I grew up knowing only imperial measurement system. (Even then I thought the use of imperial fractions was frustrating and ridiculous) Took me less than 2 weeks in Europe to be fluent in metric. Rational and logical system.
I lived in Europe for two years and just got back to the USA... The metric system makes way more sense but if you're not brought up with Celsius and kilometers and kilos it's incredibly difficult to adjust
I was born and raised in the U.S went to live to Argentina when i was 15 been using the metric system ever since. Went back to the states after more then 20 years and i can't believe i ever used that crazy imperial system. Metric system way easier to learn and understand
lubricentro hotrod So you migrated to Argentina, Sud America and learned to come to terms with using the Metric System, and realized how simple and logical it is... The Imperial System and a slight variation exists in the US Imperial which standardizes the even worse British Imperial system. Both British and US Imperial are a mess. Even so That Australia has been using the Metric System for near on 50 years many people though they use it are not fluent in understanding it. That is a fault in the corrupt education system. And the UN is to blame for that, as the UN is in control of the World Education / Indoctrination system. Certainly The Metric system is logical and superior to the Imperial System -- Unless one is not able to count to TEN.....
@@andrew_koala2974 In construction related fields the British and American systems are much easier to use than metric. You just haven't been trained to use the system or understand the numerous advantages it has over metric.
@OceanBlue I assume there are differences between the American and British imperial system. Having said that, I fully agree with you that these systems have many advantages over the metric system, most especially in construction related fields. And I can easily demonstrate that.
its more like the old guy who has done something the same way for years and doesn't have a reason to change their way of thinking. it works fine for us.
The U.S. Customary system is not as complicated as its foreign detractors like to say it is. It works fine for everyday personal use. If it didn't, nobody would use it.
Yeah, the "year 2038 problem". In various 'nixes, datetimes are stored as 32-bit integers, signifyine #seconds since 0000 hours 1 Jan 1970. I'm wondering what workaround would work best.
And in 1984 I worked for a summer in the US in a machinist/engineering outfit. Machinists used imperial on imperial machines(makes sense). The engineers converted from imperial to metric, do all the calculations then convert back to imperial. Makes no sense at all but they considered it both faster and less prone to error.
1 yard is 3 feet or 36 inch 1 Mile = 1760.0065617 Yard = 5280.019685 Foot = 63360.23622 Inch 1 US Gallon = 4 US Quart= 8 US Pint = 16 US Cup = 128 US Fluid Ounce = 0.0049511294 Cubic Yard = 0.1336804926 Cubic Foot = 230.99989113 Cubic Inch 1 Long Ton = 1.12 Short Ton = 2240 Pound = 35840 Ounce = 5080230.4 Carrat Freezing point = 32 Fahrenheit, Boiling point = 212 Fahrenheit 1 Acre = 4840 Square Yard = 43560 Square Foot = 6272640 Square Inch 1 US Gallon of water = 8.3454073264 Pound = 133.52651722 Ounce 1 kilometer = 1 000 meters = 1 000 000 milimeters 1 cubic meter = 1 000 Liters = 1 000 000 mililiters 1 ton = 1000 kilogram = 1 000 000 gram = 1 000 000 000 miligram Freezing point = 0 Celsius, Boiling point = 100 Celsius 1 Hectare= 100 are = 10000 Square Meter 1 cubic meter of water = 1 ton = 1 000 kilograms = 1 000 000 gram Imperial system is not a system, it is a chaotic remnant from middle ages.
@ibesweetp2 You got that backwards. The fact that you are is the only reason you haven't been steamrolled into accepting sensible measurements and you can allow yourself the luxury of not fully adopting SI units. Also, the US$ makes up 60% of reserve currencies - it is not the only one. With the next closest one being the Euro with ~20% - And I'm guessing about to increase in the wake of Brexit.
I'm not sure why other people insist on dictating what is best for the United States--they constantly bitch and moan when the United States tries to do it for them. Fucking hypocrite eurotrash that we've had to bail out of multiple wars of self-destruction
@ibesweetp2 That will change as the world switches to using either Yuan or cryptocurrencies. Who cares of you are a superpower or not. The Chinese will pass you eventually without having the mountain of debt that you have. They will have a hill.
@@GH-oi2jf : Exactly right. The Imperial System was introduced by Great Britain in 1824, by which time the U.S. had been as separate, independent nation for almost half a century, so the U.S. simply continued using the units they had always been using.
I’m all for the metric system in the US. But I don’t get the purpose of the u in words we done use them in. The addition of a U in a word, makes it look French. Flavor 🇺🇸 vs flavour 🇫🇷.
What about excessive use of Z instead of S and hyphens? The funniest is how a whole generation of people say Zee and not Zed as a kids tv show with a giant bird changed how they said it to make a song about the alphabet rhyme better. #facepalm
I wonder why weather sites still shows temperature in Fahrenheit? Why not Centigrade? It is so easy to understand. Let me tell you at 0 C pure water freezes. At 100 C it boils.
Gary Hillis nice, but tbh, correcting a single word would not be sufficient in this case, might as well rewrite the post completely, since there's little that can be salvaged.
There are significant practical impediments. First, the U.S. Customary system is what we're all used to. If there is no compelling reason to switch to an unfamiliar system (and there isn't), then why switch? Second, if everyone in the U.S. uses the Customary system, then that makes it impractical for anyone to use the metric (or any other) system. If everyone around me is using inches, feet, pounds and gallons, then *_I_* have to, too. (Note that for the most part it's really only individuals in their everyday lives that use the Customary system. Like when you go to the store and buy a pound of ground beef and then go to the gas station and buy a few gallons of gas. Most large businesses, especially those that engage in international trade, use the metric system. And the U.S. government uses metric, as does everything and everyone in the fields of science and engineering. It's really mostly just at the "retail" level that we use the Customary system.)
@@Milesco You forgot to mention that there are very compelling reasons. Efficacy and ergonomics are the main reasons. Dividing and multiplying by 10 is something a 5 year old can do, but dividing and multiplying by 12, 16, or 24 takes time. There is exactly zero way you could say that this is "easier". Even if you're used to it it still takes longer than it would with 10. Besides, just because you're used to it does not mean it's good. Just because people in South Sudan are used to fearing for their lives every day because of war does not mean that they should reject change because it would take some "getting used to". Come to think of it, there's been a lot of buzz recently about people in the US fearing for their lives for being who they are...
Actually the US was supposed to switch to metric as far back as the late 1700s. Thomas Jefferson was in talks with France about the metric system. He requested France to send a definition of the gram and meter. To make a long story short, there were two attempts to get these samples from France to the US. One ship was looted by pirates and a second ship was lost in a storm. By the third attempt of sending the sample, the proponents behind the first attempts at metric have died and the cause died with them.
You really could say that! I don't recall who robbed the ship during the first attempt, iirc it may have been the British since it does coincide with a war between England and France. Reflecting back on all these events even though they wanted to convert way back in the 1790s, the US started to grow and trade with others that were using the Imperial system. The growing nation didn't have the time to wait for a new calibration weight, its not like they can overnight a package. Imagine the amount of time to send it out twice to the US and send back the news it's stolen or lost plus the time to make a new sample. Metric wasn't even widely used until the mid 1800s.
The Federal government had officially converted, but handles it (ever since Carter is gone) in a way which intends to deter others from doing so. They keep using the Imperial system, but translate every measure in the most awkward way, seemingly "precise". This way, I have seen signs in national parks saying "ELEVATION 609.6m (2000 ft)" and even "WATER-> 15.24m (50 ft)". Thus making people reason that the Imperial system is simple, while the metric one is something only rocket scientists in white frocks can understand. Meanwhile, in the US a problem like "how many 100ft steel bars are needed to make a 3 mile rail?" still makes qualified engineers reach for their computers, while in the rest of the world, any fourth grade child can easily answer the similar "how many 50m steel bars are needed to make a 5km rail?"
I did that problem in my head, no problem. Metric is like a bicycle, it's easier than walking, but it makes you lazy because you get less physical or mental exercise, respectively. So get off your duff, and walk, lazybones! 😜😜
@Jay Barker Exactly my point. You needed to do 5 arithmetic operations to do something that in the metric system would require only one.
5 лет назад
I'm fine with the metric system, and I agree that it is convenient. I use it in my work. But stop saying the US uses the imperial system. We don't. We use measures that you are too lazy to google.
I live in America and I absolutely hate the imperial system. I am the only person I know how normally uses kilograms and meters in America. I wish more people saw how using 10x and .1 is a lot easier then 1/16th and 12x
And .33333333333333333...(to infinity) is easier than a third? Twelve inches in a foot. Twelve is divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 12. You can have a third of a foot (4 inches) or two thirds (8 inches) but try doing thirds with decimals! Ten is only divisible by 1, 2, 5 and 10. Ten is great for fingers or toes, but not so great for counting and measuring. By the way, we don’t use the imperial system in America, and never have. We use the English or American Standard system.
@@ethanlamoureux5306 People who use the metric system do not use 0.33333333333333333. If you want to represent a third of something, you simply input "1/3". 0.33 is not necessarily a third. It depends on the context. For counting and measuring, the SI is, again, much simpler. If you try to machine a complex piece of metal using the SI, you will think twice before going back to Imperial. Inches, feet, yards, miles... There is no rational correlating between them. How many inches are there in 2.7 miles? How many centimeters are there in 2.7 kilometers? You don't need a calculator for the second question.
@Geek37 I don't think you realize what you wrote. You can easily divide anything by 10. Try dividing 3.664759 in half. Now try dividing it into tenths. (0.3664759) Much easier.
@@leoarc1061 There are no fractions in the Metric System. Everything is decimal based. So 1/3 cannot be expressed in that system. Machinists love working in thousandths of an inch. Nothing wrong with that. Americans don't use imperial measurements. We have our own system. There are 171,072 inches in 2.7 miles, but who cares? Only Metric people are obsessed with measuring everything in the smallest possible units. How many millimeters is it to the moon? And I don't need a calculator to multiply 2.7*5280*12.
The Swedish Panda tbf the UK is “largely” metric too, we still use pints and miles for something’s and litres and kilometres for others, the UK would probably fall into the same category as Burma
@@danielfield2570 : *Exactly.* Everybody _loves_ to give the United States a hard time about not using the metric system and almost giggles with glee when reciting that lame old platitude about Liberia and Myanmar. But of course _it isn't true._ There are several countries that don't fully embrace the metric system. Like the UK, Canada, and many other former Commonwealth nations.
@@Milesco i think the difference with the UK is that most people here understand both and know the conversions. We also understand that the metric system is just objectively better and we don’t let blind patriotism get in the way of pragmatism. It’s the only system taught in schools As a University physics student Ik the metric system is better, but in some cases I think imperial does actually make more sense to use like when discussing height of people we still use feet and inches, because it’s far easier to remember and compare your height when it is 5,10 rather than 177.8cm. And the only other thing I would keep is pints for drinking alcohol, I’m sorry but a pint glass is just a natural size for a drink, when I was travelling the continent, 500ml is just not enough to satisfy me but a litre is just way too much, a pint(568ml) is just a good middle ground. The rest you can change. And give it a few more decades and I think the UK will be nearly there.
Captain Quirk Most commonwealth nations that are still dealing with imperial units are dealing with imperial fasteners - all pipe threads globally are imperial - BSP or NPT. And yes it is annoying to have to cut that 610 mm wide plywood from the US down to 600 mm.
@@John-gm8ty Vox is well informed and respected. Just because it doesn't conform to your uneducated views doesn't give you the right to compare it to a disease that kills hundred of thousands of people.
1 mile is 1760 yards, 1 yard is 3 feet, 1 feet is 12 inch and than you just start fractioning it till you have your head burst over the question whether 39⁄64” is smaller than 5⁄8” or not. Really makes sense.
@@patwelch8187 while it's not all that complicated, having to double a fraction 3 times to check which of two numbers given in the very same unit seems a bit unnecessary
Oh yes I used to do this sort of thing in primary school. "How many 3 13/64" pieces can you cut from a length of 6' 7 1/2 " allowing for 3/32" wastage at each cut" And if the material costs 1 pound 13 s and 7 pence hapenny per yard what is the cost of each piece to the nearest farthing. I don't miss it at all.
I love how Americans defend their shitty system. I'd say that the length part is acceptable (still dumb compared to the metric though), but what makes me angry is the volume and area parts. How long is a side of a square with an area of 100^2 feet? In the metric system it would be easy, you just divide it by ten, because there is exactly 10m long side in a 100^2m.
It reminds me of how hard it was, coming from the U.S. as a middle-schooler, to learn the UK Pounds and Shillings. Then the UK went decimal and counting the correct change was no problem.
Is American not use metric system? Japanese has many use metric system. But Japanese original unit shaku(尺),go(合)、jo(畳)、ri(里)etc and Japan has original cander. Now it's Reiwa (令和). 令和5年(2023) sometimes use this.formal paper writing using.
I'm guessing the right-side standard is associated with both the American and French revolutions. Imagine hating the British so much that you decide move all your horse traffic to the other side of the road. To be fair, probably easier than car traffic.
You may be interested in the time Sweden did this. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JoYNhX15w4k.html Edit: I'm not passing any opinion here, just something relevant.
To simplify: Left side of road driving - knights draw swords with the right (dominant) hand Right side of road driving - horse-drawn carts' drivers whip/drive horses with the right hand
Michael Bauer Sweden changed sides to be inline with it's neighbours. Myanmar on the other hand from what I read, Did actually change sides to distance it self from The UK.
The girl is cute, but she never really said the real reason why the US has not switched over to the metric system. Here is the real reason...because the metric system is French. It's not an American invention....that's the main reason. In America, we expect other people to follow us. We are the trendsetter. We don't follow others. We don't care about other countries or the world. We only care about ourselves. So, while other countries have switched over to the metric system, and I admit it is easier to learn, and more consistent. In this case, the US has clearly lost the fight. But, Americans are just too proud to switch over. We will go down with the ship.
I don’t know what America you live in, but I was taught metric and use metric in everything I do except driving, cooking, and working on domestic cars. And ask any real mathematician or scientist and they will give you many complaints about some of the non-base 10 metric standards like time and angles. Only some things are easier.
A colleague of mine is an electrical engineer in Nevada (I think), where the electricity company lays cables in metres, while the water company lays pipes by the yard. Due to errors in transcribing drawings they are constantly digging each-others infrastructure up. :-)
I agree... and when ever I'm dealing with people overseas (I'm in Australia, if you aren't, you're overseas) I use DD mmm YYY... eg today is 15 oct 018.
Maybe because calendars only have twelve pages. I've never seen a calendar with 31 pages. Every calendar I've ever seen has the name of the month on top, even on electronics. I'd hate to see calendars made to satisfy a DD/MM/YY layout. lolol
It's unfair to make a claim the US hasn't "converted" when all secondary school and greater scientific and mathematical studies are centered around the metric system. Those who use the system on a global scale here in the US know EXACTLY what the metric system means.
NASA is a government agency and as such required to use metric where practical per the video. It was a private contractor, Lockheed Martin, that operated in the Imperial system and failed to convert software it supplied NASA to SI units.
someone’s butthurt. literally not her claim in the video. she’s just saying not everyone in the US exclusively uses metric simply because conversion isn’t compulsory like it has been in other countries.
when a majority of businesses and people still use the imperial system then no it would not be considered converted. and how tf is it even unfair it isnt like it is an insult that the imperial system is in wide use?
Everyone switched to the metric system because it was easier. The US was like: "Nah, we're good. We don't need a new measurement system." The other countries just like being able to trade with the US more conveniently, probably.
Depending of what you are talking about. The Duodecimal system base 12 is easier. For you and me is easier, as we grew with it, but we have to do calculation with 0.3333 and 0.6667. You don't have that problem in duodecimal. And arithmetic's are easier. For the rest (eg. equations) all systems are OK.
Do you know only USA and Canada use a size of paper for printers and photocopiers? The rest of the entire world standardize on A4 size for printed pages. A3 is twice the width of A4 and A5 is half the height of A4. I think it's American big business trying to be smart (but failing badly).
As a half Aussie/American who grew up with the metric system yet was forced to learn imperial to fix Boeing aircraft, I now use a funny mixture of both. Small things in mm, medium distance in inches & feet and long distance in Km's. I'm so screwed up! 😀
Probably not that uncommon, many Australians would use a mix of (centi)metres and feet/inches depending on context. It's kind of interesting. Feet and inches, for colloquial use, have been uniquely resilient in a way other imperial measures haven't. Personally I'm a millennial and was born in Australia but if someome asked my height in conversation I'd still give 'five-eleven' most of the time, and most people I know would do the same. Yards are completely gone though, and maybe everyone knows what a mile is but it's never used that way.
As an Aussie who is old enough to have lived through the conversion process I'm inclined to use both at times. Usually I use metric but sometimes it's just easier to say an inch than 2.54 centimetres for instance. In those situations I tend to use the system that gives a round number.
l had a discussion with an American friend of mine when l was there last. (2016-2017) l asked why a Gallon of petrol was 3.75 a Litre, when it's actually 4.5 a Litre. She told me that is how America does it, l have to tell you l have scratched my head ever since.
Don't you mean 3.75 Litres vs 4.5 Litres? Anyway, first, these figures are approximate - more precise values are 3.78 and 4.54. And they both originated in Britain, but the smaller value was used much earlier. The latter gallon figure was due to a British overhaul of weights and measures in 1824. So since the USA colonies were settled long before this date, they used the old gallon. Britain and its Empire adopted the new gallon. Hence an accident of history due to isolation then independence. Both measurements are equivalent to eight pints - an old pint and a new pint measure.
@@thelongdrag9188 Actually, no. When Britain first colonized the New World, they shipped a lot of stuff from Europe to America. One thing they *didn't* ship was water. They did, however, ship booze. By an amazing coincidence, the American gallon is exactly the same size as the British *wine gallon* . Care to guess why?
@@linksysroutenoh.3460 Hmm... I'd forgotten I'd posted earlier to this thread. I'm not sure which part of my response your comment was directed to. If it's about omitting rigorous details about various archaic units of measure, wet or dry, that was due to my not wanting to over-complicate the explanation, but to deal with the original question more generally with respect to the two systems in use today. Now, to address your other points, since water was plentifully available in the New World, and rum distilling commenced quite early on the eastern seaboard, I'm not clear why there was even a need to ship either water or hard liquor by sea from Britain except for shipboard use. Growing hops and brewing was also an early industry that supplied the taverns, although the first colonists would no doubt have brought beer with them initially. If by booze you mean hard liquor, shipping in a wine gallon vessel (versus an ale or beer gallon) would have been completely orthodox. But to have a stab at your final question, I'd guess that the matter hinged upon shipping excise duty for royal revenue which, as far as I know, was paid by merchants per unit. Therefore by shipping more units than if the beer was gauged to the beer gallon, more duty accrued to the Exchequer.
I’ve been working in a scientific field in metric in the US for 40 years and essentially never converted between the systems with the exception being temperature. The only everyday problems are needing two sets of wrenches and sockets and matching threads on nuts and bolts.
I was puzzled for a while after buying my new 2000 Chevy Camaro and then, wanting to bolt on some parts, learning that I had to buy a full set of metric wrenches and sockets-there are virtually no SAE nuts and bolts on the car.
Well, you need a set of Whitworth wrenches to work on your Norton. Oh, and to get the ignition harness connectors off a Rolls-Royce jet engine you need a Whitworth wrench... though most of the time you can skate by with a 17mm.. it's pretty close.
...because Americans see it as a badge of honor to be ignorant. The Americans think they know their system when in fact they have no clue how it actually works. Drill sizes, wire sizes, sheet metal thickness, are all inconsistent.
Like she said, everything in America is metric already, and what remains as being standard I’ve never heard of an issue with inconsistency. And all those errors where just due to overpaid scientists not paying attention. We are taught conversion tables all through school. So if ignorant means being able to accurately use two different systems of measure interchangably rather than only one, then one of our definitions of ignorant is wrong.
I'm from the UK and basically everything is metric The older generation uses both/prefers imperial But the new generation like me don't even know how to convert to each of then as in schools we are only taught metric Fahrenheit is never used anywhere Yards and miles only on road signs but sat navs use either Most people know there weight/height in both mainly because you see posts on fb ect written in them so we can easily convert them both (however we use stone not pounds) Liquids are all ml except beer/milk really
+Ryan Herich _"not entirely man's fault"_ -- Yeah... That's basically not accepting global warming. There are no other factors that explain the observed temperatures. And on evolution: When you breakdown the 2009 Pew Research numbers for the general US public: 31%(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) young earth creationists, 22% that think evolution is guided by a supreme being(aka not really evolution), 32% believe that evolution due to natural processes(actual evolution) and 15% NA That makes over 50% of the general population 100% wrong. When 31% can believe in something as stupid as that everything in existence is just a couple thousands years old, you know something is seriously wrong.
@@gregdubya1993 we're you on that engineering crew that sent the first rover to the moon ,that messed upon the conversion from imperial metric ? Did they have degree's or a online course??
@@tjcmiscou Oi, quit being a big pp my guy. I am also an American and I can say most Americans know the metric system. You cant graduate school without knowing it. If you dont know it you will fail every science course. All of that aside... Imperial is still my native and does come more naturally. Except things less than an inch. When something is smaller than an inch I go into metric for cm and mm.
after the shooting... you are no longer innocent and off the map
5 лет назад
Don't worry. NZ was on my chart when I sailed there from Seattle. I just loved listening to the daily news there, because I was very eager to hear how many hogget carcases had been sold to the Saudis that day.
Some of the liquid US Customary units are different from the liquid Imperial units which used to get really confusing in Canada before we switched to metric. For example: 1 Imperial Gallon = 4.54609 litres 1 US Gallon = 3.7854 litres There were also differences in fl oz. If you didn't know if the measurement system you didn't know if you were getting Imperial or US. When they gave mileage figures for vehicles again they didn't say if it was Imp mpg or US mpg. When we switched to metric it all became a lot more simple in Canada!
I was taught ALL the whole WORLD uses the metric system. Then I went to England. Landed at Heathrow, took a train to London. Two days later took a tour to Bath and Stonehenge. Was SHOCKED to see all road signs were in miles, miles per hour, Heights shown on road signs from the road surfaces to bottom of overpasses (for truck drivers benefit) were in feet and inches!!!! I never saw one sign in metric!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In the Uk, it is a really mess. We use half and half. Mostly, for anything professional it is normally done in metric, however the imperial is normally used with weight and height.Also, we use the miles per hour.
The UK is a country that can't decide whether to align with the US (Imperial) or the EU (Metric). Just look at the dilemma that the country is currently facing with Brexit. No deal hard Brexit, soft Brexit, no Brexit, call for a second referendum, call for a new election to replace May as PM, or what?
I don't agree about the weight bit, we've largely moved to grams and kilos for weight, I've even gotten used to kilos on my digital (human weighing) scales. I admit though I do prefer MPH to KPH.
The UK had all but moved away from the imperial system, not just to align with Europe, but the rest of the world. The planet does not need two measuring system just like the world needs a recognised international language (English).
No. We do not use miles. My commute to work (southampton to gosport) is 19 km.Fuckifiknow what that is in imperial.. I see a few road signs in metres, but they're usually wrong ... example, the sign i see every day... 11, gosport/fareham. 13m. the sign is trying to say 0.3333miles. but it's saying 13 metres. Because idiocy.
Use of metrics has actually reversed in the U.S. It was somewhat used in the 80s and 90s for some things but has disappeared since then. Metrics are never used in daily public life in the U.S. at all. The U.S. didn't actively resist anything. There has never been public discussion of metrics in America. It just kind of faded away without anyone mentioning it. It's not a topic of public discussion in America. There was never any "resistance" in America. Americans didn't notice in the first place.
They will have to coopb, all of the Scientific community worldwide is now Metric, so American Universities will have to update their curricullums if they have not done so already, this will flow on to the High schools, then elementary etc, etc otherwise it will be hard for American students to compete in a scientific field even in America, give it 20 years and most states will have changed over to the Metric system. Only 50 years behind most of the world.
@@gregedwards1087 it's already being used in the United States in the scientific field. I grew up in Virginia and ever since elementary school SI standard the only thing we used in science class. They have whole courses on it in the younger grades. most Americans aren't very good with metric but I know how to do relatively simple conversions from metric to customary in my head.
@@coopboulton, I know, it was only a few years ago that all Scientific endeavors in the States went over to it totally, what I find funny is your comment about most Americans not being very good with the simplest and most effective system of weights and measures yet devised, lol.
No... considering in medicine... when having a fever... much more accurate for EVERY degree F, vs. the 2 1/2 degrees of F for 1 degree of C. ...i.e. easier to tell if body temp slowly rising or falling... so NOT “weird” ... just “better” ! 😊
When i read a thing like a recipe in Imperial system it always makes me laugh because to me (i'm French), Imperial measurment = middle ages. But i think it's a matter of habits, when you grow up learning recipes in "cups", "gallons", etc i'd be a pain to switch.
Britain is officially metric, in line with the rest of Europe. However, imperial measures are still in use, especially for road distances, which are measured in miles. Imperial pints and gallons are 20 per cent larger than US measures. UK weights and measures
The Metric System is a base 10 counting system but human language quickly adopted a base 12 system in the distant past because you can divide it by half, thirds, and fourths without a fractional leftover. Many languages have special words for 11 and 12 to support the base 12 system. Above 12 units it is usually easier to switch to the base 10 counting system so you can use your hands to keep track of the counting. It was handy in dividing lots of dissimilar items for trade, like exchanging eggs for flour in the market. A meter is too big a unit for many purposes, like construction, so they use cm which is too small. In the US ceilings are all at the 8 feet standard or above 8 feet in 1 foot increments. In Europe ceiling height standards vary by country: 223cm, 225cm, 229cm, 236cm. In the US lumber is measured by the inch on the two shortest sides: 2", 3", 4", 6", etc but in metric countries it is 38mm, 64mm, 89mm, 114mm, 140mm etc. Those are very odd and inefficient numbers to use in construction work. For this reason Canada is all-metric except for construction.
Come to the UK, where we have a confusing mix of metric and imperial. We by petrol and diesel by the litre, yet measure fuel economy in miles per gallon. We weigh ourselves in stones and pounds, but weigh fruit and veg in kilos. We buy a 1.5 litre bottle of coke, but a 4 pint bottle of milk. Our road signs are mainly imperial, but more recently, and especially around sea ports, the heights of bridges is shown in both metric and imperial to aid foreign drivers. Car brochures advertise cars engine power in metric horsepower (PS) and sometimes Kilowatts, yet most people have to whip their phones out and convert it to BHP for it to mean anything. The height of anything, including us is generally measured in feet and inches, and the marker signs leading up to motorway exits are measured in yards. Kilometres means absolutely nothing to a person from the UK. Personally I’d rather we were completely one system or the other, and if it were up to me it would be imperial.
No need to apologise. Your English is much better than my Russian. I agree it’s more logical, but it’s whatever you have grown up with is what you find easier. I’m 42 and we were only taught a tiny amount of metric at school.
I'm Brazilian but I'm pretty comfortable using either system. Heck it's not like having to learn a whole new language. Currently I live in Japan and they too have a whole variety of units of their own (like tsubo for land, jo for floorspace in a room, go for volume of rice and only rice, and on.) And yet they're still comfortable using imperial system here and there, like shot distances in golf. And for the J-pop lovers there's that old pop song that goes "Even if we're separated 500 miles" from The Alfee HAHA
I use the following units at my home: hu for the are, du for the volume, tsi for the temperature and I expect the whole world to know them. It is very easy to communicate about my units, why others do not want to apply my units? Maybe because they already agreed on one common system for 150 nations? I do not know because I'm American, and I do not like to learn, I want to be dummy and happy.
That car wasn't properly imported. European car makers make cars for US export and they use your system, not metric. Just like when I buy Ford in Europe, I get it in metric, not "imperial". So my point is, complain to the customer, not the US or EU or...you get my point :) edit: I just read about Tooling industry in US back in the day and how messy that was and how you ended up using both systems. I can't imagine how messy that situation is I did not wish to delete my ignorant remark that I made earlier, it's not "wrong" but it's off topic :)
Canadian metrification has to be the strangest hybrid in the world. It got halted in the 1980s with the election of a Conservative government, and wasn't a priority when the Liberals regained power in the early 1990s. If you ask a Canadian how tall they are, they'll answer in feet and inches. If you ask them how far apart two cities are, they'll respond in kilometres. Same for temperature. Weather is reported in celsius, cooking is done using fahrenheit. Milk is sold in litres, butter in pounds and bacon comes in 375 or 500g packages. Beer in bottles is 12 imperial ounces (341 mL) and in 12 US ounce cans (355 mL). They cannabis by the gram, or ounce.
