The Basket
Senior Master Sergeant
- 3,712
- Jun 27, 2007
Just askin.
Seems they do and don't.
Seems they do and don't.
Do Americans use metric system?
- Thread starter The Basket
- Start date
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GrauGeist
Generalfeldmarschall zur Luftschiff Abteilung
We do and we don't - in otherwords, it depends on where measurements are being applied.
In areas of technical production (military, automotive, etc.), we use metric.
In home building, food packaging, driving distances and speeds, etc., we use the old system
In areas of technical production (military, automotive, etc.), we use metric.
In home building, food packaging, driving distances and speeds, etc., we use the old system
mikewint
Captain
As of 2019 the United States is one of only three countries (the other two are Myanmar and Liberia) that have not officially adopted the metric system as the primary means of weights and measures.
Even back in the early 60's the military was using metric, i.e. KLICKS and the little AR was not called a .22 caliber but a 5.56mm. Cars on the other hand were Detroit-made and all SAE. About the 70's there was that occasional PIA nut/bolt that got stripped 'cause my wrench didn't fit. About the 80's or so you had to have metric sized tools to work on just about anything. In the supermarket it's a weird mix. Soda pop is sold both ways, the big 2 L bottles and the smaller 12 fl.oz cans.
Meats still in English POUNDS and dry packaged items in weird English OUNCES like 12 3/4 oz making "cost per ounce" comparisons very difficul. Cooking/baking recipes still call for CUPS, TEASPOONS, and TABLESPOONS though most measuring cups are calibrated in metric units as well
Distances still in MILES, FEET, and INCHES. Interstate highways had both Miles and Kilometers for a while but they gave up on that. Speeds in MPH or MILES PER HOUR
I do not see the US truly going metric in the foreseeable future. Personally I think we would be better off joining the rest of the civilized world, more for the sake of interchangeability though I do feel that the metric system makes more sense than the "length of Charles I foot as he left church services one morning" or "3 Barley corns laid end to end". While I am making wishes, I want a pony.
Even back in the early 60's the military was using metric, i.e. KLICKS and the little AR was not called a .22 caliber but a 5.56mm. Cars on the other hand were Detroit-made and all SAE. About the 70's there was that occasional PIA nut/bolt that got stripped 'cause my wrench didn't fit. About the 80's or so you had to have metric sized tools to work on just about anything. In the supermarket it's a weird mix. Soda pop is sold both ways, the big 2 L bottles and the smaller 12 fl.oz cans.
Meats still in English POUNDS and dry packaged items in weird English OUNCES like 12 3/4 oz making "cost per ounce" comparisons very difficul. Cooking/baking recipes still call for CUPS, TEASPOONS, and TABLESPOONS though most measuring cups are calibrated in metric units as well
Distances still in MILES, FEET, and INCHES. Interstate highways had both Miles and Kilometers for a while but they gave up on that. Speeds in MPH or MILES PER HOUR
I do not see the US truly going metric in the foreseeable future. Personally I think we would be better off joining the rest of the civilized world, more for the sake of interchangeability though I do feel that the metric system makes more sense than the "length of Charles I foot as he left church services one morning" or "3 Barley corns laid end to end". While I am making wishes, I want a pony.
vikingBerserker
Lieutenant General
I know our military has been using metric since the 1930's
Right now I am drinking a Dr Pepper that is marked as "16.9 FL OZ (500 mL)"
But sometimes we use both for the same thing, you can buy milk in half pints/pints/quarts/gallons, or 500ml/1 Liter.
It's really confusing at times, but at least we don't sell milk in bags...………………..
Right now I am drinking a Dr Pepper that is marked as "16.9 FL OZ (500 mL)"
But sometimes we use both for the same thing, you can buy milk in half pints/pints/quarts/gallons, or 500ml/1 Liter.
It's really confusing at times, but at least we don't sell milk in bags...………………..
mikewint
Captain
Yea, I've seen that mix in the bigger plastic bottles of pop though I tend to stick to the 2 L as they drop to 88 cents from time to time. Never seen the 1 L milk around here just gallon, 1/2 Gal and 1 qt
Gasoline by the gallon still
Gasoline by the gallon still
vikingBerserker
Lieutenant General
Now that I had no idea. What do the world's flight controllers use? I know they have to speak English but in the movies they always talk about altitude in thousands of feet.
Depending on the airspace defined, either the flight levels or feet. Actually the flight levels are nothing more but the altitude measured in thousands feet. Eg.. FL 100 = 10000 feet, FL80 = 8000 feet,. Usually the flight levels are used for high filghts while feet are for low ones.
mikewint
Captain
Time measurement have very little to do with the Brits. The 24 hour day dates back to the Egyptians who had a 10 hour day, a 12 hour night and a twilight hour at the end and beginning of each 10 hour day. The Egyptians followed 36 constellations or decans as they rose one after another in the night sky 40 minutes apart. Obviously Egyptian "Hours" varied in length from season to season.
The divisions of hours into 60 parts or minutes comes from the Babylonians who used a base 60 system of numbers (thus the 360 degrees in a circle). The Babylonian year also had 360 days in it.
