It's time for the US to use the metric system | Hacker News Reader

It's time for the US to use the metric system

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17 pointsz3t133 comments

The length and weight units we use every day in the US are defined in terms of their metric counterparts anyway.

I work in furniture manufacturing in the US. All the hardware we use is metric, many tools are metric and all CNC machines are programmed in metric.

Really the only time I ever have an issue is when I get European hardware that has "helpfully" Americanized the units. Which means arbitrarily rounding the dimensions on the spec sheets to be pretty looking.

I assume that it is the same in most US manufacturing industries. Does it really matter if the industrial base uses different units than people use in day to day life?

Well, I suspect the construction industry isn't going to start calling an 8'-2x4 board a "2.4384 meter 50.8x100.16cm board" anytime soon.

no, you'd call it a 5 by 10 by 200 piece of wood. Having '2 by four' as a common term is an american thing. Over here you just talk about the size of the wood. in any case you'd call it a 5-by-10. Wood from the store isn't properly dimensioned anyway, and the metric system has this neat thing where it goes in steps of 10 (mostly) so you can pick a unit that's scaled usefully.

I made the transition to the metric system fairly late in life (moved overseas) and here are some tricks I discovered to make the metric system "feel" right to me.

- A liter is equal to four of my kitchen's 1 cup measuring cups. Sort of. Close enough for government work.

- My feet are around 25cm. Four of my feet are a meter. Sort of.

- 0C is cold, 10C is brisk and I need a jacket, 20C is so nice out, 30C is hot, 40C I want to die from sweat, 50C I will die.

That's all it took for me to orient myself in the metric system. Metric not that hard to use on an every day basis.

Measurements can be combined with things that are already irreducible. For example, in baking, a recipe using “one egg” and “2 cups flour” has to keep the “one egg” if it’s going to convert to metric; and given conversion tables that favor nice round numbers over exact amounts, this means the proportions will change ever so slightly. It definitely doesn’t matter in every case but it’s these kinds of issues that would prevent people from wanting to spend time just converting everything.

I am a little surprised that the U.S. hasn’t adopted more “low hanging fruit” though. For instance, street signs could clearly display kilometer distances and km/h speed limits, especially if the “km” was included on the sign (as it was in Canada during a transition phase).

Eh, the 1 egg is already kind of a fudgy number anyway. Especially using anything but standard store bought eggs. The farm eggs I get can be very small to double the size of a small one easily.

As you can see here. In Veritasium American kilogram.The US system (pounds) are defined by a conversion from the metric system.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SmSJXC6_qQ8

"1) New federal laws" Never going to happen in the US with the political climate. I can see the re-election adds now.

"2) A gradual slide" Somewhat possibility. I think these days the US Military Complex is pretty much metric now. I have seen some of the terms bleed into civilian live and in movies (ie: "klick").

"3) State-by-state mandates" never going to happen, see 1 above.

Never give up your feet and inches. They're intuitive in a way that metric somehow is not. Can't explain it but it is true.

I grew up with the metric system, hence have the opposite feeling of what is "intuitive". Same thing with Celsius vs Fahrenheit.

intuitive as in got used to?

I disagree, I think you are just used to it. I grew inside a metric system country and is difficult for me to think in imperial system. So, if the US embrace the metric system, I guess the shock will be on the current generation, future kids will never notice it.

Forgive the nitpicking, but the US measures are slightly different than Imperial [1]. They're both based on ancient English weights and measures. However, a US pint is 16oz, and an imperial pint in 20oz. An important distinction if you drink beer! Also if you're figuring your car's MPG as both US & Imperial gallons are eight pints.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_and_US_customary_meas...

Now you see why we want you to adopt the metric system? ;)

Oh yes! It's a perfect example of Cartesian rationalism and a great French achievement. Better in every regard. But I do insist on keeping my pint of ale ;)

> They're intuitive in a way that metric somehow is not. Can't explain it but it is true.

Oh yes, like one millimile is about five feet long. Very intuitive indeed.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Metric_system

The quote at the very top of the article explains how US system is intuitive compared to metric, even if it was meant as satire.

I have yard stick that I divided into groups of 10 it works pretty well.

for example my foot is 25 centiyards.

It's fine if you're jumping from one unit to another (ie. inches to feet, feet to yards). But conversion from smaller to larger units require much more (unnecessary) effort.

Eg. For a 1-acre square plot of land, what is the length of its sides in feet?

208.7 by 208.7 feet. Its not hard. Found it on Google:

https://www.infoplease.com/askeds/dimensions-acre

"The acre, by the way, was originally an English unit of measurement that described the area that a yoke of oxen could plow in a day."

That's exactly my point. You shouldn't need Google to help you answer that.

Okay so quickly, without google, how many gallons are there in a cubic yard?

Now for the people who know metric it's fairly trivial to calculate how many liters there are in a cubic meter. A liter is defined as being one cubic decimeter. A decimeter being one step down from a meter means for cubic measurements it's a factor 1000. one cubic meter multiplied by a thousand is 1000 cubic decimeters or, equivalently, 1000 liters.

Note how in both examples you start with nice round numbers. I havent cherry picked a starting point that ends up nicely in metric.

The only one that's intuitive is Fahrenheit for casual discussion of weather.

Yeah, and 2x4 boards aren't as intuitive as 50x100cm boards.

a 2 by 4 would be a 5 by 10 in metric wouldn't it? you're not calling it a "2 by four inches" just the same as you wouldn't call it a "5 by 10 centimeters".

In fact I find in practice I hardly ever mention units. Being off by a factor 10 is usually obvious enough that people know what unit you're using.

In the same way it's hard to explain why you are most comfortable with your first language ;)

We do use it. Many common products are sold in hard metric quantities. It is difficult to buy plywood in non-metric thickness. Non-legacy electronic components are metric. The US military pushes for metrication. This is all done as a result of globalization or the need for commonality.

Um, I disagree with this. Plywood still comes in 5/8" and 3/4" thicknesses. Boards are still 2x4's and 2x6's, in even feet lengths. I own a wood shed manufacturing business.

These sizes aren't going to change, nor are people going to start calling an "8'-2x4" a "2.4384m-50x100cm board".

> Plywood still comes in 5/8" and 3/4"

You might see it signed as 5/8 and 3/4 but usually it's 15mm and 19mm.

Yes and no. Scientific measurements should definitely use metric. Home measurements and measurements that don't matter are perfectly fine using the American system; they're more understandable in a way.

Looks like someone disagrees but couldn't contest me with a comment. Stop down print without reason

Not going to happen under the current administration. It would seem "un-american" to adopt "evil/unfair european ways"

Down voting because this comment has nothing to do with the article in question. It is just a gratuitous injection of political opinion.

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