why is the US not Metric

[CatalinaWOW]

It's hard to complain about someone not joining the modern world while refusing to use a smartphone or other device to access the intelligence of the world.

[vk6zgo]

It's hard to complain about someone not joining the modern world while refusing to use a smartphone or other device to access the intelligence of the world.

Why would I fart around on the internet to do what I can pretty much do in my head?
&,  yes, I looked  up the conversion factor to gallons, after I  posted last time.

[KL27x]

^ I think Catalina WOW is referring to another superfan of metric when he said that. The one from UK. Another country that changed from imperial to metric in recent history.

Maybe you guys are jealous that America still uses imperial and no one other than you guys care, lol.

yes, I looked  up the conversion factor to gallons, after I  posted last time.

And reason you did not know this is because it is not very important to you.
Your country changed to metric, officially, and what did that do for you guys? Is your country enlightened, spiritually? Is it now the center of science and commerce as a result? Did this improve your education rate and standard of living?

You have life so good now, right? Your kids walk just km to school. Your grandpa had to walk miles. You can now convert cubic meters to liters without a calculator. OMG, so nice. No more, you wake up in the middle of the night when you realize, "Oh, sheet. Did he mean imperial gallon or dry gallon?" This new world of yours must be amazeball. You wake up and your square meters of lawn in so much greener than feet. And the best part? Penis. Now 2.54x bigger!

I was depressed, today. But now, I am optimistic for a metric future. Every single day, I have been oppressed by inches and pounds.  It will be so good to leave these imperial problems behind and assimilate into the utopian metric future of human enlightenment. Soon we will have world peace and a flying car in every garage.




I think half of the metric fans think that US converting to metric will mean they don't need to buy SAE wrenches anymore. And even if American did, that will not happen.

[Cerebus]

I think half of the metric fans think that US converting to metric will mean they don't need to buy SAE wrenches anymore. And even if American did, that will not happen.

What makes you think that anyone outside the US (and possibly Canada, eh!) buys SAE sized tools? Every single tool I've bought since about 1981 has been metric sized. I say 1981 because I remember having to get some secondhand imperial sized tools back then to maintain an antediluvian AJS motorcycle that some of us were restoring.

[vk6zgo]

^ I think Catalina WOW is referring to another superfan of metric when he said that. The one from UK. Another country that changed from imperial to metric in recent history.

Maybe you guys are jealous that America still uses imperial and no one other than you guys care, lol.

yes, I looked  up the conversion factor to gallons, after I  posted last time.

And reason you did not know this is because it is not very important to you.

I wouldn't have known that one, back in the day, because we used different gallons.
I probably could have worked it out by looking at an old (1940s) "44 gallon" drum, which often had the US gallon equivalent marked on it as well
That said, I wouldn't have been able to pull the cu ft to Imp gallon conversion out of my head, either.

Your country changed to metric, officially, and what did that do for you guys? Is your country enlightened, spiritually? Is it now the center of science and commerce as a result? Did this improve your education rate and standard of living?

It meant a few less things for kids to have to learn, It did help business, as every conversion costs time.
It was a bonus for trade, as we can, for instance, sell a product in a 200 litre drum to both the UK, India, the EU, & the  USA, without having to specially mark the thing in litres, Imperial, & US gallons.
The customers only need to know one conversion, no conversion, & one conversion respectively.

You have life so good now, right? Your kids walk just km to school. Your grandpa had to walk miles.

I'm probably the same generation as your grandpa!

You can now convert cubic meters to liters without a calculator

Anyone always could, or cu ft to gallons (or "customary" gallonettes').
They could either do it the long way or use log tables---- it just took a little longer!

OMG, so nice. No more, you wake up in the middle of the night when you realize, "Oh, sheet. Did he mean imperial gallon or dry gallon?"

The answer is obvious to anyone brought up in the real Imperial system.
The dry gallon was obsolete even back in the dark ages when I went to school!

 This new world of yours must be amazeball.

New?---- we changed over 42 years ago  only old farts like myself remember working things out in Imperial!

You wake up and your square meters of lawn in so much greener than feet. And the best part? Penis. Now 2.54x bigger!

I was depressed, today. But now, I am optimistic for a metric future. Every single day, I have been oppressed by inches and pounds.  It will be so good to leave these imperial problems behind and assimilate into the utopian metric future of human enlightenment. Soon we will have world peace and a flying car in every garage.

