus period when it comes to decimals. It seems predominantly English speaking countries use period as a decimal point where other countries uses a comma. South Africa being the exception but don't know if English or Afrikaan is the dominant language.
The United States might be the only country that never established an official language. Some states have established English as the official language. But I think the reasoning behind that is, states do not want to have to teach students in their native language (less money having to teach and hire bilingual teachers). California for example teaches children in something like 20 different languages!
Some business do post signs that say "Hablas Espanol", to get the Hispanic business.
There is a major hardware store here in the US called Lowe's which is the UK's version of B&Q. When you check out, they have this sign in like 20 languages that basically says, "Point to your language and an interpreter will help you". One time I was checking out this one cashier was speaking to a guy in Spanish. I was going to ask her, "Do you really have people here who speak Farsi and Hindu?
Oh yeah, the guy who write the first English American dictionary back in the 1800s deleted redundant consonants, silent vowels and rearranged vowels and consonants at the end of words for some odd reason.