I grew up in Canada. In that country imperial measurement was changed to metric when I was nearing 40. I quickly became acquainted with the metric units involved in measurement of distance, weight, and volume. It made perfect sense but I couldn’t relate it to real life. And I tried for a few years. But even today, I couldn’t tell you what 20 degrees centigrade feels like. Or a kilogram in the palm of my hand. Or whether three kilometers is too far to walk my small dog. At age 46 I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to pursue my work in tech. One of the side benefits was a return to the imperial system. Twenty years later, it still gives me everything I need. I don’t miss metric at all. And I doubt it will be implemented here until long after I’m 1.829 meters under. Americans look upon the rest of the world as a sort of distant illusion. Eighty percent of Americans don’t have passports. To them, metric will always be “foreign”. Converting to metric would be un-American. While I love and miss Canada, its weather and its metric system will probably keep me in California for the rest of my days.
my dear friend, try this little exercise: how big is a cube that contains one metric ton of water. Metric system: 1 ton is 1000 kg. That is also (water, by definition) 1000l! I liter fits into a cube of 1dm3 (thats a cube 10 cm by 10 cm by 10 cm). so you need 1000 of these cubes to add up to i metric ton. 1000 cubes each 1dm3 are put together into one large cube measuring 10x10x10 dm3 the resulting cube that contains 1 metric ton of water is a cube measuring 1 m (also 10 dm, or 100 cm, each dimension) Now Mr. Richards you tell me, without using a calculater how many feet and inches is a cube that contains 1000 gal of water! Now lets look at American achievements in science. Who built the first Atomic Bomb.....Einstein.., Oppenheimer, Fermi you get my drift! The first operating military jet plane..American? I dont think so! The first rocket...American? I dont think so! Could it be the fact perhaps that it is easier to design things and do the math if measurements intuitively interlock and you dont need a calculator to figure out basic stuff?
I found it easier to work with metric units mentally when I realised I don't know what a pound feels like any more than a kilogram, and I don't know how far a mile is if I were to walk it any more than a kilometer, and I could only tell you what maybe 5 to10 different temperatures feel like because otherwise they're kind of the same. A whole childhood of US/Imperial units doesn't make me anything like proficient in estimating physical quanities in terms much more sophisticated than "too much" or "too little". So converting to metric units is about as easy as simply measuring and reading things in metric units.
@@konasteph You may have a point. Once upon a time a time, people used roman numerals. It was traditional. When they moved to Hindu-Arabic, economics, math, science, etc got a massive push due to the increased simplicity.
For measuring the distance I use american Unit, which is the "football field". When I go to the store I walk 5 football fields... That is how Americans use the measurements, they are just too dummies to calculate anything. That is why their Mars probe burned because of this nonsense they use. Ask average American how many yards is in a mile, no one knows. And so on. They have a knowledge of the first grader of elementary school considering the interchanges between different physical values and units. American education system is somewhere in XIX century.
@John Richards John, what you are saying is that you have a religious devotion to the Archaic System. Go on and hold yourself back, but don't fetter our children and grandchildren to the Archaic System when they can become citizens of the world by communicating in S.I. [International System of Units (Système international d'unités), the modern international standard version of the metric system]
In many parts of the US, Texas for example, older property records are defined in terms of the Spanish "vara". City streets in in parts of Houston are an even number of varas apart from each other. State law has official conversions of the vara into both feet and meters, but the records themselves are in varas.
@@danielkowalski8555 Texas law has an official definition of the Spanish vara in terms of meters dating back over a hundred years. As the video states, the US was part of the Treaty of the Meter back in the 1870's, and many states adopted official conversion standards shortly thereafter. This was especially important in places that already used two standards of measurement, Like Texas and California.
@Provocateur "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." -April Imperial system is far from perfect and I agree that metric is better. But the people and the masses of the U.S. are fine with it.
@flip inheck Yes, the metric system is used in science organizations such as NASA. It's the everyday people that use the imperial system in their daily lives. You do know that the customary system is the same as the imperial system, right? Most normal people in the U.S. use imperial units such as inches. Look at tape measures for example. Most people in the U.S. use inches to measure their waists rather than centimeters.
@flip inheck The U.S. uses a bit of metric system, yes. But can you please be more specific by what "its own system" is? What is it called? Does it have a name? Because I live in the U.S. and know it as the customary system.
Although I became fairly fluent in both systems, I still prefer using the Imperial system. It is still widely used in industry even in Canada, pumps are selected and sold in gallon per minute units more often than not.
@@alainlachambre5646 That's a result of historical events. The U.S. gallon is based on the Queen Anne (or "wine") gallon, dating back to 1706. In 1824, Great Britain established a new system for use throughout its empire, called, not surprisingly, the Imperial system. The new imperial gallon was based on the ale gallon, which was about 20% larger than the Queen Anne (wine) gallon. But since the United States was no longer part of the British Empire (and hadn't been for half a century), we didn't adopt Britain's new gallon -- we just kept on using the same old one that we had been using for over a hundred years.
In grade school in Düsseldorf in the mid 50's I learned a slightly different metric system. The base unit of length was the dm (decimeter = 10cm) which is a more "human" measurement as it is about the width of an adult's hand. We also had the "Zentner" (50kg) for unit of mass. We purchased Briketts (briquets or compressed coal) by the Zentner. We also used the term "Pfund" or German for pounds, when buying Lebensmittel (groceries). It's half a kg or ~1.1 US pounds.
Interesting remark, but all of that has indeed faded away. When you tell the kids about *Dezimeter, Zentner and Pfund these days, they'll look at you like you were from another planet.
@@misatzu - Yep. Not only that but I learned to write in old German Script (Altdeutsche Schrift). When I take notes for myself in classes I use it still. The correspondence I kept from my mother and family (all from East Prussia) are writ in it. I have no family left who can read it. Now my grandson here in Boulder, CO isn't even being taught cursive. I've tried to teach him but he has no interest.
In the mid 70’s, I remember learning the metric system was a sudden push. Of course , the push for metric fizzled when weighed against other priorities the country was facing (energy costs, recession, inflation, high interest rates, etc) The metric system, for the most part, is easy and intuitive once you get the logic behind it.