I think half of the metric fans think that US converting to metric will mean they don't need to buy SAE wrenches anymore. And even if American did, that will not happen.

The weird thing is that spanners (wrenches) in Oz stopped being marked "SAE" back in the 1950s
They are commonly known as "AF"(across flats).
Of course, not only SAE nuts & bolts use those sizes---UNF & UNC, which are, at least "semi-compatible" with SAE use the same sizes

Metric spanners are "across flats", too, but we don't call them "AF".

By the way, why am I the "nasty commie Metric person"?

I set out to show Zero999 that it isn't at all hard to work on feet &  inches, given the incredibly easy  dimensions in his example.
I only needed one conversion to get my answer, so it is easy enough to work in Imperial, provided you stay in one level of units, preferably the largest ones appropriate.

[tooki]

I think half of the metric fans think that US converting to metric will mean they don't need to buy SAE wrenches anymore. And even if American did, that will not happen.

What makes you think that anyone outside the US (and possibly Canada, eh!) buys SAE sized tools? Every single tool I've bought since about 1981 has been metric sized. I say 1981 because I remember having to get some secondhand imperial sized tools back then to maintain an antediluvian AJS motorcycle that some of us were restoring.

Well, for sure they’re not something you find at the local DIY shop, but for industrial settings, they are sold. For sure, classic car mechanics need them, and I guess some industrial machinery has them. Here in Switzerland, the big industrial tool supplier carries a surprisingly comprehensive selection of US customary tools, and a small selection of fasteners. PB Swiss, the big Swiss screwdriver maker, makes US customary hex keys and stuff, too.

[Zero999]

It's hard to complain about someone not joining the modern world while refusing to use a smartphone or other device to access the intelligence of the world.

A smartphone is no good when you're covered in oil and grease or wet.

4'6" x 18" x 12" in gallons

Results in the following result:

(4 ' 6 ") x (18 ") x (12 ") =
50.4935065 US gallons

Doesn't get much easier than that   

Nice, but that gives me the result in imperial 42.044622. It must be because I'm in the UK. I have to specify US gallons and you've forgotten the weight part of my calculation.

I haven't a clue what the conversion factor between cu ft & US Gallons is.
If I knew that, the whole thing would be done with two calculations. (with the values given, converting to decimal feet is obvious)

That's the problem and what about the part where I converted to pounds? With imperial, I'd have to look it up, but I can remember the conversion from kg to lb.

Wow, freedom gallons. So many metric trolls. I think the metric trolls added up in this thread convert to 4.6 rstophers, imperial unit of troll. Conversion is 1 rstopher: 1.108 bsfeechannel.

Zero, you could also do the calculation in imperial all the way to cubic feet, then convert to cubic decimeters. Then convert L to gallons. At least if you do in cubic feet, you have that original parameter of 1 foot high vs 308.4mm. You do just ONE conversion to get Liters. You don't have to do extra conversion of all dimensions of the tank to metric, doing 3 extra steps vs 1.

The reason you convert all distances to metric is maybe you are more comfortable to think in metric? Americans think in imperial. That's your internal calibration, and it is probably not going to ever change. Same can be said about americans. We know what is 1.5m, but we don't intrinsically know if that is Tom Cruise or James Harden height. (Ok, I know it's way closer to Tom Cruise. But Tom Cruise or Kevin Hart? Getting tougher..)

When performing a calculation like your example, anyway you do it should be equally comfortable. I don't get unit loyalty.

The reason why I find the calculation easy is because I can remember all the conversions from metric to most common imperial/customary units. I'm not familiar with the conversion from cubic feet to litres.

Zero, I calculate for you. The cube root distance of a gallon is 6.136 inches. So a (freedom) gallon is a cube 6.136" per side, or 0.5113 feet, or 155.9mm.

This may be easier to use than mL:pint.

Of course when the numbers get so big or small they are not really relate-able, engineers commonly use cubic feet, or cubic meters or other stuff that is not a liter or a gallon.

Yes, I could have used dm, rather than cm to avoid the large numbers in the first place, but it's not a common unit, as cm, so I didn't think of it. The beauty of metric is, just shift the decimal place when numbers just get too big/small.

^ I think Catalina WOW is referring to another superfan of metric when he said that. The one from UK. Another country that changed from imperial to metric in recent history.

Maybe you guys are jealous that America still uses imperial and no one other than you guys care, lol.

What me? As I've already said, I couldn't give two hoots whether the US uses metric or not. It doesn't bother me. I'm just stating the fact that metric is easier, because the system is designed from the ground up, rather than imperial which has evolved organically. Although I was born long after the UK adopted metric, I have used imperial/customary quite a bit. I've worked for Lockheed Martin in the past and my current employer works on US projects, so I've had a decent exposure to the archaic imperial system and am well aware of how much of a PITA it is.

Interestingly my father, who was born just after the war in 1945, was studying at university, as a mature student at the time when the UK was going metric, in the mid 1970s. He was given the choice of taking the exams in either metric or imperial and chose metric, even though he had only used imperial for the first 25 or so years of his life. Although he could easily visualise imperial units such as lb/iin², he chose SI because he could see how it makes calculations much easier.

Here's another calculation to illustrate the point: a 400V 3 phase geared motor is 80% efficient. It lifts a 500lb weight,  to a height of 12ft, in 30 seconds. Think about how you'd work out the power in metric (Watts) vs imperial (horsepower). Now calculate the current draw, assuming a power factor of 0.9. I'm not going to go through it, but to calculate the current you'll need power in Watts, a metric unit, so why not start with metric units in the first place?  Try again with 227kg and 365.8m. See how much easier it is.

[KL27x]

America:
We know metric is better

Here's another calculation to illustrate the point: a 400V 3 phase geared motor is 80% efficient. It lifts a 500lb weight,  to a height of 12ft, in 30 seconds. Think about how you'd work out the power in metric (Watts) vs imperial (horsepower). Now calculate the current draw, assuming a power factor of 0.9. I'm not going to go through it, but to calculate the current you'll need power in Watts, a metric unit, so why not start with metric units in the first place?  Try again with 227kg and 365.8m. See how much easier it is.

You know, America has heard of this thing called the watt. This is what we use for this for electronics. I'm sure your countries still use horsepower or CV to describe car engine power. So maybe you should tell yourself this.

The biggest problem for America is that if America ever (officially) changes to metric (not like it isn't already metric), there will be only 5000 Rowandans for us to feel smug and superior over. You guys seems to be really enjoying this (by giving so many examples that don't apply to us or to you or to 99% of average citizens).

Tooki:

What makes you think that anyone outside the US (and possibly Canada, eh!) buys SAE sized tools? Every single tool I've bought since about 1981 has been metric sized. I say 1981 because I remember having to get some secondhand imperial sized tools back then to maintain an antediluvian AJS motorcycle that some of us were restoring.

I think all the people who complain about fastener sizes on this thread have had to do so at some point. Even you admit you haven't bought them because... you already own a set. I don't think this is going to change even if America were to change its road signs and speedometers and drivers licenses and for us to sell houses in square meters and for cops to call out APB on 20 yr old male, 1.68 meter, 70 kilo.

And I know you, Tooki, are not one of these guys. All of your posts are reasonable and practical. They know who they are. The ones making the imperial or dry gallon crack and such.

Re: fastener situation in America:
I'm not a mechanic or a machinist or a professional fabricator. When it comes to wrenches (spanners? I mean the bars of metal with the open end and the box end), I have only one set, and it is metric. I have lived here my entire life, and I have never purchased an SAE wrench. (Inexpensive sockets sets usually come with both, so that is all I have needed to date for SAE bolt, which is not common). This is all you need to work on most modern cars in the last 20 years (at least 20, which goes back before I started to do anything other than sit in class rooms and play computer games) as well as most power tools (that are pretty much 99.9999% imported).  But, I have only SAE set of hex bits. I find that the closest torx bit usually works for metric hex fasteners.*  And for some reason, I find hex screws are rather often SAE, even on imported tools. The metric hex fasteners is the odd duck in America, still, IMO. But that is just my single anecdote.

So Tooki, you are one up on me to even own a set of SAE wrenches. I have never.

*and if that doesn't work, a piece of hex bar and a belt sander will do the trick.

[soldar]

They are commonly known as "AF"(across flats).
...
Metric spanners are "across flats", too, but we don't call them "AF".

Originally spanners/wrenches were denominated with the size of the thread, not by the size of the head. Then they realized it made more sense to use the size of the head "across flats".

Kind of the same thing with pipes. Nominal 1/2" pipe thread has a diameter of 0.8125" because the denomination is not the measure of the thread but of the inside diameter of the standard pipe with that thread. These days pipes walls are thinner so in a 1/2" pipe nothing measures 1/2".

[Zero999]

America:
We know metric is better

I'm quite sure most well-educated Americans are aware of the superiority of metric, over imperial and customary, but there do seem to be those who won't have it and the same is true for those metric zealots who can't see why the US won't fully convert.

I fully understand why the US won't fully convert to metric, the same as why the UK still hasn't fully gone metric: the cost doesn't justify the benefit, despite what the metric evangelists might say.

Here's another calculation to illustrate the point: a 400V 3 phase geared motor is 80% efficient. It lifts a 500lb weight,  to a height of 12ft, in 30 seconds. Think about how you'd work out the power in metric (Watts) vs imperial (horsepower). Now calculate the current draw, assuming a power factor of 0.9. I'm not going to go through it, but to calculate the current you'll need power in Watts, a metric unit, so why not start with metric units in the first place?  Try again with 227kg and 365.8m. See how much easier it is.

You know, America has heard of this thing called the watt. This is what we use for this for electronics. I'm sure your countries still use horsepower or CV to describe car engine power. So maybe you should tell yourself this.

The biggest problem for America is that if America ever (officially) changes to metric (not like it isn't already metric), there will be only 5000 Rowandans for us to feel smug and superior over. You guys seems to be really enjoying this (by giving so many examples that don't apply to us or to you or to 99% of average citizens).

Yes, I've heard people use horsepower for cars but kW is becoming more common and is exclusively used for legislative purposes: we have a law which restricts the maximum power output (Watts) andengine size (cm³) a young person can have in their motorcycle. It was introduced to stop youngsters buying monster bikes and getting themselves killed.

Granted, the examples I've given don't affect everyone, but they're both fairly common in the fields of engineering and construction. Forget converting between metric and imperial/customary, which was just a distraction. The point was, when working with SI units, one doesn't have to perform any conversions beyond moving the decimal place.

[KL27x]

They are commonly known as "AF"(across flats).
...
Metric spanners are "across flats", too, but we don't call them "AF".

Originally spanners/wrenches were denominated with the size of the thread, not by the size of the head. Then they realized it made more sense to use the size of the head "across flats".

Kind of the same thing with pipes. Nominal 1/2" pipe thread has a diameter of 0.8125" because the denomination is not the measure of the thread but of the inside diameter of the standard pipe with that thread. These days pipes walls are thinner so in a 1/2" pipe nothing measures 1/2".

The reason pipes still go by ID is because that's what you generally want to know about a pipe, to know how much volume or cross sectional area it has. If you need a precise standard size of OD, you need a "tube" not a "pipe." Tubes are made to and sold by their OD.

[soldar]

The reason pipes still go by ID is because that's what you generally want to know about a pipe, to know how much volume or cross sectional area it has.

Except, as I noted, nominal diameters are not actual diameters so your point is not valid.  Furthermore, if you are talking about the thread you would be interested in, you know, the thread dimensions. I cannot see how the guy making the thread would be concerned with the water-carrying capacity of the pipe. Especially since you could have that thread on a solid rod or on a pipe with smaller inside diameter. The thread is named and defined by the name which has a very distant relation to how the name originated.

If you need precise OD, you need a "tube" not a "pipe." Tubes are sold by their OD.

Let me repeat myself: So-called 1/2" pipe was denominated that way because it originally had that inside diameter but what was fixed was the outside diameter so it could take nominal 1/2" thread at the ends. When manufacturing methods allowed thinner walls the outside diameter was maintained (for obvious reasons) which meant a larger inside diameter.

Pipe thread names are not a definition of the actual dimensions of the thread, they are named like they are for historical reasons. That is the point I was trying to make.

Just like today they sell the new lightbulbs in "watts equivalence". They mark an LED bulb as "100 W" meaning it illuminates like an incandescent 100 W bulb.

[KL27x]

Pipe thread names are not a definition of the actual dimensions of the thread, they are named like they are for historical reasons. That is the point I was trying to make.

Ok. I completely missed that part about the threading.

But to anyone who is trying to build something without a full machine shop at hand, I hope my point was useful, nonetheless, about tube vs pipe. Maybe it is obvious to everyone else, but I didn't learn of the distinction until I actually needed to know. Also, I know exactly what you mean the distinction between precision and standardized size; see the timestamp on my last edit, strikethrough and italics. I think we're on the same page. I'm sorry for the confusion and thanks for the clarification.

Going back to pipe threads, in a way this is a constant problem I have when writing code. Not being omniscient, the labels I come up with very often do not stand up to the test of time. I'd do so far as to say, trying to name things in a logical way can take a lot of my time and effort. 

[tooki]

America:
We know metric is better

Here's another calculation to illustrate the point: a 400V 3 phase geared motor is 80% efficient. It lifts a 500lb weight,  to a height of 12ft, in 30 seconds. Think about how you'd work out the power in metric (Watts) vs imperial (horsepower). Now calculate the current draw, assuming a power factor of 0.9. I'm not going to go through it, but to calculate the current you'll need power in Watts, a metric unit, so why not start with metric units in the first place?  Try again with 227kg and 365.8m. See how much easier it is.

You know, America has heard of this thing called the watt. This is what we use for this for electronics. I'm sure your countries still use horsepower or CV to describe car engine power. So maybe you should tell yourself this.

The biggest problem for America is that if America ever (officially) changes to metric (not like it isn't already metric), there will be only 5000 Rowandans for us to feel smug and superior over. You guys seems to be really enjoying this (by giving so many examples that don't apply to us or to you or to 99% of average citizens).

Tooki:

What makes you think that anyone outside the US (and possibly Canada, eh!) buys SAE sized tools? Every single tool I've bought since about 1981 has been metric sized. I say 1981 because I remember having to get some secondhand imperial sized tools back then to maintain an antediluvian AJS motorcycle that some of us were restoring.

I think all the people who complain about fastener sizes on this thread have had to do so at some point. Even you admit you haven't bought them because... you already own a set. I don't think this is going to change even if America were to change its road signs and speedometers and drivers licenses and for us to sell houses in square meters and for cops to call out APB on 20 yr old male, 1.68 meter, 70 kilo.

And I know you, Tooki, are not one of these guys. All of your posts are reasonable and practical. They know who they are. The ones making the imperial or dry gallon crack and such.

Re: fastener situation in America:
I'm not a mechanic or a machinist or a professional fabricator. When it comes to wrenches (spanners? I mean the bars of metal with the open end and the box end), I have only one set, and it is metric. I have lived here my entire life, and I have never purchased an SAE wrench. (Inexpensive sockets sets usually come with both, so that is all I have needed to date for SAE bolt, which is not common). This is all you need to work on most modern cars in the last 20 years (at least 20, which goes back before I started to do anything other than sit in class rooms and play computer games) as well as most power tools (that are pretty much 99.9999% imported).  But, I have only SAE set of hex bits. I find that the closest torx bit usually works for metric hex fasteners.*  And for some reason, I find hex screws are rather often SAE, even on imported tools. The metric hex fasteners is the odd duck in America, still, IMO. But that is just my single anecdote.

So Tooki, you are one up on me to even own a set of SAE wrenches. I have never.

*and if that doesn't work, a piece of hex bar and a belt sander will do the trick.

Thank you for the kind words, but actually you messed up the quoting a bit, because it wasn’t me who bought the SAE tools, that was the person I was quoting! :p

(I own a random mix of piecemeal hex sockets, bought as needed when living in USA or CH, so a mess I’m sure! OK, actually I think it’s mostly metric, but purely because of immediate need, not dogma.)

[vk6zgo]

America:
We know metric is better

Here's another calculation to illustrate the point: a 400V 3 phase geared motor is 80% efficient. It lifts a 500lb weight,  to a height of 12ft, in 30 seconds. Think about how you'd work out the power in metric (Watts) vs imperial (horsepower). Now calculate the current draw, assuming a power factor of 0.9. I'm not going to go through it, but to calculate the current you'll need power in Watts, a metric unit, so why not start with metric units in the first place?  Try again with 227kg and 365.8m. See how much easier it is.

You know, America has heard of this thing called the watt. This is what we use for this for electronics. I'm sure your countries still use horsepower or CV to describe car engine power. So maybe you should tell yourself this.

The biggest problem for America is that if America ever (officially) changes to metric (not like it isn't already metric), there will be only 5000 Rowandans for us to feel smug and superior over. You guys seems to be really enjoying this (by giving so many examples that don't apply to us or to you or to 99% of average citizens).

Tooki:

What makes you think that anyone outside the US (and possibly Canada, eh!) buys SAE sized tools? Every single tool I've bought since about 1981 has been metric sized. I say 1981 because I remember having to get some secondhand imperial sized tools back then to maintain an antediluvian AJS motorcycle that some of us were restoring.

I think all the people who complain about fastener sizes on this thread have had to do so at some point. Even you admit you haven't bought them because... you already own a set. I don't think this is going to change even if America were to change its road signs and speedometers and drivers licenses and for us to sell houses in square meters and for cops to call out APB on 20 yr old male, 1.68 meter, 70 kilo.

And I know you, Tooki, are not one of these guys. All of your posts are reasonable and practical. They know who they are. The ones making the imperial or dry gallon crack and such.

But that was you!

Re: fastener situation in America:
I'm not a mechanic or a machinist or a professional fabricator. When it comes to wrenches (spanners? I mean the bars of metal with the open end and the box end), I have only one set, and it is metric. I have lived here my entire life, and I have never purchased an SAE wrench. (Inexpensive sockets sets usually come with both, so that is all I have needed to date for SAE bolt, which is not common). This is all you need to work on most modern cars in the last 20 years (at least 20, which goes back before I started to do anything other than sit in class rooms and play computer games) as well as most power tools (that are pretty much 99.9999% imported).  But, I have only SAE set of hex bits. I find that the closest torx bit usually works for metric hex fasteners.*  And for some reason, I find hex screws are rather often SAE, even on imported tools. The metric hex fasteners is the odd duck in America, still, IMO. But that is just my single anecdote.

So Tooki, you are one up on me to even own a set of SAE wrenches. I have never.

*and if that doesn't work, a piece of hex bar and a belt sander will do the trick.

The small sized metal threaded screws commonly used to assemble US made Electronic equipment seem to
have no equivalent in the Imperial range formerly used in Australia & the UK for the same purpose.

Woe betide anyone who loses a Screw when they dismantle a piece of Tektronix equipment.
Tek recognised this problem, & often supplied a bag with some spare screws for the outside cover.
If it is an inside screw  you're on your own!

[vk6zgo]

They are commonly known as "AF"(across flats).
...
Metric spanners are "across flats", too, but we don't call them "AF".

Originally spanners/wrenches were denominated with the size of the thread, not by the size of the head. Then they realized it made more sense to use the size of the head "across flats"

Whitworth spanners use the thread diameter, as does the nearly extinct "BSF".
I think Whitworth will be with us forever, as India churns them out like sausages!

Kind of the same thing with pipes. Nominal 1/2" pipe thread has a diameter of 0.8125" because the denomination is not the measure of the thread but of the inside diameter of the standard pipe with that thread. These days pipes walls are thinner so in a 1/2" pipe nothing measures 1/2".

[KL27x]

vk6zgo:

"But that that was you! (Re: imperial vs dry gallon)"

My bad for accidentally aiming this comment toward you by virtue of my reply. You were just the last person to have posted when I did, and I probably commented to something you said.

In reality the "imperial vs dry gallon" thing was a reference to a couple of previous posts needlessly making a crack on imperial. TBH, I don't know who posted them, and I don't care. I am not trying to track them down for 'Murican vengeance. I just wanted to show how silly it is to make this an issue, to whoever is posting this kind of thing. And maybe it is just me being sensitive. But I find it hard to believe these lame jokes are actually funny to even the other members of the metric brotherhood.

[schmitt trigger]

500 posts and this thread is still counting!

[boffin]

500 posts and this thread is still counting!

I'll sum up:

Q: why is the US not Metric?
A: Arrogance

[KL27x]

America is basically metric, already, in any way that matters to other countries, other than:

1. How americans communicate distances to each other
2. Car market, re odomoter/speedometer.

And this is not the reason Peugot's do not sell like hot cakes to America.

In UK, they still drive on left side of the road, for christsake. But OMG, these speed and distance meters make it too expensive for trade? OK, yeah, keep dreaming. You think changing the speedo will double the cost of the car (Ok, that's too close to true when talking about a Peugot, maybe).

