There's no great antipathy towards metrication in the UK despite what Mr Herron says....in fact, I doubt there's many people actually care less about it!
At 25 02 04, 05:02 PM, Big Chimp wrote:
As for Civil War, that is what the BWMA wants you to think. They think real people in the streets care. But from the British who post here, I'd suspect a majority of the scales are metric only and most people there are use to it. Therefore they would not be up in arms. Those who are resisting and have not changed their scales may now be a bit scared, as they may feel the authories breathing down their necks.
I've been saying for years that the problem with US metrication is NOT that Americans are, in general, anti-metric. It is simply inertia, and that is just what Stephen and Chimp are saying about the British.
Earlier this week I attended a large trade show in Chicago (National Manufacturing Week). I toured the 1000 or so booths, and amongst the many freebies being handed out, four booths were handing out rulers. Three were dual-scale, one was inches only.
Of course, I had with me a handy supply of QSI's metric-only rulers, and I both refused the non-metric rulers and gave the salesperson some metric ones. In three of four cases, they were delighted. In one case, the young man (perhaps 30 years old) was quite vehement that metric was a lost cause. I tried to reason with him, but it was clearly a waste of time.
My point here is that, sure, there are anti-metric people in the US (sad to see it in a 30-year old, however).
But, MOST Americans are simply not particularly concerned about the issue, and it's a large country, so that leaves a lot of inertia for us to overcome.
Electrical Engineer
Industrial manufacturing manager
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
www.qsicorp.com
