So.. Why did the US never convert to the metric system?? It's 10 X easier..

I remember the '37 Jaguar my Dad restored used a lot of Whitworth sized fasteners.

I have been amazed over the past 10 - 15 years how many young new hires we got that didn't know how to read a ruler. o No:

 

I was there because my father was stationed there with the Air Force - I was going to school.

You're right, German certainly wasn't required by the Air Force but it was required by my father and I took four years of German in school. It's been a while but ich spreche noch ein bisschen Deutsch.

 

What system of measurement is used for civility ?

 

And just to confuse people, "a fifth" is 4/5ths of a quart!

 

Quick.. How many inches in 7 yards??? Lets see.. There's three feet in a yard, and 12 inches in a foot.. Where did I put my calculator?? And to screw that up even more, the inch is not even divided into 10ths..

 

Not to hijack the thread but der, die and das are the hardest things to remember because they make no sense and it's all just 'the' in English.

To quote Mark Twain:

Every noun has a gender, and there is no sense or system in the distribution; so the gender of each must be learned separately and by heart. There is no other way. To do this one has to have a memory like a memorandum-book. In German, a young lady has no sex, while a turnip has. Think what overwrought reverence that shows for the turnip, and what callous disrespect for the girl. See how it looks in print -- I translate this from a conversation in one of the best of the German Sunday-school books:<o></o>
<o> </o>
"Gretchen. <o></o>
Wilhelm, where is the turnip? <o></o>
Wilhelm. <o></o>
She has gone to the kitchen. <o></o>
Gretchen. <o></o>
Where is the accomplished and beautiful English maiden? <o></o>
Wilhelm. <o></o>
It has gone to the opera."

Another of my favorites is:

There are ten parts of speech, and they are all troublesome. An average sentence, in a German newspaper, is a sublime and impressive curiosity; it occupies a quarter of a column; it contains all the ten parts of speech -- not in regular order, but mixed; it is built mainly of compound words constructed by the writer on the spot, and not to be found in any dictionary -- six or seven words compacted into one, without joint or seam -- that is, without hyphens; it treats of fourteen or fifteen different subjects, each inclosed in a parenthesis of its own, with here and there extra parentheses which reinclose three or four of the minor parentheses, making pens within pens: finally, all the parentheses and reparentheses are massed together between a couple of king-parentheses, one of which is placed in the first line of the majestic sentence and the other in the middle of the last line of it -- after which comes the VERB, and you find out for the first time what the man has been talking about; and after the verb -- merely by way of ornament, as far as I can make out -- the writer shovels in "haben sind gewesen gehabt haben geworden sein," or words to that effect, and the monument is finished. I suppose that this closing hurrah is in the nature of the flourish to a man's signature -- not necessary, but pretty. German books are easy enough to read when you hold them before the looking-glass or stand on your head -- so as to reverse the construction -- but I think that to learn to read and understand a German newspaper is a thing which must always remain an impossibility to a foreigner.

 

Buddy told me a story that happened while he was waiting to catch a flight home out of Miami. Sat next to an American couple & carried on a polite conversation for a few minutes. Topic changed to differences between daily life in the US vs. Canada. Buddy starts describing how next year we are converting to Metric Time !! Quite a conversation & had them totally confused when his flight was called.
10 seconds in a minute.
10 minutes in an hour.
10 hours in a day.
Instead of going 55 MPH down the highway, expect to be travelling 5.5 deci-metres /nano-second.

 

"You know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in France?"
"No, what?"
"they call it a 'Royale with cheese' 'cause of the metric system."
"Oh. What about a Big Mac?"
"It's the same. 'Cept they call it 'la Big Mac'."
---One of my favorite scenes in 'Pulp Fiction'.
Patrick

 

You have it "bass-ackwards"ou: my friend. The strong don't appease the weak, the world has followed our lead for decades. It is only when we become weak that we will be followers.

Bob H.

 

That's just wrong. However, if it was Bob's Big Boy's bleu cheese dressing, it would be OK. It's funny, too, because the "french fry" wasn't even invented in France.

 

That could very well be the most bafflingly wrong headed thing anyone has ever said, ever.

And thats the attitude that is strangling this country.

Refusing to adapt to better systems just because we dont like new things is.....nevermind.

Followed our lead??? We are being left behind.

No one uses our system anymore, even us.

At least not the ones with the high paying jobs anymore.

And who are we supposed to be following exactly? Common sence?

More importantly, how on Earth is it American to insist everything be measured by Kings-Feet?

America didnt invent the imperial standard, the British did:rant:

Why would I want to keep doing it the same way good ol' King George III of England did?


But any way...

---------- Post added at 09:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:03 PM ----------

You mean freedom fries...uzzled:

 

I'm all in with the metric system. I learned it as a kid, and used it all through my undergrad education as a physicist. Americans seem to revel in ignorance, rebellion and lawlessness. Present company mostly excepted. Just look at the admiration for Bonny and Clyde, back in the day. America is getting dumbed down, IMHonestO, by the culture of TV and video games. There are other considerations I have in this, but they will cause this thread to slam shut, if I get started.

Freedom fries...the French are a people the US secretly likes but publicly loves to hate, IMO. Of course, it's all the dumbed down ones (more money than sense) here that have to get those dernier cri outfits...male or female, that come from France (for example- they're not all designed there). See, I'm a closet Francophile, for using a French phrase.ou:

---------- Post added at 06:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:41 PM ----------

I was talking to a doctor one time about how the French sautee everthing in butter, eat rich cheeses, etc., and asked why they have a smaller incidence of heart ailments, as do Americans. He pointed out that the portions are considerably smaller. That kid has a vat of mayo for his fries, so you're probably right. I don't even eat mayo.

 

Sure it is, on my digital calipers, hehe. Just kiddin around....

 

Im all for rebellion and lawlessness, but I have little patience for wild-eyed jingoistic ignorance.

 

i use both but its so much harder to measure with the american standard. i grew up with it but fractions take me twice as long to set and figure. i have a tape measure that has all the sizes to help me lol.

 

So you believe the weak lead and the strong follow.:idea2: That is a weird
philosophy. Hang in there you might figure it out some day.

Bob H.

 

You and I need to hang out. :laugh:

I spent a lot of time in school and on the job as a machinist learning 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64, etc. so I'm comfortable with them. On the rare occasion I got a metric print, it wasn't a big deal to multiply by 25.4 as long as I had a calculator. p

Now that I'm back in school for heating and air conditioning, I find myself wondering how much heat there is in a British Thermal Unit after they switch to the metric system. :laugh: