Times article on Imperial/Metric and the UK

[Tim Janssen]

I was born in the Netherlands and grew up of course with the metric system. In 1953 ( I was 23 years old) just married, we emigrated to Canada and of course had to adapt to the imperial system. Then in 1970 Canada started the conversion over several years to the metric system. In spite of having grown up with metric, I am still more comfotable using the imperial system. Maybe as you grow older your brain is not as adaptable. Still work in my shop with inches and feet.
Cheers,

Tim

[Lee DeRaud]

My biggest confusion so far was trying to figure out how fast to drive and how long it was going to take to get from Buffalo to Toronto.

Speed limit 100..."Ok, if you insist!"

[Curt Harms]

I was born in the Netherlands and grew up of course with the metric system. In 1953 ( I was 23 years old) just married, we emigrated to Canada and of course had to adapt to the imperial system. Then in 1970 Canada started the conversion over several years to the metric system. In spite of having grown up with metric, I am still more comfotable using the imperial system. Maybe as you grow older your brain is not as adaptable. Still work in my shop with inches and feet.
Cheers,

Tim

No 'maybe' about it, or maybe there's just way more clutter to sort thru than there was 30 years ago.

[Rod Sheridan]

That’s simply because you haven’t tried.

You had no idea what 4” looked liked until you taught yourself…..Rod

[William Fretwell]

Just directed 5 guys laying 102’ of 2” water main, 10’ to 14’ under water. As the tape measure went missing my weighted rope soundings were measured with my large feet, as was the pipe. As none of my body bits match 1 meter I used the imperial foot system, guess it will be around for a while.
Are light years metric or imperial? I’m thinking science running out of zeros went imperial!

[Dwayne Watt]

When I was a kid, there was a minor "push" for the US to convert to metric. It was effectively killed by politicians doing things like insisting it would kill manufacturing due to retooling costs for packaging regardless of the fact tooling gets rebuilt constantly for multitudes of reasoning. In addition highway signs would have to be replaced (they are anyway). It was also discouraged by concepts like "just remember that there are 1.609 kilometers per mile and 2.47 hectares per acre and 1 sq meter per 10.7639 sq ft". People had no idea how that would work in their lives. Add to that irrelevant confusion about millimeters, centimeters, decimeters, meters, decameters, hectameters, and kilometers. It was easy to see how Americans snubbed the metric system in lengths alone. In the real world mm, m, and km are all that matter.
Any global company converted to metric manufacturing decades ago for the most part. Why metric fasteners still cost more at retail in the US still baffles me. They are the same price or less in the manufacturing world.
In fairness, I work with imperial measurements in my workshop simply because that is the dimensions of my tooling. I used metric for the bulk of my professional career. Once you get a sense for whatever a value means to you it works for you.

[Mel Fulks]

Say what you will on preference one to the other, but I’ve always felt that one thing Jimmy Carter got right was his push to get the USA onto the metric system. Of course that helped bury him, but it seems in a small world it would be best to do weights and measures the way the world does it.

I do remember hearing him say that that USA had led for a long time and it was time for us to step back and let others lead.
Not the most bold USA initiative ….but certainly novel ,easy ,and humble. How many here still have their “ participation certificates “?

[Ole Anderson]

Millions, probably billions of land records in the US are other than metric. Imagine a surveyor having to convert back and forth if new subdivisions and roads and about everything a civil engineer designs were suddenly required to be metric. MDOT for a time (here in Michigan) required all new road and bridge plans to be in metric. That didn't last long. Funny watching Canadian home improvement shows how they mix up their dimensions. Sort of like US automakers.

[Brian Elfert]

I assume metric fasteners cost more at retail simply due to reduced demand compared to SAE fasteners. I suspect most buyers of fasteners are like me and will choose SAE unless they have a specific need for a metric fastener. I have four drawers full of SAE fasteners at home to reduce the need for hardware store visits. I don't have any metric fasteners.

[Jim Becker]

There will always be "reasons" folks have for converting or not converting. But even in the US, behind the scenes, a huge percentage of industry works under metric. It's a global marketplace, too. So in reality, the US works under both systems and that's likely going to continue for now. Think about that the next time you buy a 2 liter bottle of your favorite sugary or diet carbonated beverage...

There's an interesting podcast and transcription of the same on CNN.com right now about "why the US will never go metric" for those interested in reading more. There's some good history in the story and reasons around how things have gone over time.

[Chris Parks]

There will always be "reasons" folks have for converting or not converting. But even in the US, behind the scenes, a huge percentage of industry works under metric. It's a global marketplace, too. So in reality, the US works under both systems and that's likely going to continue for now. Think about that the next time you buy a 2 liter bottle of your favorite sugary or diet carbonated beverage...

There's an interesting podcast and transcription of the same on CNN.com right now about "why the US will never go metric" for those interested in reading more. There's some good history in the story and reasons around how things have gone over time.

I can remember reading an article many decades ago in which the US automotive industry told the government that if the US did not change to metric they were going to do it anyway and they did. Because of the opposition to complete change it seems that a slow assimilation will take place over a long period of for measure/weight but changing stuff likes miles/MPG could be a step too far as in the UK. In Oz the government simply removed all the mile markers and replaced them with kilometre versions and the job was done.

[Dave Zellers]

I don't see any reason why they won't both co-exist effortlessly for long into the future if not forever. We know the conversion calcs and we have handheld devices to do the math- even by voice command. I don't see Metric replacing Imperial, I see the two of them learning to get along. It will keep life interesting.

But manufacturing has mostly already, and should continue to adopt Metric. But I like fractions of an inch. There is nothing like that in Metric. Fractions make perfect sense. I/2 of something, 1/4 of something, etc. Maybe after I'm gone, people will say "You're off by 3 1/2 millimeters.

Perhaps they already do.

[Curt Harms]

I don't see any reason why they won't both co-exist effortlessly for long into the future if not forever. We know the conversion calcs and we have handheld devices to do the math- even by voice command. I don't see Metric replacing Imperial, I see the two of them learning to get along. It will keep life interesting.

But manufacturing has mostly already, and should continue to adopt Metric. But I like fractions of an inch. There is nothing like that in Metric. Fractions make perfect sense. I/2 of something, 1/4 of something, etc. Maybe after I'm gone, people will say "You're off by 3 1/2 millimeters.

Perhaps they already do.

I think they'd be likely to say "You're off by 3.5 millimeters"

[Dave Zellers]

Ha ha! Yes!

[Maurice Mcmurry]

The one half, one quarter... way of thinking is how my Dad operates he can add up fractions in his head in a manner which I just can not achieve. I find myself folding the tape over on its self and counting up fractions to get the sum. When I use 1/32, 1/64 and 1/100 rulers I forget about the fractions and just count the total units. It feels very much like millimeters. I can function without glasses down to 1/16. For millimeters I need glasses.