Why didn't the USA ever adopt the Metric System? (Short Animated Documentary) 

That is amazing. I never knew the metric system invented the number 100. I guess you learn something new every day.

@@GoatTheGoat It has probably more to do with the fact that 100 cent is 1 Dollar is 10 Dime.

@@fana9863 all of which has nothing to do with meters.

But do we really need pennies, nowadays??

@@GoatTheGoat The english money system is not decimal.

Gold, Jerry, GOLD!

I didn't pay attention to that until I see your comment, then I understand. So true it's such gold

I don't get it. Someone explain please

@@zhengyangwang214 1609 meters equal one mile

I love the "Freedom Units" sign lol

Spot on.

I remember that same 'big conversion' that was coming in the early 80's.

Same here, 70s and 80s. I remember the commercial that said "you get more from a liter".

And then I start working in auto mechanics and everything is in metrics. Even Ford and GM cars. I mean we still use standard for miles and weight and such. But mostly tools and threads are easier in metric.

i was one of those of those kids too...we had to learn "freedom units" outside...

These types of disagreements are so much easier to resolve nowadays with the internet. Half the arguments I had in college with friends could have been answered in 30 seconds of googling. But google didn't exist yet back then.

He's another argument you might want to considers. You can't both be correct. That flaw in logic disturbs me beyond measure. So please, never say that again. But if you do, know that its a fallacy in logic.

@@krane15 did you actually read the whole comment and understand it?

@@mckenziekeith7434 Yes. And no. No both can be correct. Please use the Metric System as all humans on this world do.

@@cosmefulanito5933 If you read the whole comment and understood it, then you would be able to see how yes, they were both correct. The problem is that they were using unstated assumptions about the units they were using. Unstated because they didn't even know that there were two different types of quart. I agree, the metric system is better. But I do still sometimes use quarts and gallons for volume.

i do believe it would be very hot.

Right, bc you totally know that 🙄 this is why people don't trust the religion of science

@@deusvult6920the religion of science 😂 it can be calculated using math

@@deusvult6920 bro really called science a religion 💀💀

@@deusvult6920 i mean i don't think people go around praising newton or einstein

Keep in mind (as my Irish housemate constantly rages to me) most Americans are unaware that Ireland and Northern Ireland are separate countries.

@@DomWeasel Not foe much longer.

My Canadian relatives do the same.

@@DomWeasel yeah that's not really true though. Politics around Northern Ireland are much more well known than you might think.

@XXV I realize that, but in Northern Ireland, the speed signs are in miles per hour, while in the Republic they're in kilometers per hours. I would know, I've literally been then.

That's partially for NATO/Allied inter-operability. I imagine that the US army does more joint operations with NATO/Allies, who all use metric, rather than Liberia - the only other nation on Earth using US Customary

Nasa is using metric. For a good reason

I, too, often work with small dimensions, and I have no trouble at all with 64ths, or thousandths, of an inch. For what it's worth, 1/64" = .015625". I have not clue how many metrics it is, nor do I care. What annoys me more than anything is the dumass manufacturers who make measuring rules with inches along one edge and metrics along the other. It's useless for everyone!

what? no pieces of 8? no furlongs and hogsheads?

No. Only rods, poles, perches, chains, groats, and cloth yards. Ah, whatever happened to the old Babylonian system based on 360?

Living in New Zealand we had to make do with the system of country of origin. during the 1970-80s. We not only had Metric, Whitworth, American but also a temporary 'Unified' thread that didn't match any of these original standards. We also had liquid, land area measure mixes as we converted to SI system.

I find this fascinating!

have a bizarre non-decimal currency breakdown was a complete waste of time for everyone

Seems like it would be difficult

Also Kelly Moneymaker

@@jamesbissonette8002 James Bissonnette

what about boogoley woogely

@@beanseason6515 stlll mad that your channel never took off and you got 7 views on your last upload

2:21, I was just about to mention that joke. That was pure gold. 👌

I don’t get what the number is supposed to mean

@@suspectnutria 1609 meters is roughly 1 mile. "To go the extra mile" is a phrase meaning to go further than needed to achieve something.

@@suspectnutria he meant the "extra mile". It's an idiom.

I love his bloody humour too! And that's British humor with a U as you so correctly wrote.

Have you checked out the spinning newspaper articles? They are worth it.

Good attention to detail!

Did anyone notice "douchebag" spelled out?

@@kennethbropson8019 where at?

@@chicagotypewriter2094 At 2:03 - 2:06 at the top of the screen.

- Nerds: "We should do something about Climate Change" - Govt & Corporations: "NO".

Also, funny Elden Ring reference hidden there

also metric makes the maths of military related things (ballistics, energy, volume, etc) easily calculable and sharable with peers

Soldier: "Sir, I managed to intercept enemy communications saying that they were going to attack 54 kilometers south of Citytown." Commander: "Okay excellent work....So...how much is that" Soldier: "Idk. I thought you'd know"

Nah .. it's because NATO.

It’s in order to be able to integrate with allies who use metric, same for us here in the UK.

I prefer imperial system. Distance in kms and height in cms sounds goofy asl.

That’s American patriotism for you, amusing and dumb in its own unique way.

Vampires!

"Thou art maidenless" lol

Lol the last two were *chef’s kiss*

I laughed myself

I started to use metric then found myself shopping for "To Serve Man".

That is like when there was a fight dominance in US for AC or DC use of current systems between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla was a for AC which was far more energy effective for using it on longer distances over DC, Thomas Edison who was for DC current (he manufactured more products for DC) tried to do public example of how bad AC current was by doing a public lab show where he exposed an elephant to AC current in which during the show elephant died, and he was like: "See? This is what AC current could do to you!"

You're right' Everyone knows that vampires don't eat people, they suck peoples' blood. Zombies eat people. I'm glad we could clear this up.

@@Resnicanin Not saying Edison was right in any way, but the elephant fact can be taken with more than a grain of salt The elephant in question was Topsy, who under a horrible life in the circus had squished 3 handlers to death. One of those "savaged her with a pitchfork" and another had "tried to feed her a lit cigarette" And at the time, electrocution was seen as a "humane way of disposing of a living being." In fact, the ASPCA gave Edison two thumbs-up to kill the pesky pachyderm this way. And had fed the elephant half a kilo (460 g) of potassium CYANIDE that day, mixed in with carrots So yes he did execute it, but AC wasn't the only thing that killed Topsy (I reread this comment & realised I switched the names & currents originally - whoops!)

@@chicagotypewriter2094 I’d say you missed the point about Edison being an opportunist and a showboater. AC can kill you just as dead. It isn’t the “how the elephant died” that we care about, it’s the gain Edison wanted to get from it.

@@509Gman That's very true and a good note to remember as well!

No.

@@Carthodon Sounds like unwillingness to admit America’s way isn’t the best!

​@@jeffreygao3956 In countries which had a functional measurement system, in order to fully switch they had to ban the use of the other system which in the US would be unconstitutional. The reason the metric system dominated Europe was french bayonets, and the reason it dominates the rest of the world was imperialism. Metric has its downsides, the big one is the system prioritizes the ability to convert between units over the units themselves being useful. The reason the imperial system has more complicated conversions is each unit is optimized for a specific purpose. Pints are great for serving drinks, gallons are great for carrying milk, feet is great for anything indoors and yards are better for fields. It's also the reason why some metric units did not catch on even if they're supposed to; for example measuring weight should be done in newtons, which is what a balance is actually measuring, and therefore giving the answer in kgs is inherently inaccurate. I also think this is something people just like whining about, which basically doesn't matter now that we can instantly convert between systems using our phones.

@@Carthodon That “downside” doesn’t even compare to not having metric. If paleontology uses metric, then it should dominate! The opposition to metric is far worse than metric itself by far! “Just like whining about” my butt.

@@jeffreygao3956 It is whining. The US is far more successful that most developed countries which use metric, so clearly it is not that big of a deal, especially in the era of smartphones. You can assert it doesn't compare and put "downside" in quotations all you want, but the point is that both systems are optimizing for different things and pretending that metric is better in every way, when it is really just better for people in sciences and engineering, is just pretending.

Lol, that would be pretty funny. "I don't understand this system, must be a scam", it's a miracle progress was made at all

Americans also always use fixed showers.

America moment

@@ilyatoporgilka That’s not true every shower I’ve ever been in is adjustable

It is always impossible to “put off”.It is unmovable(stationary).

I, too, measure my amperage with good ol American "zaps per square inch".

Reagan was my wake up call as an early adult. I really didn't know much about Nixon, but when Reagan announced the Ketchup packet as a serving of vegetable for the American student lunch, I started realizing just who cared about what. And, just how lazy we were to become.

I am.sure Ronnie Reagan didn't know a liter from a lamppost - he just attracted the kind of people around him that foreign concepts were to be squelched and foreign countries were to conquered or cowered.

Science articles in the US are also often written with both units It's quite distracting and it makes you lose focus on the content

@@MichaelJohnson-vi6eh So remind me what countries Reagan conquered? I bet you like his killing inflation and economic boom from 1982 on….

Did you use 'chain' as a measurement in length? The chain (abbreviated ch) is a unit of length equal to 66 feet (22 yards), used in both the US customary and Imperial unit systems. It is subdivided into 100 links. There are 10 chains in a furlong, and 80 chains in one statute mile.

Some states in Australia still roods and perches when measuring land: A rectangle that is one furlong (i.e., 10 chains, or 40 rods) in length and one rod in width is one rood in area, as is any space comprising 40 perches (a perch being one square rod).

That's interesting. But it seems to me that if you're going to decimalize your measurement system, why not just adopt metric units, which are _already_ decimalized and widely used? By using decimalized feet, you're just reinventing the wheel.

@@MilescoMaybe we prefer the exact length of feet rather than meters, I honestly think it’s a more useful measurement. Your comment really doesn’t make any sense in the aggregate my guy.

@@aidanwolff3213 Actually I agree with you. Personally, I prefer feet to meters. I think the foot is a more convenient size. Meters are too large, and centimeters are too small. But for technical / commercial applications, I think that's less important. So that's why I said that if they're going to decimalize feet to avoid fractions and twelfths, they might as well just take the final step and use metric units already. Metric units already exist, they're also decimal-based, and they're widely used throughout the world -- unlike decimalized feet, which _nobody_ uses, not even in the USA (except, apparently, the heavy construction industry, if the OP is correct). Just my humble opinion. 😊

​@@Milesco I hate to necro your comment, but it's also important to know the first precision measuring instruments i.e. micrometers, were in US Standard units. This leads to the 'mil', or thousandth of an inch being the first precision measurement. So really, we just metricized our own units and never assimilated because... It works, why bother?

@@tasteslikewall Yeah, I'm well aware of that. But note that that applies to _inches,_ not feet. Machining, not building construction. I generally agree with "If it works, why bother?" (Or "If it ain't broke, don't fix it.") And for that reason, I actually frequently _defend_ our nation's use of U.S. Customary units by individuals in ordinary everyday life. They work just fine (and sometimes even better) for nontechnical human-scale measurements. And the construction industry is kind of a special case, because buildings don't get imported or exported like products do. So if they prefer to continue to use feet & inches, who am I to argue? BUT....if the industry implicitly concedes that decimalization works better, THEN that's when I say "Well, hell, if you're gonna do that, you might as well just go that last inch (😁) and just use metric already. If you're using decimal feet, and using hundreds and thousands and hundredths and thousandths and whatnot, you're 99% of the way there. Might as well finish the job." As the OP himself said, "Like the metric system, it simplifies the measurements so you don't have fractions or odd units." Exactly. I couldn't agree more. So my feeling is, if you're gonna do that, you might as well just "finish the job" and just go metric. If you're decimalizing your units, at that point you might as well just go ahead and use the same units the rest of the world uses. You're 99% of the way there already. You've got the ball on the one yard line -- just push it forward across the goal line already! 😁 (I should note that the rest of the world looks down on us Yankees and thinks were just being stubborn by not adopting metric. And as I said above, I frequently defend against this inaccurate and unfair characterization by explaining the many legitimate reasons why we prefer to use our familiar Customary units. But when I hear that the construction industry has in fact decimalized its units because it makes measurements and calculations easier -- but STILL uses feet instead of meters....well, at that point it really DOES start to look like it's just being stubborn!)

American pop is 2L? How much sugar percentage wise is in it?

Well, it probably has around 200 grams of sugar. Assuming that the 2 liter soda is the same as its canned version (let’s say coke), a 12 oz or 335 ml soda is 39 grams of sugar. Times that by 6 and you’d get 234. Some stats might be wrong and I used coke since it is probably the most popular soda, but I should somewhat close at least.

@@Toxicin2 You don't drink out of a 2L bottle, you use it to fill glasses. The bottles you drink from are smaller.

@@ruprecht8520 I have seen many people drink out of Two liter bottles and it looks strange but they do it in the summer time just siting outside at party's etc.

@@peters1127 Yes it happens but I didn't want Toxicin2 to think that's the common way.

I don't think we ever used it at all if I recall correctly (The Imperial System).

Yeah lots of countries still use lots of native units every day

We have it here too, but it's usually like this: Imperial (Metric)

Everything is dual-labeled in the U.S too. We are officially metric, it's just that in everyday use folks favor the customary units.

It's never usually taught in schools because the Philippines officially uses the metric system since the Spanish Era. We only ever used imperial because of the Americans (even though under their rule we still officially use the metric, under Act No. 1519, s. 1906)

Bro shut up

You should thank James Bissonette and Kelly Moneymaker for supporting History Matters.

Americans also always use fixed showers.

I think it's fair to say that most Americans "know" both systems. The issue is that Americans often don't know how to apply the measurements as well as in US Customary.

Living in the midwest I never encountered metric outside of a science class.

I must know both fluently now... many reasons... but yeah...

@@morewi yeah maybe it is less a regional thing, but I think we know it better than we let on, no evidence to support, just my hunch and experience.

I'm from the South and we were taught the metric system in school, but I have never used it since.

Lame nonsense, exceptionalism based on narrow mindedness isn't admirable.. How about your life span expectancy, which is valuable measurement of a nations success?

@@lisette2060I’d prefer 70 rich years over 80 poor ones my dude

that's not even true, USA is in 8th place

America isn't rich at all looking at the massive debt.

no America is rich because of size and incredible geography. One of the best farming regions in the world (great plains), vast mineral resources, and one of the most navigable waterway systems in the world (mississippi-missouri-ohio river system, basically the danube system but bigger and fully owned by one country). Not to mention the US has had no real major war threats to its borders that could go anywhere. Essentially the US was given the jackpot, literally any colony in the US position would be almost guaranteed to dominate the world economy. (unless it was a balkan situation and states despised each other and wanted the other dead lol)

"...never quite"? Imperial is dominant in the UK. Everything is miles, yds and Lbs. Did you missed the bit where the EU tried to force metric on us and people got pissed off so they U-turned? 🙄

Car speed, people's height and babies weight only thing measured in imperial in the UK. I'm in my 40s and have no idea how many ounces in a pound as have never used then once in my life.

The imperial, unlike the empire, doesn't die

@@Jin-Ro they were pissed mainly because the French invented the metric system

In the UK it would probably be more accurate to say we use an odd hybrid of both system. Where there are something that we specially measure in one and other things that we often measure in the other.

You do realise that measurements were standardized in Europe way before Metric was invented ?

@@stevii3940 lol no. France itself before their revolution had 3000 kinds of weights

@@manofcultura sounds like a nightmare XD

@@stevii3940It wasn’t standardized as the way your thinking it to be. There was different standards for each European country but each country had there own versions standardized within there own borders.

@@manofcultura lol yes. Just England as an exemple/ It was standardize since Henry the 8th. of course it wasn't precise, like was the Metric system at it's strat but it was a standardize system

Just because you do not understand it you think we should. Well guess what? It works very well for us. Besides they say just to replace the road signs in the US would be a massive expense.

I don't actually think the US should update. What History Matters left out is it would likely be illegal to do what was required to convert to metric. In the case of the UK it wasn't enough to require all entities to use metric, you actually had to ban the sale of products that used Imperial units. In fact, I don't think there is a society which has metric, which had another functional system of measurement beforehand, that wasn't forced by law to use it. The reason it came to dominate Europe after all was because of French bayonets.

You can't begin to understand how much it pisses me off when I'm working on a vehicle and I find that some of the parts are in Imperial, and some are in Metric. I'm just like, pick one or the other!

Quite old meaning early 2000s and unicorns meaning most vehicles ever made.

@@MrFarmer110 I had a Jeep once. Two bolts on the starter. One was SAE one was metric. That took a long time to figure out while under the vehicle.

I mean, Metric bolts and nuts, but when we're torquing a bolt, we still use Ft-lb compared to Nm. Also obligatory magic 10mm socket growing legs and walking away.

@@MrFarmer110 That was an issue in WWII, some planes used both imperial and US customary units for fasteners and such. So the bolts would have different threads, you'd have one set for the engine and one set for everything else.

I had thought Canada was fully metric until I went to a Canadian grocery store

Yeah, the untold story is that a lot of the British commonwealth is only sort of on metric, having failed to make the transition in one place or another. It is really hard to get adults who can vote to change their measurement system.

When I was a kid growing up in western Canada, everything in the store had a label in French and English and was measured in Imperial and Metric. For the longest time, I thought Imperial measurements were just the French translation of the metric ones.

If you tell me someone is183 cm tall I have no clue how tall they are, but if you say someone else is 6' tall I know exactly how tall they are, even though they're the same height.

Nobody made you go metric. Except your government, which didn't give a rat's ass what the Canadian people wanted. Plus Britain was going metric so it was vital for Canada to imitate everything England was doing. That has always worked out so well.

And the weather too is measured in Celsius-formerly Centigrade-rather than Farenheit, which it used to be also.

Thank you!

When you see a distance on a road sign, does it clearly indicate miles or kilometers? Otherwise those who are not familiar with the region might be surprised, it takes 50% more time to drive 20 miles than 20 kms. And what about the speed limits and car speedometers?

​@@jfrancobelge Nope there's usually nothing on road signs in the UK that signify whether the number you're looking at is miles or kilometres but it's gonna be miles like 99% of the time. Speed limit signs are the same but again very rare you would find a speed limit sign in KPH in the UK and if you did it would probably have both MPH and KPH on it. Our car speedos are in miles per hour but most cars have a second row of notches and numbers for kilometres per hour as well. The UK is really all over the place with it's adoption of Metric, like most drinks come in millilitres or litres but milk is still in pints. If you buy a bottle or can of beer from a shop it comes in like a 500ml bottle but if you buy beer in a pub it's gonna be in pints. Yet everything else in a pub (wine measures, shot measures) are done in millilitres. People (mainly older people) talking about the temperature will flip-flop between celsius and fahrenheit depending on which one sounds more extreme (100F sounds a lot hotter than 38C for example). TV screens are measured in inches still, a person's height is measured in feet and inches, weight in stones and pounds. Cooking weights however are usually done in grams, kilograms, etc. Blueprints or furniture measurements usually have both feet/inches and metres/centimetres on them. Honestly there's way more things that I'm forgetting but I just wish we'd pick one and stick to it lol.

@@jfrancobelge Speed limits and distances on public roads in the UK are measured in miles. There may be some exceptions, where the same is also given in km./kph near ferry ports. As for speedometers, most dials these days are marked in both kph and mph - or have a supplementary display showing kph (as in my Skoda) - or are digital and can be set either way.

Fucking spam bots in these comments

Aka somewhat using the metric system :p

....I think you're missing the point here. Sure, metric eliminated "different local systems", but now US is one of the "local system" from the outside world.

Our measurements are all standardized in terms of metric units. Actual stem professionals have been using metric this whole time

As an *American* , I say, you know America, maybe there's a *reason* most of the rest of the world adopted the Metric system.

Good luck with that 😂 if you know both systems it's not hard at all to know both systems. Perhaps your next idea is that the entire world should only speak English because that would make communication better. You know less errors that way 🤦🏻‍♂️

I'd imagine it would be a phase in process that would happen over a decade or two. That would require new products to be explicitly metric though.

