Paul Trusten wrote in USMA 25892:
I'd like to talk about measurement, too---American measurement, and how we of USMA have always had, and continue to have ,a great struggle before us.
We Americans on this list live in a society in which measurement is highly emotional and highly romanticized, in which mere
metrology can turn into a real shouting match. Invariably, discussions of metrication in the US deteriorate into the old jokes
of metricating popular sayings as well as the standard of measurement (I hold my nose as I repeat one of them: "Give him 2.54 cm and he'll take 1.608 m"). In a way, US metrication suggests a revolution in American thinking, since it involves political, economic, and social change. I often wonder if Canadians, Australians, and South Africans had to fight a revolution to change their standard of measurement, but I do not wonder about my own country, the United States. I believe that it will take a kind of revolution to enact SI in our land. That revolution may be the result of a tragic collapse in our economy, compelling us to take drastic action to buttress our global competitiveness. I do not think we will go into SI in good times.
--
If my memory serves me aright, metric
conversion started in Canada in 1975 with toothpaste and
the weather. That was followed in 1977 by speed limits.
Then came packaged foods. The conversion of retail food scales
was to have been carried out in 1980 and '81. That was sabotaged
by the last act of a defeated Conservative government and took place
during 1982 and '83. It was only then that public protests broke
out, apparently brcause people felt they might be embarrassed by not
knowing what to ask for. That fear was unjustified because they
could still ask for a pound, but they might be served 500 g. The
protests soon died down.
New Zealand had s mooth conversion, led by a
wise old man who chronicled the events of a Miss Metric, born on the
day that conversion started. Australia started its conversion
with horse racing, and pressed on with conversion without
worrying too much about public opinion. South Africa had the
most rapid conversion of British Commonwealth countries.
I have a theory that great power hubris
hinders the conversion of great powers. France did not achieve
complete conversion until 1840, while The Netherlands converted
shortly after 1815. Germany converted in 1872; Russia in 1918;
Japan started in 1923, but did not complete the job until about 1965,
the United Kingdom started conversion in 1965 but still has not
managed to converts its road signs and speed limits; the (US)
National Bureau of Standards (now NIST) announced in 1971
"A Metric America - A decision whose time has
come".