Canada. Another country that officially changed to metric and now has superiority complex. This complex seems to be only major change to these newly metric countries.

A:Arrogance.

It is not arrogance if it is justified. Keep providing proof that your country is represented by idiots.

[schmitt trigger]

For me, the solution has been to become fully "bilingual" between Metric and Imperial.

I can use either system indistinctly, based on what suits me.
For instance, with respect to weather temperature I like Fahrenheit best, since it provides greater resolution without resorting to decimals.
But for heatsink calculations I will always use metric units.

[ebastler]

America is basically metric, already, in any way that matters to other countries, other than:

1. How americans communicate distances to each other
2. Car market, re odomoter/speedometer.

And volumes. And weights. And temperatures. Oh, and funky thread sizes -- 5/16" anyone?
I am pleasantly surprised that we all agree that an hour has 60 minutes. 

[KL27x]

^None of that other stuff matters, though. It's just a label on a container. You sell us the same stuff, just with oz printed on it, or whatnot. We don't care. It doesn't matter.

Except for the fasteners. I've said before, I live here my whole life and my wrenches are metric. Only metric. And changing to metric does not change the screws and lathes. The mill beds, the taps, the wrenches and bits. No matter how may times you give them the bulletin, "we are metric, now!!!" they do not change size and shape to metric. Some things stay the way they are for actual reasons, and not arrogance or stubbornness. These machines and tools and fasteners are not just in America. They exist and are still used in many other countries which are officially metric.

The industrial revolution was led by Britain. Not France. Machining and fastener technology goes back to the 1800's. England spread their standard all around the world. In some ways, fasteners are not metric or imperial. They are what they are. And it was dumb for metric revolutionaries to reinvent this wheel just to fit a new paradigm. Well, this is not what happened, exactly. Let's say we had two competing fastener standards being spread by various war/trade empires through history. Spreading their particular brand of junk across other countries who would otherwise not have given 2 shits. And the legacy of these two competing standards is still around. It does not go away after America says "we're metric, now!" The problem is not in America and not solvable by America. To fix this, you need a time machine. Because this cat already got out of the bag, and he crapped everywhere.

I have lived in the north, and I have driven a few times to Canada. The only difference you notice between a metric country and ours is the road signs and the liters at the gas station. Big whoopie cushion, right?

W/e problems imperial causes to your life in your country, this is the same problems we have here in America. And changing to metric does not fix any of these real issues. We are all still in the same boat, which is the same size and shape and length no matter how you measure it.

People complaining about test questions in school seem to be the only legit complaint. Yes, if we remove the ability to convert units from our education, we can all be dumber. 

[soldar]

litres per 100km alwoys confused me. I mean why?

Because that is how normal people think. A normal person thinks "hmmm, I would like to go visit my aunt Arleen who is 56 Km away; knowing the car uses 7.2 liters per 100 km then I can know I need 0.56 * 7.2 liters to go to her house". 

Very few people think "hmm, I have 4 liters of fuel, how many Km can I travel with that and who lives at that distance so I can visit them".

In other words, when doing calculations the distance is given and the fuel is the quantity desired, not the other way around.

[KL27x]

litres per 100km alwoys confused me. I mean why?

Because that is how normal people think. A normal person thinks "hmmm, I would like to go visit my aunt Arleen who is 56 Km away; knowing the car uses 7.2 liters per 100 km then I can know I need 0.56 * 7.2 liters to go to her house". 

Very few people think "hmm, I have 4 liters of fuel, how many Km can I travel with that and who lives at that distance so I can visit them".

In other words, when doing calculations the distance is given and the fuel is the quantity desired, not the other way around.

I don't care either way, personally. It's just one way to think or another.

Here's another example: threading. Metric goes by distance between each thread, or the pitch. 1mm, 0.8mm 1.25mm. Imperial goes by number of threads per inch. Tomato, tomato. Doesn't matter to me, either way, but.....

Saw blades go by TPI, or teeth per inch, in America, same as imperial threading. How they go in your country? Do they go by pitch? (Distance in mm between each tooth?) I'm curious how they call it in Canada or Australia... (I have heard Australia is still dominated by quarter inch and half inch routers, btw. I bet people still say TPI, there?)