What's amazing is how much it wouldn't matter too. Everything is measured in decimals in manufacturing. If your DRO is showing you the right numbers, it doesn't matter if it's metric or imperial

It's not like you'd have to invent everything. Literally every other part of the world uses SI in all their processes. All the tools required already exist and are waiting in warehouses across your own country.

@@Barnaclebeard At this point it would just feel like giving up. Im fine with clinging onto it till the day we perish.

Not really. almost all standard ball bearings are metric. All vehicle tires are metric. All of the products the we buy from China are all made to metric (SI) standards - you just don't know it because you probably never worked on any of them. I was a machine designer for over 45 years and learned to work with both. Linear dimensions are easy to convert to close approximations from one to the other.

Fun fact : the proportion of paper sizes is defined by 1 thing : sqrt(2). Do 29,7/21 or 32/24 (both being A4 format) and you get sqrt(2)

@@Spido68_the_spectator This is trivial mathematics. AND - DIN A0 is exactly 1 square-meter. The DIN formats were invented in Germany - we love bureaucracy.

@@rainerausdemspring3584 France : invents the SI / metric system for international language of numbers Germany : Yeah, bureaucracy ! (Although the DIN format is proper genius)

@@Pandemonis "International language of numbers" - Ugga Agga

That’s because metric is designed for science and mathematics while imperial is designed for human measurements. Each serves a different purpose but imperial is undoubtedly superior. You’re just not use to it.

I never used metric in the military.

And a lot of scientific fields in the US also use the metric system/SI, with more following every day. It's ironic how the US uses the metric idea for the dollar and yet something completely weird for everything else. When 12 inches is a foot and 3 feet is a yard that becomes a bit annoying to work with. Also I didn't know that part about the US vs UK gallon! Interesting.

@@rearin9560 12 inches is the best part. 12 evenly splits into 2,3 or 4. It makes 10 look like a chump. Lol

@@rearin9560 A US gallon is roughly .83 of a UK gallon.

@@A.J.1656 I was referring more to the equipment itself rather than the people. A lot of it is designed specifically to be interoperable with allied equipment.

Rebel Canadian

My car gets forty to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it! -Abe "Grandpa" Simpson

Based kid

Your username is cool

Americans also always use fixed showers.

clearly it’s 10 freedoms per constitution, as clearly stated in the bill of rights

@@ilyatoporgilka How many more times are you going to post this pointless comment? You were refuted above. Enough already. Your use of "always" is enough to have discredited you from the beginning.

@@TheDoctor1225 LMAO, right? And if he thinks this random, and very incorrect thing, about our showers, imagine how his brain will explode when he finds out we **DO** use the metric system. Like, do these people seriously think we sent a man to the moon using imperial measurements? Lol. You can’t even go to the doctors without being weighed in kg, and when you pick up a prescription from the pharmacy, it’s always in mg or some other metric measurement. Sure, we talk about the temperature in Fahrenheit and our height in feet, but when it comes to anything with science involved, we use the metric system. Honestly videos like these that perpetuate lies are very annoying.

And it's a completely *different* hodgepodge of metric and Imperial from Britain, because nothing makes sense.

Yeah, unless you are in Quebec which has civilized units of measurement. But in Ontario we use imperial units for that nonsense because we ship so much of the building material to the US. As a designer is also annoying though amusing, especially when some builder has to convert my metric into some ungodly fractional inch.

Interesting. It's almost the same case as us here in the Philippines. We're officially metric but I'm reality we're more like 50:50, in almost the same way as you have described. I suspect many other countries are the same way too. It's just that the internet likes to come up with any excuse to ridicule America.

It is a strange thing indeed. We tend to say temperature in Celsius but cook in Fahrenheit. Though colloquially we use feet and lbs for weight/height, my ID says my measurements in metric. You'd think it would make us Canadians good at converting between the two but I find I'm not quite that great at it.

@@BeedrillYanyan the Philippines were formerly ruled by the USA, so it is kind of understandable

Nice! I like that! Metres to feet, mike-mikes to inches!

I’ve read that private stuff and most tools are in Imperial. Aside from Quebec, ofc.

@@friskjidjidoglu7415I find most tools are in both tbh.

Even working in central Europe I have frequently to convert mm in inches for our US customers. Even from Australia, which officially is metric since decades, I received drawings for new buildings formally in metric, but obviously designed in imperial units and then converted. I have the impression the building industry is one of the most conservative branches.

I worked at American Airlines for 20 years mainly rebuilding aircraft engines. I transferred to the docks (working on live aircraft) & was assigned to the Airbus a-300 line. All the dimensions for layouts of upgrades were in metric. All the mechanics working there went to the laborious chore of converting everything to English measure (which most Americans call "American measure). I went out & purchased a Stanley metric tape measure and avoided the constant and aggravating use of the calculator. Co-workers treated me like a traitor even though I could work faster in metric than they could making all the calculator moves. When using a calculator you end up with a decimal answer anyway so why not just use metric. Also, I had worked as a machinist so I could transfer decimal parts of an inch into close fractions, I had memorized down to 1/16" in decimal.

if you know the conversion formula, then you don't need the second standart, you can make it by yourself. You can also make the standard yourself using the historical first sample method. So the story sounds very American

@@Tony-. That's not how it was done in 1793. Back then, you had to have an actual bar/weight/etc1 that was copied with exacting precision from the original. Every country, when they used different measurement systems, had these stored in some secure location, and when they adopted the metric system, they had to send someone to France to get copies of the originals. Using math for this sort of thing was just something that wasn't done until the 20th century.

@@thomasrinschler6783 I agree, it's reasonable. Scientific progress was different and it was cheaper to buy an ingot than to create it at the risk of making an error. But if you live across the ocean and you have European technologies, then exceptions appear to every rule) In the same USA, they used the metric system when necessary and without any standards.

Thank God Divine Providence saved us from that ignoble fate.

No wonder so much US road infrastructure is now falling apart....

My UK parents grew up being taught imperial for the most part in the 1950s and 60s. They still know about all the conversion rates and pre-decimal currency is still natural to them when to me it all seems like some ancient Victorian methods of doing measurement and currency.

What state were you in? I was in Maryland for late elementary, middle school, and high school in the 70s and distinctly remember teachers telling us we *had* to learn Metric, because the country was inevitably changing. But it was taught as an afterthought (I still know none of it) and gradually went away by the end of the decade. OTOH, my husband is a physician and lives in a world where both exist: at work, it's mostly metric, and they convert without even thinking about it (pounds to KG, for example); at home, no metric. Though his learning of metric mostly started in college science classes (he's from rural Illinois and wasn't taught it at all in the 70s), so the societal move then retraction had nothing to do with it.

As someone who is not American, I have an opposite problem. Apart from inches (which is similar in length from the tip of the thumb to the first line/joint), I find myself not using the Imperial system. I guess if America weren't so big in the world's economy, I and other Asians wouldn't be going to the trouble of learning how to convert from one measurement to another and vice versa.

As an engineer, I hate the imperial system. There is nothing better about the imperial system from what I can see.

@@chrispitterle8831 As an amateur engineer aspiring to be a real engineer, the way I see it is: 1. Measure in US Customary, so I understand how big everything is. 2. Convert to Metric, so calculations do not take long. 3. Convert Metric results back to US Customary, so I understand what everything is doing and do not hurt myself.

@@dannypipewrench533 that seems like a good approach from a napkin math side of things. When you get into the thermal sciences side of engineering the metric system makes life so much easier. Unfortanatly there are many cases where the common measurment is not a compatible unit (kg to lb, one is mass one is force) The converstions balloon on these so significantly, especilally when the values ahould be simple.

Well here in Colorado we do kilos and have a Radio Station in Colorado Springs Kilo 94

I work on earthmoving equipment & caterpillar & John Deere use alot of metric bolts & nuts.

Yeah, it's actually non-industrial, non-professional, uneducated, people that don't use metric. Scientists, engineers, medical and military professionals, and global traders all use metric in the US.

@@zen1647 Military uses everything. I've used both standard and metric as a mechanic, though a lot of the newer equipment tries to push metric. I'm sure other industries such as engineers and traders will use a mix of both too. The two domains which seem truly dominated by metric are science and medicine.

Most STEM industries such as pharma use metric. We are taught in metric at University

What? No entiendo. Explique, por favor.

@@Svensk7119 Pausa el video en 1:39 y lee el periódico que ves.

@@CosmicCleric Ocho harasho! Spasiba. Tusen takk. Sheh-sheh! Y gracias por la respuesta in Español! Necesito practicar mas.

@@Svensk7119 You speak English well (per your other comments), so I don't know why you originally asked me in Spanish, but you're welcome. P.S. In case you are a bot, could you please respect my time and leave me alone? I would appreciate it, thank you.

@@CosmicCleric I have never heard any speak so politely to a potential 'bot before... I am a living, breathing human being, so, no no, I haven't been 'bot. I spoke in Spanish for I wanted to speak it. I never get enough practice. And your Spansk was excellent. Spanish. Your Spanish was excellent.

I nominate "Shut Up Nerds." Based on the fact that it is hilarious and the singular, actual, no foolin', honest-to-God real reason that we haven't actually adopted the metric system.

especially is they are out of the world cup in just a couple of hours

i guess not. Good for them

The Brits and Canadians would probably understand because (at least us brits anyway) use a hybrid system that is just insane. So many of us understand both. Although the younger generations are more accustomed to metric and have no idea what most imperial measurements are. Which is a good thing imo, at least we're getting a standard. May have taken a while, but we're getting there. Just some of the measurement systems we use: Weight and height of most objects, metric Weight and height of people, imperial Speed, imperial (although I think metric is becoming more common despite imperial still being the standard) Distance, imperial (but again, metric is becoming more popular and is slowly becoming more common than imperial) Measurement of liquids, honestly I have no idea. Sometimes it's litres, sometimes it's fl oz, sometimes it's pints, it depends on the day I guess. And don't even try to look at British baking or cooking guides. Some use metric, some use imperial and some use both. Some things use both ounces/lbs and grams/kg. It's funny. We bully the Americans for using mostly imperial and refusing to switch over to metric, yet we use a hybrid system that would confuse pretty much any immigrant or tourist that chose to come here. Never go to the uk, it's a confusing mess and none of us have any idea what is happening or why.

