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Phil Chernack wrote:
"Why do people keep
insisting that Americans don’t understand or know metric measures. If
prodded, most Americans will admit they know how long a meter is, how much a
liter is and even how much a gram “weighs”.
If Americans, or
anybody else for that matter, can divide and sub-divide numbers by units of 10,
they can fully understand metric.
Few things are
simpler.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, April 13, 2006 2:39
PM
Subject: [USMA:36549] Re: the preferred
system
Why do people keep
insisting that Americans don’t understand or know metric measures. If
prodded, most Americans will admit they know how long a meter is, how much a
liter is and even how much a gram “weighs”. I would hazard to guess that
most Americans know meters and millimeters more so than other lengths.
Liters are a no-brainer. Unless you have been living in a mine shaft for
the past 35 years, you know how much a liter is. The areas that need the
most help are long distance (km), mass (kg) and temperature (C). If
somehow we got these units into more and more daily conversation or had an
application (such as soda bottles for liters and pharmaceuticals or nutrition
for grams) to use them, they would get ingrained into the colloquial
usage.
The flip side is that
most Americans don’t really understand customary measures as well as they
think. Ask most how many pints are in a quart or quarts in a gallon and
you will probably get a variety of answers. It gets even more
complicated when you add fluid oz to the equation. One area Americans
probably are better-versed is length. Most know that 12 inches are a
foot and 3 feet are in a yard. What people have the problem with is
converting on the fly.
Phil
From:
[EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2006 7:13
PM
To: U.S. Metric
Association
Subject:
[USMA:36547] Re: the preferred system
Hi there phma and
group:
This post does bring up a good question about where to draw the
line of metric measures.
It would seem to me like there is a great big
gap about what could be and what really is measured with metric means.
Come one come all does not apply in metric maters and that is sad.
The doors of ignorance will always be open until metric rules any and
all of the increments in our lives.
I know that I am
opening myself up for some ridicule from this group by asking this but here it
is: If the metric system is all of that as many people would say it is then
why is it not every where and about every thing?
I mean
here it is 2006 and I am still using shoes that are a size ten and a
half and i drive to the store looking at a speed ometer that would have me
think "miles" per "hour"
Gee the paints that i have on
even look like flinstone sizes.
Is the SI system even geting a fare
shake in the US?
Will the SI system ever be able to suport the ever
growing need to mericate?
Thanks for letting me vent some of
this.
I just might learn something from the replies to
this.
Tim
"Time to advance
the mind"
n a message dated 3/23/06 7:54:59 PM Eastern Daylight
Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Subj: [USMA:36359] the preferred system
Date: 3/23/06 7:54:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [email protected]
Sent from the Internet
The Metric Conversion Act calls the metric system
"the preferred system of
weights and measures". Does that mean that if
someone makes a thermostat,
speedometer, or anything else that handles
different measuring units, it must
default to metric? My thermostat
defaults to Fahrenheit; the thermometer I
recently mentioned doesn't have
a default but uses Celsius internally; and
the bike computer I just bought
defaults to miles but requires the wheel
circumference in
millimeters.
phma
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