Lately when I go to the supermarket, I find more and more products that are hard-metric (i.e.. have even sizes 3L or 500mL). This is encouraging but nowhere do I see metric in use by the public.
I once asked the cashier to weigh some fruit in kilograms (as he was not American he understood) but the scale was in pounds only.
As for me I use metric only. When my children (ages 9 & 11) ask me how tall I am or how much I weigh I always answer using metric measurements.
When can we, in the United States, start using metric in our everyday lives without people looking at us like we are from Mars?
Dear Glen,
I think that you will find that the metric system is far more common in the USA than you realise. Read my article, 'Don't use metric' to get a flavour of how much the metric system is currently used in the USA.
'Don't use metric' is available as a pdf document from: http://www.metricationmatters.com/articles.html
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin ASM (NSAA), LCAMS (USMA)*
PO Box 305, Belmont, Geelong, Australia
Phone 61 3 5241 2008
Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online monthly newsletter, 'Metrication matters'. You can subscribe by going to http://www.metricationmatters.com and clicking on 'Newsletter'.
* Pat is the editor of the 'Numbers and measurement' chapter of the Australian Government Publishing Service 'Style manual – for writers, editors and printers', he is an Accredited Speaking Member (ASM) with the National Speakers Association of Australia, and a Lifetime Certified Advanced Metrication Specialist (LCAMS) with the United States Metric Association.
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