Canadians too also use hybrid systems. Many contractors and private building companies still use imperial out of habbit. Food prices are displayed prominently in pounds to make it look cheaper. And any human measurement is done in inches and feet because we are a bit too immature thinking a meter is too big for height measurements and centimetres are a bit too small for... other measurements.

Grocery stores... ok. Show me anyone who sells beer or soda on "10-packs". Or a 10-pack of eggs. Where I shop, it is always six-packs, 12-packs and 24-pack. Now go to the Home of Metric. Look at the EU Flag. They could have picked any number of stars for their flag... They picked 12. Contrary to popular belief, metric is NOT a Base 10 system. It will always be infused with Seconds. And when you understand the reason why Metric Time was such a dismal failure, then you will understand the Achilles Heel of the entire metric system. It fails when you attempt to do a division as simple as divide by three. Or divide by four. It is simply not harmonious. And this is why there will never be Metric Music, where measures are divided into 10 beats, with octaves divided into 10 semitones... Because it sounds HORRID. All music you listen to uses octaves divided into 12 semitones. Just like our clocks. If it was 10, and that was forced on us, then everyone would be throwing their stereos out the window. Metric is simply not harmonious. Grab a six pack and have a drink to that.

@@dahawk8574 Dude what are you talking about? Metric doesn't have anything to do with counting things only by tens. French people can have three children without having to have some more to be metric enough, and they didn't have to change their tricolore to some sort of 'decimal flag'. You sound unhinged. Go spend a nice even third of a dollar on a 2-litre of Coke and enjoy having no metric in your life

@@kourii: "You sound unhinged." Maybe you should go and try to find a Metric Watch, and go find a composer of Metric Music, and if you succeed in such a quest, then we might be able to resume a rational conversation. But you will fail, if you try to find these things. They do not exist. Or rather, you might be able to find a metric watch in some kind of Museum of Failed Inventions. kourii: "Go spend a nice even third of a dollar on a 2-litre of Coke and enjoy having no metric in your life" I've already explained how Coke is sold in 6-packs. And in 12-packs. Have you ever seen it sold in a 10-pack? I have not. These are HARD FACTS that I have presented. You refusing to accept them is not a problem with me. It speaks to your relationship with reality. kourii: "French people can have three children without having to have some more to be metric enough..." Notice what happens, biologically, when a French person has a child. Two gamete's fuse to form a zygote. This is ONE single cell. Perhaps you are aware of how this cell then develops into becoming a human being... One cell divides, becoming 2. It divides again, becoming 4. Here is the sequence: 1 > 2 > 4 > 8 > 16 > 32 > ... Do I need to go on? For every country which has converted to metric, this is still how their babies are made. It is no different, regardless of which measuring system a government attempts to impose. This happens to be a NATURAL sequence which MIRRORS the system maintained in the USA. It is likewise a number sequence which fits quite well with ALL composers of music. Look at any sheet music, from Bach to Daft Punk. You will find these numbers sequenced above in their music. Daft Punk is two French dudes, and every song they have ever put out is infused with this natural sequence. Look for any Metric Sequence of numbers, and you will not find it. Because if they attempted to do this, then they would immediately fail as musicians. Because... Metric Lacks Harmony. Go ahead and bury your head if that's how you wish to deal with these hard facts. Yes, I AM the problem here. I am the one who is unhinged. Sure, if that makes you feel better. Believe whatever you want to believe. Go petition the EU to change their flag to 10 stars, and see how far you get. Here's another item you can go out and look for, but you will NEVER FIND: - A metric compass. Because as soon as you divide a circle into: - North, - South, - East, - West, That extremely simple, basic division will drive you AWAY from Base 10. You will NEVER find any compass. Nor will you ever find any GLOBE that has been divided into slices of 10 for either Latitude nor Longitude. And this is the ultimate irony of metric... They set out to define the meter, with this goal of eliminating fractions. And what is the very first thing they do? The choose to divide the globe into FOURTHS. They decided to base the meter on 1/4th of the distance between the Equator and the North Pole. This fact right there should make it clear to anyone how metric was doomed from Step 1. It contradicted its own principles from the very start. Eliminate fractions by starting with a fraction. Now consider the units used in ANY airplane you have ever flown in. The standard here is KNOTS. Nautical miles per hour. Notice how NO ONE uses km/hr. Because it absolutely makes no sense. A unit that was defined based upon the globe is USELESS when navigating the globe. Everyone still uses this HARMONIOUS system which was adopted from the Sumerians and Babylonians. Division by 12. Division by 24. Division by 60. It will NEVER become metric. Because Lat/Long, compasses and TIME are all harmonious. Whereas metric is not, and cannot ever be. Ok, you can now FILE ALL of this information into your UNHINGED (Do Not Ever Open, even in case of Emergency) bin. Promptly discard. Even better if you just never read any words that I have presented. That is one sure way for any believer in Metric to not have their views threatened by simple facts. I AM THE PROBLEM HERE. You and your beliefs are perfectly find. Nothing to see here. Move along...