April, the US does not use the Imperial system! (I suppose, from an Aussie perspective, it almost seems that way.) The US picked its set of standard English units in 1795. (As you noted, now called "USCS".) Great Britain picked its standard English units three decades later, named for its new post-American Empire -- in the East, in India. It adopted approximately the same foot and pound as the US, but followed the French with their decimal fad in volumes, creating the decimal gallon (10 lb of water). Unfortunately, they didn't divide it into 10 pints or 100 ounces, so their decimalization only went so far. But that's why the Imperial gallon is unlike the US gallon. The UK also standardized later (1835-1870) on one particular size stone, the 14 lb wool stone. To make the hundredweight (ctw) a nice even multiple of the stone, they made 1 cwt = 8 stone = 112 lb. (The silly Americans had picked 100 lb as the hundredweight.) But both countries picked 1 ton = 20 ctw -- so the British stone now made British tons heavier. In 1959, the US and UK agreed to each change their foot and pound very slightly, to use EXACTLY the same standard -- the first time they ever shared EXACTLY the same size. So you can call US units "English units" (because they are). Or you can call them the US Customary System (because it is). But Imperial never made it back across the Atlantic -- you can't call US units "Imperial". That was saved for the Commonwealth.
the cost of converting is what's really going to stop it from happening, sadly. the goverment is badly in dept as is and there's a ton of infighting for funds for everyone's pet projects (and personal bank accounts). also there would likely be enormous resistance in the form of public outcry by the ignorant masses that the concept could be halted quickly that way as well.
That’s because to the average yank the rest of the people in the world are a pack of fools, or they fail to realise that there is a world outside of the US.
@@stevenstart8728 no, that's not why at all. youre only seeing a small part of the much much greater picture. see, it has nothing at all to do with anyone's natinality. youre looking at the trees and missing the forest entire, to borrow a metaphore.
Minor correction - it's not the 'British' Imperial system, it's the one we inherited from the Roman Empire. For example the Romans built the roads for the purposes of moving and supplying their armies (the word 'mile' is from the same root as 'military') and we pass right side to right side because that's how the Romans did it, passing left side to left side would 'hide' both sides behind their shields so that neither could be sure that the other wasn't about to attack, passing right side to right side means both columns can see exactly what the other is up to.
I doubt mile and military have the same root. mile came from mille "thousand", meaning 1 mile is 1 thousand paces (a pace being 2 steps, a human step is about 80cm, so 1 mile is about 1.6km). million is square of thousand, thus 2 L's. not 1 L like military. military in latin is militum of unknown origin.
Far as I'm aware, 'militas' (and hence 'military') is derived from 'miles' (usually written nowadays with a couple of horizontal bars over the vowels) meaning 'soldier'. It could just be a coincidence that military roads were built for and used by 'miles' who built 'mile forts' along Hadrians Wall every mile (distance) - but it probably isn't.
OrkStuff A thousand foot soldiers is a milite.. or a military unit that was used in late Greek times.. the Romans were far more strategic and militant in nature.. they used the centurion systems.. a hundred men as a unit.. ten by ten.. easier control over the ranks and much more easy to move and execute plans with lesser men in a unit..
One thing that might be worth bearing in mind is that when the Romans invaded Britain it was inhabited by Britons who translated the Roman words into British, after the Romans withdrew from Britain the Anglo-Saxons began arriving, eventually they took over most of what is now England and translated the British words into Anglo-Saxon. After the Norman Conquest the modern English language began to develop and the Anglo-Saxon words evolved into modern English. Probably worth considering by anyone who tries to take the short-cut of translating directly from Roman to modern English.
Minor correction - it's called the Imperial System due to the 1824 Imperial Weights and Measure Act, which was a reform of the previous Queen Anne Standards (which the US uses, hence the slightly different sized fluid ounces and the of course the UK pint being 20 Fl.Oz not 16 Fl.Oz). The word mile has it's root in latin - Old English mīl, based on Latin mil(l)ia, plural of mille ‘thousand’ (the original Roman unit of distance was mille passus ‘a thousand paces’). As for why we go on the left, it's because this gives you the chance to fight using your right arm.
The U.S. does not use the imperial system. Imperial gallons have 160 ounces, but the ounces are smaller than U.S. ounces. It's really the American system.
The big problem that occurs when making a conversion from one system to another is during the conversion our work is less efficient. When the conversion is finally finished it is more efficient. But we have been stuck half way between the two systems and it is reducing our efficiency. We have been at this halfway point for over 50 years. Let's get it DONE!
I like the comment someone posted, "The US is actively implementing the metric system, one inch at a time." I am an Engineer from India and I hate the imperial system. Period. I had to learn this stupid system when I came at the age of twenty. Now I am sixty and I still hate it. I think it will take downfall of USA before it will be fully converted to SI units. Nothing happens in USA now a days until it gets to the extreme. We are modern day Romans and we will go the way they did. We are too busy with sports and booz while our politics is legally extremely corrupt.
@@Aeternum_Gaming This is the attitude that will bring downfall. American thinks whatever they think and do is the only way and they are superior in everything. Trust me after twenty years, no one will give a damn to USA, the way tings are going. America is only strong because of immigration.
Here's a newsflash for you, "AC Just" -- the U.S. already uses the metric system (SI) for all scientific and engineering purposes. The U.S. Customary system (NOT the "Imperial system"*) is only used by ordinary individuals for day-to-day non-technical stuff. ______________________________ * The United States has never used the Imperial system. The Imperial system was established by England in 1824 -- almost half a century after the United States won its independence. People in the U.S. use the system that was in existence before the 1824 establishment of the British Imperial system.
I have always found it funny that the US people (generally) "doesn't get"the metric system, yet their currency is metric.. $1 is 100 cents, the Quarter is 25cents, 1/4 of 100
It is very hard to switch between systems. We learn the metric system in college yet at the grocery store it is imperial. You have no choice but to pick one.
North Americans, particularly those in the USA have an inability to think rationally. They are bad at English, most are illiterate. They are bad at math Bad at Geography. This is all by design. It was planned to dumb down the nation in 1970. This is know fact within the Education System.
Stupid people will say that it will be expensive to change,but they probably don't even think that the later they switch,the more expensive it will be.
That's why they will _never_ really switch. All that's going on are slight transitions, where it doesn't cost much (like on drinking bottles). And there's nothing stupid about saying that, because that's just how it is. The only stupid thing is to defend the imperial system for alleged advantages, that actually do not exist when eliminating any argument that is simply based on already existing conditions and references. But the immense cost of a complete switch is a fact, no one is willing to pay these astronomic amounts. All we can hope for are future generations getting more and more used to metric, until imperial becomes a relic and eventually fades away. But that process can last for centuries =)
@@misatzu if it will change, then it's good, I'm not saying that it needs to be done instantly, it needs to be changed started with the one's who are costing more and more, or by states, if nothing will happen then they won't change their outdated system
@@chrisedwards7203 it's not small if you're not used to it, and as I said, it needs to be changed, not at the same time, if it will be splitted, it can be done not that expensive, leaving as is will make future transition only more expensive
Phish N' Chimps I love USA , I live in USA and PROUD American citizen, however, you have to admit that “standard” measurement sucks, even calculators don’t have 3/4 , 5/8 or 7/8 ! Is almost impossible to measure SMALL fractions with such system , 3/4 =2.75 right ? Ok 2.76= ? Tell me without using a calculator !!!
@@64arguz you can always use a pencil and paper. In USA, country that I love too, They teach us how to use both Metric and US Customary... you should know that. right?We were learning Fractions and Metric in Elementary school..
