Euric wrote: >The US is the only country not completely metric. And despite not trying, >the US is 40 % metric, due to a large amount of imports of metric products >and those US companies that have to use metric because the market >is metric.
Not entirely true. Britain is not completely metric. In fact, SI is prohibited for posted distances and speeds on all roads, for draft beer and for milk delivered in bottles (something very rare these days). Even though all other goods must be priced and sold in SI units, FFU price signs for non-packaged food are allowed (as long as they're no bigger than the SI ones). Even Tony Blair disregarded SI units when he told everyone the mass of the latest Blair. Canada is not completely metric, even though it's officially metric. Because of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's virtual suspension of many of the regulations, things like produce and meat are regularly sold (or, at least priced) in FFU. Even, in fully metric countries, those selling computers and computer accessories are allowed to get away with specifying screen sizes in inches. Because of legacy driver sizes, otherwise metric tool sets (e.g., socket wrench sets) still come with drivers specified as 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2". (I have one I bought in D�sseldorf.) Now, if you were to say that the U.S. is the country that has made the least progress with respect to SI, that would certainly be correct. Bill Potts, CMS Roseville, CA http://metric1.org [SI Navigator] P.S. Note to Gavin: A nit, I know, but there's only one m in amend. (They took the other one out to use as the symbol for meter. <g>)