Metric time would be difficult to fit into the present system of 24/60/60. Metric is base 10 so you have only 3 options for a day 10/100/1000 none of which work very well. In 1998 a Swiss watch company Swatch proposed Internet Time (a metricized system) wherein a day would be divided into 1000 "beats". With our present system that makes a "beat" = 1 min & 26.4 sec. Not noticed a whole lot of people jumping on that proposal.
As an aside a MOONTH or synodic month is full or new moon to full or new moon which averages 29.53 days another non-fit with the Earth solar orbit.
AND...7 days in a week (again the Babylonians) because there are 7 astronomical objects that travel across the sky: The day of the SUN(day); The day of the MOON(day); The day of SATURN(day). Mars, Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury lost their days to the Anglo-Saxon/Norse gods. Dies Martis or Mars (god of war) Day to TYW the Anglo-Saxon god of war TYW's Day; Dies Mercurii (messenger of the gods) lost out to Woden (Saxon top god) WODEN's day. The Germans held tight to their Carolingian leaders of the Holy Roman Empire and called it MITTWOCH ; Dies Lovis (Jupiter top god) lost out to Thor god of storms and "THUNder" so THOR's day; and Dies Veneris (Venus goddess of love) lost out to the Norse goddess FREYJA associated with love, sex and beauty so FREYA's day
The divisions of hours into 60 parts or minutes comes from the Babylonians who used a base 60 system of numbers (thus the 360 degrees in a circle). The Babylonian year also had 360 days in it.
Metric time would be difficult to fit into the present system of 24/60/60. Metric is base 10 so you have only 3 options for a day 10/100/1000 none of which work very well. In 1998 a Swiss watch company Swatch proposed Internet Time (a metricized system) wherein a day would be divided into 1000 "beats". With our present system that makes a "beat" = 1 min & 26.4 sec. Not noticed a whole lot of people jumping on that proposal.
As an aside a MOONTH or synodic month is full or new moon to full or new moon which averages 29.53 days another non-fit with the Earth solar orbit.
AND...7 days in a week (again the Babylonians) because there are 7 astronomical objects that travel across the sky: The day of the SUN(day); The day of the MOON(day); The day of SATURN(day). Mars, Jupiter, Venus, and Mercury lost their days to the Anglo-Saxon/Norse gods. Dies Martis or Mars (god of war) Day to TYW the Anglo-Saxon god of war TYW's Day; Dies Mercurii (messenger of the gods) lost out to Woden (Saxon top god) WODEN's day. The Germans held tight to their Carolingian leaders of the Holy Roman Empire and called it MITTWOCH ; Dies Lovis (Jupiter top god) lost out to Thor god of storms and "THUNder" so THOR's day; and Dies Veneris (Venus goddess of love) lost out to the Norse goddess FREYJA associated with love, sex and beauty so FREYA's day
I said a sytem the Brits would be proud of, a mixture of bases from 60, 24, 7 and then a confusing number of weeks and months. The Japanese had a different system for time I presume the Chinese did too.
The goal in football is 8 yards by 8 feet, the boxes are 6 yards and 18 yards from the goal line, the radius of circle and semicircles are 10 yards and the penalty spot 12 yards from the goal. There originally was no specified length and width but a range 70 to100yds wide and 100 to 130 yds long. So theoretically it could have been played on a 100 yard square. There is now a standard size of 105m x 68m for new grounds but the old grounds still have smaller pitches due to the construction of the stands. They are all now quoted in metric of course but they are converted from the imperial.
Bucksnort101
2nd Lieutenant
Well, I know when I've worked on every car I've ever owned I not only have to drag out every standard tool I own, I also need to lug out all the metric ones as well. I think whomever engineers autos just likes to throw a little bit of everything on them just to pi$$ me off!!!
- Thread starter
- #13
The Basket
Senior Master Sergeant
- 3,712
- Jun 27, 2007
So on the F-35 there ain't no inches, cubits or fluid ounces? How sad.
How many miles does it get to the hogshead?
In the UK its also a mash up. But young people use metric whearas the old timers use inches.
How many miles does it get to the hogshead?
In the UK its also a mash up. But young people use metric whearas the old timers use inches.
That's just because the US refuses to modernise. US parts are imperial, the rest are metric.
Working on AS-350 helicopters, was the same. The engines were imperial, airframe metric.
The irony is that the official definition of an inch is a reference to centimetres... Which Inch?
Greg Boeser
1st Sergeant
So, that's where venereal disease comes from!
That's what I love about this site. Ya learn something new everyday!
special ed
1st Sergeant
- 4,860
- May 13, 2018
Much the same as the UK, the young people learn metric along with Imperial. We dinosaurs will continue with what's familiar, bending as necessary to look for a 10mm wrench.
My 7-year-old bounces between units - inches, feet, metres. Not sure what his teachers think of it!
fubar57
General
Being a child of the "change", I'll use metric or imperial depending who I'm talking to. I've used both in the same sentence, temperature and distance. In the papermill for 22 years, our paper roll diameters were inches and the widths were centimetres.
I'm much the same, except I can't understand Fahrenheit. That's where my son gets it from.
It gets worse when talking distance - 'Miles' can be either statute miles or nautical miles, so I'll talk in one of three units (two of which are miles)
special ed
1st Sergeant
- 4,860
- May 13, 2018
Fortunately, in the US thermometers have both scales.