The United States Armed Forces use a mixed bag of both systems. I will try to break this down in an organized fashion. LENGTH: Distance while navigating: Ships: Nautical miles Ground Vehicles: Using a military map and coordinate system, kilometers. Using civilian maps and roadways, statute miles. Small Unmanned Aircraft: Kilometers Aircraft: I have no experience, but I would imagine nautical miles. Range to target: Army small arms, meters. Marine Corps small arms, yards. Artillery: kilometers and meter. Altitude: Feet Depth: No submarine experience, but the movies always say feet. Perhaps they are just pandering to the civilian viewer. Proper spacing of personnel formations: PACES. Height (of a person): Feet and inches Weapon bore: Mixed. millimeter, caliber (decimal inch), and gauge (defined by the number of lead balls of a specified diameter that weigh one pound). Inches for the BIG guns. Most metric ammunition is due solely to standardization with NATO, because ammunition is the MOST important thing to be able to share on the battlefield. Needle diameter (medical): Gauge (same as American Wire Gauge due to manufacturing similarities). WEIGHT: Mixed bag. Person, pounds. Equipment, pounds. Cargo: pounds, tons, long tons, kilograms, tonnes. VOLUME: Fuel, oil, water, etc... Gallons, quarts, ounces. Medical supplies: milliliters. VELOCITY: Ships: Knots Aircraft: Knots Ground Vehicles: on a Blue Force Tracker system, kilometers per hour. "Hey driver, how fast are we going?" Statute miles per hour. TEMPERATURE: Fahrenheit Almost all other measurement types are used only for scientific purposes, so they are largely metric for ease of calculation. Practical applications are almost all imperial because it's on that which Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen are raised, thus they can most easily visualize those units.
I hate imperial, but here in the U.S. we are a little busy at the moment. We've got our hands full trying to save our democracy and human decency in politics.
The fact is, Americans are bimetral. We use metric units in many contexts, along with U. S. Customary units where it suits us. Hardly anybody is confused by this.
"Hardly anybody is confused"-oh really? Give me the definition of an acre of land (without looking it up). I'll give you a hint: it's measured in chains by furloughs.
@@jeffy069a I asked the definition of an acre, without looking it up-not equivalents like how many square feet are in an acre (e.g., the definition of a square foot is not 144 square inches, but rather, a square measuring one foot by one foot). So: I didn't think so, but to be fair, few Americans would know because it's an archaic unit of land measure: the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet).
@@PaulZink well dang, you got me there! My parents owned a "half-section" when I was a teenager. I learned that a "section" is equal to a square mile, and since they owned 320 acres (minus the area of a road going through it) a square mile = 640 acres so I could extrapolate the area of an acre from it. Otherwise as a city kid I would have no clue. I'm not American either, so I should have just not commented lol. Peace!
Why is the Imperial system better? Because it's easy to do the math just by remembering that there are 12 ounces to the pound and 2432 pounds to the ton. Simple.
In reality the UK is still using miles, yards and feet. On paper it's fully metric, but actually it's not that far from the US way of things. Every road sign uses miles, yards or feet. If you go to a bar and buy a beer it is still sold in pints.... yes pints. not 568ml but actual British pints (which are slightly larger than US and Australian pints, another funny little thing like with the ton). The UK is far from "fully metricified." Just thought I'd point that out since the video mentioned the UK going metric. Amazing how many people I have spoken to overseas who think the UK "drives in KM" (someone actually used that phrase once during conversation, loved it, "drives in KM" lol.) I wouldn't know what a KM or a CM is without using a measuring device of some sort. I only know a Meter is roughly the same as a Yard and that's about as metric as I get. I was taught metric at school and can use it on paper, but when it comes to guessing something in real life, well, that lampost looks about 20 feet tall, that car is 10 yards away, I'm 232lbs or about 16 and half stone. And I'm in my twenties, born way way after the UK supposedly went metric. I could never estimate the size of a room in CM's for example because I have no clue what a CM is like to look at, but I am fine with guessing an inch.
You kind of point out the ridiculousness of using the imperial system yourself with that pint example. A mile is not a mile, a gallon is not a gallon - which as proven by that Air Canada flight can have very serious consequences. How much is a foot? If I go to a shoe store I can usually choose from at least thirty different sizes for a foot. The name is already confusing, it's all very regional, very personal and thus very bad for international trade.
@@WhoStoleMyAlias just for perspective I'm not saying the imperial system is better. Any fool can see metric works better on paper as it's all tens hundreds and thousands . I'm just saying that for myself I can't guess and estimate things by eye in metric and that Imperial is very ingrained in the UK way of life much like in the US.
@@edisloud I don't think anyone can estimate distances in metric. That's not the point. What is the point is that I would never tell a blind guy to take a left after 200 steps, because that will practically guarantee him to land in the water rather than send him over the bridge. Referencing sizes, volumes, weights, etc like this doesn't work because they have too many interpretations. Which as you stated are in fact individually standardized in different regions of the world, with of course US and UK versions most named for the absurd differences between them. Communication-wise you are complicating things that shouldn't be complicated - that in fact you should not want to be complex because of the risks involved.
@@WhoStoleMyAlias On an international scale such as trade I would agree with you. Your reference towards trade was very accurate and correct. Or with Science, multinational agreements etc. On paper or when extreme accuracy is needed it is best to use metric, so on the whole I mostly agree with you.... The foot though is a standardised measurement, no worry about it being different in different countries like the ton or the pint. It's safe to use and can not be confused with something else any more than a cm or a meter.....Your example of the blind guy is very missleading. My mother is recently blind and also my grandfather for much longer; and if I told them to turn left after a KM or 200 meters they would be lost. The roads in the UK are run in miles, yards and feet..... All the signs are made as such and that is the system people use for estimates. In the UK your buddy doesn't live X KM's away, he lives X miles away. So for daily guesses and estimates it's perfectly safe to use imperial with other people here in the UK Infact I would suggest it is much safer to give someone in the UK a distance in miles rather than a KM if we are talking about general directions and not scientific things..... In a way I'm glad to see Metric being used more and more in the UK, Metric on the whole is a much better system. The young in particular seem comfortable with it but still they persist in estimating their trip to school in miles. It would be silly to give someone instructions in KM when the road signs are in miles. Most blind people, and I know many, use miles just the same as the rest of us. I'm not attacking the Metric system as it's a perfectly sane and useful tool. Long term my guess is that the road signs may be shown in both metric and imperial for a decade or two, to give people time working in both. But until then please don't go giving too many people in the UK directions in KM, or there will be a lot of lost people if they don't have access to a conversion. If my mother gets a guide dog perhaps it will be a metric dog ;) lol.
@@edisloud Sorry about your mom. So what you're saying is that distances are the same in every version of the imperial system (except nautical)? It's just volumes and weights then? Still tricky. Consider a plane captain saying he needs 200 gallons of fuel, then you need to listen to his accent to figure out how much he's really asking for, while at the same time hoping he did not already make that conversion to meet your frame of reference. Talking about communicating, I guess I should have used the word paces rather than steps. Obviously a pace is not defined in either imperial nor metrical and at least in my case it will depend on whether I'm walking, parading or running how much distance that actually translates into, be it yards or meters. What I meant to say that it is better to communicate these kind of things in a uniformly defined standard and people can then work out for themselves whether for them that translates into 125, 140 or 165 paces.
