Will the U.S. ever turn to the metric system?

1. 60

   nightwork4posted 11 years ago

   Will the U.S. ever turn to the metric system?
   
   as far as I know, they are the only country that still uses the standard system. it would make it easier for trading, measuring etc., for the U.S. to change but it isn't cheap to do so.

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2. 0

   JThomp42posted 11 years ago

   I really don't think so. They tried several years ago to start the kids using the metric system early in schools, this is when I was a youngster. For some reason people were just not willing to change.

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3. 61

   MickSposted 11 years ago

   I have heard that officialy the US is metric, but everybody still uses the US equivalent of imperial.  I wouldn't vouch for the veracity of that.

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      Attikosposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Congress adopted an act officially converting the US to metric, and requiring retooling of industry, by a certain date. Everyone ignored it. Congress quietly repealed the act afterwards. We were metric by federal ukase for a short time. No longer.

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   huckelburyposted 11 years ago

   Not a chance. The metric system is just another ploy by those sneaky Europeans to turn America into a socialist paradise. So we'll keep our ounces, pints, quarts, gallons, pecks, bushels, rods, leagues, furlongs, inches, feet, yards, and ignore that more complicated system based on ten. I mean, just because there's a bar in some museum that is the "official" meter, how do I know how long it really is? It's a slippery slope, that metric system. Next thing you know, our cars will be rated in ergs or dynes or newtons or something other than horsepower. And you know, of course, that Newton was another European, and so were those other two guys, Erg and Dyne. No, leave things as they are: American to the core and 21st in science and math.

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      lone77starposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hilarious! I love math, but I hate all those "standard" conversion routines. Metric is simple. It's a vast improvement, like Hindu-Arabic numerals were over Roman numerals.

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5. 60

   Goody5posted 11 years ago

   It doesn't look like it. President Jimmy Carter started introducing the metric system back in the 1970's, but gave up on it shortly after he the started the country on this journey.

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6. 82

   Attikosposted 11 years ago

   The US is converting to metric in an evolutionary manner merely by importing so many of our goods, most of which are made in foreign factories tooled for it. I, for instance, like to do much of my own maintenance on my car, and unless you drive an antique you can't do that today without having both standard and metric tools. Increasingly that is also true of household goods. Why not do it so? Let the market take its course. The end will be the same, the cost of conversion less. We should stop worrying about this issue.

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      f_hruzposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Markets don't care for much! It's the multinationals who take all  jobs off shore and let the mindless wander what happened.
      
      The imperial system was from the UK. The world standard is now metric - even there! The US is simply backwards & retard

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      Attikosposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Yo mama.

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7. 85

   TIMETRAVELER2posted 11 years ago

   I don't think so.  They tried to do this via the school systems a good number of years ago, and the attempt failed dismally.  Americans simply don't want this type of change and don't see a need for it, even though it actually makes good sense!

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      tussinposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      All the school systems I've known have used metric units in high school science classes.  And everyone I know (child and adult) is pretty comfortable using metric units even if their default mode is US standard units.

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8. 58

   tussinposted 11 years ago

   The metric system was/is used in science classes in all the public schools where I've lived in the US. Though we may not use it in our day to day lives, everyone in the US at least knows metric units and the basic conversions, and younger people seem more proficient with it than older people.  I think eventually the US may become like Canada where both systems are used and everyone is proficient in both.

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9. 73

   lone77starposted 11 years ago

   Science in the US uses metric, and thank goodness.
   
   But I think it's quite possible for America to change, especially when the debt bubble pops. A lot of things are possible when such chaos upends everything.
   
   The Ponzi scheme created by the private Federal Reserve has an end somewhere in the near future. When it does pop, Earth will be toast and America will be ground zero. A perfect time to switch to metric.

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10. 60

    f_hruzposted 11 years ago

    Maybe they will have to wait till the US dollar gets replaced as the global reserve currency and their debt is so high, they have to close down that pop stand?
    
    Not only would it save a lot in the long run, it would make the US economy more compatative and show the world, they have a thinking population that is ready to be part of a progressive global trading system

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       Attikosposted 11 years agoin reply to this

       Americans don't much care what the rest of the world thinks of them so feel little need to show it anything. Should the US government ever get off the backs of Americans long enough for manufacturing to revive, it will adjust as needed.

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