@Markus Andrew America (the United States of America) has not converted to metric for the same reasons as why there is still discrimination here, why Christian prayer is still desired in public schools, why abortion bans are being forced on others, why citizens can buy assault weapons (or any weapons), why people voted for the Orange Julius, and on and on: because we have a bunch of idiots here.

Yes, if you work in metric use metric measuring devices and you do not need to constantly convert anything. If you are working in what you call imperial then simply use imperial measuring tools no conversion needed. Why complicate things unnecessarily?

Like you I was 11 years old when we converted to metric in Australia. I remember it became illegal for a few years at least to sell things like rulers with imperial measurement markers on them. Presumably to give it enough time to bed in the conversion. Imagine make imperial rulers illegal in the US. QAnon would go nuts.

@@mendocinobeano QAnon goes nutz practically every day so that would be nothing new.

It's easier to get 1/3 of 12, than of 10. Non-metric was optimized for everyday use, metric was optimized for scientific calculations.

But they did implement it eventually 1975 to be specific

Basically we're not dicks about it.

I thought Canada use both? I lived there for a year and never had to use the imperial system.

Canada officially uses metric though. People still use imperial for certain things, but that’s in an unofficial capacity.

Same with Britain. They like to pretend they use metric, but they are almost as bad as the US about not using it.

Americans also always use fixed showers.

I think most of science does too.

@@ilyatoporgilkaThe fuck is a fixed shower?

@@jiraffe9600 I think it's the kind of shower with a showerhead you can't adjust the position of.

@@ilyatoporgilka I don't have a fixed shower.

For anyone curious, the amount of players Canada may provide to the NHL is "all of them, except a handful of Russians and Swedes".

Thank you! The benefit just wouldn't be worth the massive cost of changing, even moreso nowadays.

@@divinecomedian2 not worth it at all

This aligns with my experience as an engineer in the US also. It's clear this argument is less about practicality in engineering than it is about politics and people's feelings about an aspect of what they consider to be American exceptionalism.

@@josephmagana6235 i agree with that sentiment. The argument against imperial units is usually one that is rooted in jealousy/hate of america, and not so much on the merit or use of the system itself.

Sure? Reading through the comments here it looks like Americans still think their system is superior.

“cl” is a measurement I only see nowadays on wine bottles. A common way of measuring car fuel consumption in SI-using countries is litres per 100 km. Conveniently, you can reinterpret the numbers as cl/km without having to do any conversion.

@@lawrencedoliveiro9104 sometimes beer bottles as well, especially in Europe. 33 cL = 330 mL (i.e. the standard amount for a can or bottle of beer).

Wine bottles (and Scotch) are metric: 750 ml. This way, we Americans have no idea how much we're drinking and no need to feel guilty!

Americans also always use fixed showers.

@@ilyatoporgilka “fixed showers”. The nozzle still rotates, just doesn’t disconnect from the wall for most showed. That is not the case for all showers, but most.

Don't forget the 16.9oz bottles that have different bar codes than the 500ml bottles.

US Customary. Imperial is different.

In science we gernerally use "Non SI units acceptable for use with SI". Because most metric units are just terribly sized. So we measure energy in electron-volts, large distances in light years, atomic mass units for small things, solar mass units for large things...

And occasionally you'll see Imperial pints of imported beer, which are "20 oz" in Britain but "19.2 oz" here due to our fluid ounce being bigger.

@@danielbishop1863 You'll occasionally see metric-only cans of beer too, which funnily enough are usually in my experience from the U.S.

The ignorance in the modern world is off the charts. Imperial/traditional is not a set standard and here is the thing metric is not a set standard either. Imperial is a system of fractions that perfectly align with calculus and geometry it is the reason why a clock is still based in 12 hour cycles or 24 hour cycles. It is the reason why the pyramids were built using such a fractional system and why electrical energy is modelled using a fractional system. The scale of the inch is in relation to the human body, that is in relation to distance on earth and is the reason why ancient civilizations could survey site that were miles in length without using a long big of string.

@@bighands69 This is indeed correct. Decimal was never historically considered logical. It extends to 'real money' of 240d (old pence) to the £. This is base 12 with handy factors of 1,2,3,4,6,12 and handy fractions inbetween. Before calculators every one in a society using it could instinctively do all the necessary day to day calculations and more.

@@bighands69 Me thinks your British bias is off the charts! Science only uses the metric system for a very good reason, it's infinitely more practical than the IS, just ask any scientist, they'll confirm this.

This can't be right. 0.9ml are non existent in either nation!

US gallon is smaller then a UK gallon.

No...that is misinformation being spread by metric zealots. To this day, companies that produce rocket engines do so using U.S. Customary units. (Rocketdyne for example) How the final product is communicated to the audience is a simple method of communication.

NASA uses Metric units wherever necessary.

Not wanting to pay for things doesn’t mean they are worse

This is not history. It is erronious in several particulars, including its premise.

Did your employer mention they include free brain exercise as part of the social package?

Ouch. That does suck.

Literally no American thinks that.

When we completely manifest our destiny, you will have no choice