The Imperial system was based on body parts, ie. the inch was the length of the first section of the thumb. (The French word for thumb, is 'inch.') the foot, is obvious, and the yard was the distance from the tip of the thumb, to the nearest ear, while the metre was to the tip of the nose. This allowed people to measure things roughly, before tape-measures and rulers became universally available. The origins date back hundreds or maybe thousands of years, but gradually became standardised during the industrial revolution.. The width of the tracks on the US rail system, is the same as that of the UK. This is because in the early days of the industrial revolution, the rail system came from the UK. The width of the rails in the UK, was based on the width of the wheels of carts pulled by horses. This was traditional, and dated back to Roman times. The Romans set that width, because it was the width required when a chariot was pulled by two horses. So, the width of the rails in the USA's is based on the width of two horses arses!😎
I have converted most of my recipes to metric because I weigh most of the ingredients, and it is much easier to scale a recipe in metric. In my Chemistry and Physics classes at university, we only used metric.
Oh for all the ''Yanks commenting here, Look at the Metro map of New York, the system was invented in England, and is now used world wide. Look at your jet engines, that invention was also English. The US is also trying to build its first supersonic passenger plane, Britain did that decades ago. If its as good as other Boeing aircraft, you could have one in your garden soon. Your 'swing -wing' fighter bomber, the design of which was a disaster, invented in England. You probably dropped as many of those on the Vietnamese as you did bombs;-) Look at your rail system that changed your country from horse and carts, it was originally supplied by Britain. Your army's tanks, invented in England. Radar was also invented by England. The English supplied the knowledge that enabled the USA to make the first atomic bomb. ''AND'' of course your space program originated in Germany. The major colonisation of North America was by Britain, who kicked most other European countries out, which is why you speak, English, or try to. etc. etc. 😎
niklar55 ....Also The Ejector Seat _ English Invention Towing of Ships - Perfected by the Royal Navy As for Jet Engine _ That depends on which Encyclopedia one reads. One can safely say it is a parallel invention of England and Germany. Hovercraft- English invention The modern Toothbrush - Hydraulic press - Steam Engine - Tension-spoked wheel Modern fire extinguisher - Electric Motor - Glider .. ....... Reflecting telescope: Isaac Newton, in 1668 but only because * Mathematical evolution of spherical mirrors * Rectilinear motion of light and use of lenses * Refraction angle variations * Magnifying effects of the plano convex lens * Introduced the concept of elliptical shape of cosmological bodies * Study of the Center of Gravity as applied to balance were discoveries in the Islamic world as were many other. The list is endless. It was also Sir Isaac Newton who made public the forged insertion the discovered in the Bible. Thousands of other errors, mistranslated and wholesale change were discovered by others over time.
@@eriksmith2514 Only because the USA sat on its collective arses for three years, while Britain bankrupted itself supplying the Russians, and others. It was the Russians who eventually won the war for everyone, by destroying both the Japanese and the German armies.
@@niklar55 "It was the Russians who eventually won the war for everyone, by destroying both the Japanese and the German armies." Yes. I especially liked those two atom bombs the Russians dropped.
@@eriksmith2514 Japan had already capitulated. The bombs were unnecessary, and in any case it was British expertise that made the bombs possible. Britain GAVE the US their nuclear knowledge, and a lot more, in exchange for lend-lease, for which it was still paying the US up until 2006! In addition, the USA was funding the Nazi's before, and during whole of WW2. When it ended, it imported thousands of top Nazi's, gave them new identities, and jobs. Thats why the USA has used all the same methods, to foment war after war since then, and for the same reasons. You think your elected government controls the USA? It hasn't since December 23, 1913, when it gave control of its money away. ''If you give me control of a country's money, I care not who is elected, because _I_ will control that country!'' So, all the wars since then, including WW1, have been engineered to line the bankers pockets, and the ''Patriotics'' in the USA think its for their 'cuntry!'
I don't think we will the US doesn't really need to trade internationally. Only 11% of our GDP in 2016 came from exporting to other nations, while 14% is imported. While 37% is the average percentage of export for the rest of the world you can see the glaring difference we don't need to trade. 'But' with the largest entertainment industry and military complex people want it no matter the conversion charts needed. Edit: And with as large of a GDP and 4/10ths of a billion people we can buy up the excesses of the world and pay decent money for it.
I hate Europeans yelling at me in the chat calling me stupid for the general population using a bad system. I try to avoid it but you can not avoid it when most recipes and ingredients and other objects and even the weather only come in imperial units. I do use metric at home when I can. The temp you use does not mater as long as it is standard. Both Fahrenheit and Celsius have pros and cons. I use Celsius because that is what rest of world uses.
all cars made in the United States and Canada are built with metric bolt nuts and screws. and food uses it. I have a Chrysler minivan with a metric speedometer kilometers large miles per hour small.
I am a dual citizen of Australia and Taiwan. Born in and spent most of my childhood in Australia. On my dad's side we have family history in Oz dating to the 1800s. Am more NSW/WA though. Qld to me on average stronger accents than most of Oz but still essentially the same accent. SA I admit I have not been to recently but still whatever the variation by world standards it is VERY small if I have to struggle to hear it (I can easily pick some different USA or UK accents and I have never lived in either). I would occasionally be able to pick some differences between WA and NSW or Vic by choice of words, but not by accent. I don't even know what my own accent is NSW or WA... (having lived in both).
Didn't think about where she was from but yeah, a Queenslander by the sound. Southern Queensland. She has a bit of the nasal sound but not as intense as further north. I often go to the State Library in Brisbane and the recorded woman's voice in the lifts is a very strong Qld accent ... I always chuckle at the sound.
What a non-issue. It’s not that hard to make the conversions. If everyone around the world is so worried about what the U.S. is doing, then why don’t we all speak the same language? Why don’t we all use the same currency? Why aren’t we all the same religion? Wouldn’t that make life so much easier than having to take 3 seconds to punch a number into your smartphone for conversion?
The idea that the imperial system is defined by the metric system is idiotic. Just because the U.S. agreed that a yard is a certain exact fraction of a meter, (which has changed at least three times, so far), does not mean that an inch, a foot or a mile are actually metric units. Develop the world's largest military, put the first humans on the moon, AND bring them back, become the largest economy, and then, maybe, talk about the US adopting the ever-changing French system.The metric system is for people who are too stupid to learn simple fractions...
Being in the machinist trade, I can use both systems, too. Some jobs I get are in metric, but the great majority are imperial. Just the idea that the imperial system is somehow metric as this vid says is nonsense. Also, when it comes to machining, I would rather work in imperial. A machinist breaks inches down into thousandths, or ten thousandths, or what ever is needed, but it's a simple base 10 system, so it's easy to use. For me it's easier to visualize .001" than it is to visualize .00254mm. The metric number is still on a base 10 system too, but I use imperial more often, so am quick at it.
Imperial and the U.S. Customary System are not the same thing. United States customary units are a system of measurements commonly used in the United States. The United States customary system (USCS or USC) developed from English units which were in use in the British Empire before the U.S. became an independent country. However, the United Kingdom's system of measures was overhauled in 1824 to create the imperial system, changing the definitions of some units. Therefore, while many U.S. units are essentially similar to their Imperial counterparts, there are significant differences between the systems.